Post #794159 by Hurricane Hayward on Fri, Mar 29, 2019 9:36 PM

On 2019-03-28 10:50, mikehooker wrote:
Can't wait to hear your thoughts.

On a side note... I know Plantation is very transparent about additives in their rums and was told by Alexandre Gabriel himself that this particular expression had no added sugar. But I recently spoke to what I consider to be a knowledgeable rum guy who insisted they did in fact dose this one too. Do you happen to have the inside scoop?

Aloha Mike! I've been enjoying Xaymaca neat and in a few cocktails (it's great in a Planter's Punch, naturally) to get a feel for it. IMHO, it occupies a new niche between the ultra funky Hamilton/Smith&Cross territory and the more refined Appleton 12. I sure hope Appleton is taking note.

It's not a 1:1 replacement for Kohala Bay (which was not a pure pot still rum and lacked the sophistication of Xaymaca), so it will need to be blended with at least one other less polished rum. I'm starting with the suggestions above from Quince_at_Dannys and trying some of those combinations. I'm fairly sure it will end up among the top substitutions for Kohala Bay.

If anyone has tried any other combinations, please let me know.

Re the added sugar issue, I believe I've heard the same thing from Gabriel more or less. And Cocktail Wonk, who I totally trust, wrote this deep dive on how the rum was constructed, including the statement: "There is no added sugar, aka dosage."
https://cocktailwonk.com/2018/05/xaymaca-deeply-deconstructed.html