Post #794452 by Hurricane Hayward on Sat, Apr 13, 2019 12:46 PM

Here's what I know about Red Heart:

Historically, it looks like it was a blend of pot-stilled Jamaican rums and was a peer of the old Jamaican Lemon Hart ...

It's unclear if or how the two brands were related. Red Heart is currently owned by Pernod Ricard (Lemon Hart's former owner). There was a Red Heart, a Black Heart and a White Heart. Since all the brands were part of United Rum Merchants and were often promoted together, they've got to have some connection ...

An expert believes that a pure Jamaican version of Red Heart is still bottled for Germany. I could not find that online, but it looks like Black Heart is still available from Lamb's in the UK and Europe as a Navy blend. (This is definitely not to be confused with Blackheart Spiced Rum from the Virgin Islands). A Google search will turn up lots of online links, such as this is from The Whiskey Exchange site ...

But I digress. Back to Red Heart. I can't reveal how I got my hands on the current version, only to say that apparently some cases got diverted to South Florida. It's made primarily for the South African market.

There are "Spiced" and "Original" blends. The front of the bottle of the Original touts it as "A bold and distinctive blend of premium aged rums imported from the Caribbean." On the back, it says "Produced in Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad. Bottled in South Africa." It also makes references to the brand's history: "From our very first bottle in 1852, to the one in your hand right now, Red Heart is still made the way it has always been -- using fine Caribbean pot still rums, aged in white oak casks and blended with care. Red Heart's award-winning flavor is bold and distinctive. A rum with Heart."

There's a "fan page" on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/RedHeartRum/about/

According to the Facebook page, it's "double distilled" and is "an aromatic blend of 18 different types of Caribbean Rum ranging from the light and clean continuous still rums, to the heavier, fruitier flavoured Pot still rums which typify the Jamaican Rums and set them apart from all others."

Though it's technically a Navy style rum, it's interesting that the promotional material makes sure to mention the Jamaican pot still flavor, which clearly dominates. FYI, I'm also told that it probably includes a small percentage of South African rums (for taxation purposes). This is most likely less than 2 percent and wouldn't have any influence on the flavor profile.

As mentioned above, the nose and flavor are heavy on the Jamaican pot-still component, but the overall blend evens it out nicely and puts it squarely in the Kohala Bay wheelhouse. If you're ever in South Africa, it's well worth tracking down.