Help me with my Grog Log tasting party!

Anyway...

I am planing a tasting party around the Grog Log and need some guidance. I live in PA where we have state controlled spirits. So our rum selection is very limited. My current rum stock is not good. I have Bacardi white, Bacardi 151, Myers Dark, and Ron Zapaca anos 23.

Sooooo... I figure I need a decent version of each of these varieties:
Jamaican, Martinique, Barbados, Demerara.

Besides the line of Bacardi the state store only has these rums: Cruzan Estate Diamond, Mount Gay Eclipse (Barbados?) Mount Gay Silver, Pyrat XO, Rhum Clement Premier white, Stroh 160 proof. They also have the Ron Zap and Zaya, but I am not mixing those.

So do any of those listed qualify? Probably not. I might try to drive to Ohio for some other choices. But I do not know what I can find over there.

Since there doesn't seem to be a master table at Tiki Central matching brands of rums from their origination countries I could use some help in filling in the blanks. (Maybe a moderator should start one!)

Thanks all for your help!

Myers's is Jamaican, so you already have that. Myers's Platinum is a good white, if you can find it, and better than Bacardi.

Mt Gay is Barbados. The Eclipse is not the best, but it will do.

Rhum Clement is Martinique and excellent in all its varieties.

I don't remember where Pyrat XO is from, but it is great rum so who cares. It can be used as a sipping rum or as a mixer when a higher shelf rum is called for.

I have never been disappointed by Cruzan. It is great rum for the money.

Demerara is harder to come by and none of those you listed is a demerara. You want either Lemon Hart or El Dorado. Personally I receommend Lemon Hart if you can find it. It comes in 80 proof and 151 and you can't tell the difference unless you check the proof on the label, which gives it by % alcohol. 40% is 80 proof, 75.5% is 151. Most recipes that call for demerarra in the Grog Log call for the 151.

Now I can't remember what else is on your list. the rums you list are good for substitutes if you can't find everything you need.

Get the Mont Gay Eclipse, and try to find the Clemente amber or darker version, not white. Surely it's out there if they have the white. I would sub that for your Demerara of what you have listed. Cruzan is okay. I'm not a fan of the Single Barrel, but many love it.

And get thee to the Grogalizer!

[ Edited by: Swanky 2009-08-12 09:16 ]

I'm sorry to say that Ohio is state controlled as well, and has a horrid selection of rum, and it's expensive as well. Is NJ at all close to you, no further than Ohio at least? Jersey has some great stores, and sells Demerara as well. Many of the NJ stores ship to others states. Let me know if you would like some suggestions.

If it were me, and I could get the products in NJ, I would suggest the following:

Appleton V/X-Jamaican and all around excellent rum
Coruba-Great dark rum, rich and flavourful. Myers Dark would be my 2nd choice
Bacardi 8- Puerto Rican Gold
El Dorado 5yr Demerara
Lemon Hart 151 Demerara
Inexpensive and good quality White rum other than Bacardi-Brugal, Cruzan, Myers White are usually well priced and excellent quality
Martinique Rum Agricole-Clement VSOP, Rhum St. James Hors D'age (or Amber), Neisson Rhum Réserve Spéciale or La Favorite Rhum Vieux

With these rums you can make pretty much make any drink in the Log or any other Tiki cocktail book as well. Add a decent but reasonably priced brandy for Fog Cutters and a few other drinks, btw. I like to us Paul Masson Grande Amber VSOP, which is a mixture of California brandy & French Cognac. It's reasonably priced and excellent quality.

[ Edited by: CincyTikiCraig 2009-08-12 22:45 ]

Also available to me are the Paramount 151, Gosling's Black Seal Bermudian 80 or Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva 80. Any of these good choices?

I found I can order Lemon Hart 80 or 151 or Wray and Nephew white overproof. However, I would need to order at least 6 bottles of each. Does anyone have any idea which exactly the W&N overproof might be?

I'm no expert (but I play one on TV), but I would say if you can get the Lemon Hart 80 and 151, you should be able to get by with the rest subbing or using Cruzan, Myers, Mt. Gay and the like.

I have a similar (state controlled) limited selection living here in VA.

Good luck, and go Steelers!!

On 2009-08-13 07:22, Finleyville wrote:
Does anyone have any idea which exactly the W&N overproof might be?

Wray & Nephew overproof is a white Jamaican rum that, I believe, is 126 proof. I've been told it's the most popular rum on the island, but probably not for good reasons.

One piece of advise regarding the recipes in Grog Log and Intoxica, unless you've mixed these recipes previously, you'll probably want to adjust a few of them which use lime juice in particular. I've noticed that many of the drinks which have lime juice as a primary ingredient are way too sour. I don't know if this is because limes vary in acidity in various parts of the country or if its because he's using a different variety or size (like key limes), but almost without exception, Bum's recipes involving limes are too sour to my taste. When using his recipes, I usually start off with about 1/2 the lime amounts he specifies and then adjust to taste as necessary. Don't be afraid to substitute if you don't have the exact rum called for either. I've made several of the drinks with rums other than what was specified with excellent results too.

That's not to say Beachbum's books are bad. In fact, quite the contrary. These books are considered the Holy Grail of Tiki/Exotic drinks by many here for a reason. Many of the recipes he has either reverse-engineered or obtained by the bartenders that invented them. Even so, I still treat these books as bar guides and therefore allow some interpretation as to my taste.

Have fun and take 3 aspirin before going to bed!