Does anyone have good uses for Trader Vic's dark rum?

bought a bottle last night for the first time, and found it to be... atrocious.

it tastes like a mix of Bacardi Select and Bailey's Irish Cream. seriously, Trader Vic's, WTF?

used it to make a couple of Hurricanes, they turned out kinda lousy.

so, anybody got a good use for this stuff?

I had same reaction the first (and only) time I bought it, too. I think I ended up using for baking rum cakes.

Dooooode, really???? There has to be some college kids near you that can mix it with Coke.

Sadly, the rums, and mixers for trader vics went way down in quality around 5 years ago.
when they switched the mixer bottles to plastic if I recall correctly.

Jeff(btd)

Sadly, this would not even make a good "Molotov Cocktail"

All the TV rums are terrible. Its a shame really....

Great News-- Total Wine let me return the opened bottle of Trader Vic's and exchange it for a bottle of Gosling's Black Seal!!

In this thread, Martiki (Martin Cate) confirmed that TV's rums are made by Cruzan. they are bought in bulk, minimally aged, and the 'dark' rums are heavily colored with caramel:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=33767&forum=10

TV's rums are the same kind of dreck that you will find being sold in plastic 1.75ml bottles on the bottom shelf of every liquor store under names like Paramount, Barton, Heaven Hill, Ronrico, etc. Buyer beware. The quality of TV's rums (or the lack thereof) just proves what Beachbum Berry said about the TV Corp in a recent interview:

"You've previously said you felt Trader Vic's legacy has been 'crapped on'. Why and by whom?

I said that about Trader Vic's [the restaurant group] because of the drinks. They are falling down on the job. I understand that they are expensive to make, but Vic was a quality control fanatic and God help you if you turned in anything less than a perfect drink in any of his 20 restaurants across the world. Today I don't see that quality control, they are not using the rums he would specify. I was in Atlanta recently and you don't get aged Martinique rum, or aged Jamaican rum in your Mai Tai - instead they use cheap well rums. I don't see the same attention paid to his recipes, but the hotel prices haven't dropped. I have enormous respect for Vic but being honest it does bother me when I have a Trader Vic drink and it's not what it used to be."

http://www.diffordsguide.com/class-magazine/read-online/en/2011-12-20/page-3/tiki?seen=1

[ Edited by: CincyTikiCraig 2012-02-23 20:30 ]

I'd also like to add that I'm really tired of sloppy drinks too. I suspect that Vic would have been upset if a drink was sloshed all around making the coaster/napkin wet and the glass and bar sticky. Honestly, if I'm going to spend $11 for a drink, it would be nice if the drink, my fingers and the napkin didn't stick . . . I'm personally willing to wait for perfection.

I've had some lower shelf rums supposedly made by cruzan that were pretty decent.

this TV stuff though, was like Irish cream with black food dye added. yux!

Cleaning my pipes. Yes, it is great for that.

Seriously, I'm not kidding.

The liquor/wine store across the street from me has one bottle of Trader Vic's rum (not sure what kind). It's got a lot of dust on it, and the owner said it's been sitting there for years and years.

I'm half tempted to buy it just for the bottle as a collectible. Yay or nay?

Pic

On 2018-07-02 09:54, Pelorus wrote:
The liquor/wine store across the street from me has one bottle of Trader Vic's rum (not sure what kind). It's got a lot of dust on it, and the owner said it's been sitting there for years and years.

I'm half tempted to buy it just for the bottle as a collectible. Yay or nay?

If it's the Royal Amber I'd suggest getting it. Apparently its the only rum in their lineup worth drinking (so of course its also the one with the sparsest distribution).

I use the dark in several recipes. It's nasty swill straight but mixes pretty well with the right ingredients.

Been a long while since I've had a bottle but from what I recall it's very molasses-y and medicinal. Works well in a party punch with lots of fruit juices but not as a go to mixer for drinks that will rely on its flavor.

On 2018-07-02 18:19, PalmtreePat wrote:

If it's the Royal Amber I'd suggest getting it. Apparently its the only rum in their lineup worth drinking (so of course its also the one with the sparsest distribution).

I'd second that. The Royal Amber is a very good Mai Tai rum, tho' not a sipper, and makes a really superior Mai Tai. Until the quality control went out the window at many Trader Vic's, it is the rum they are supposed to use for a TV Mai Tai. Get the Royal Amber if you can find it, but to the best of my knowledge, it is available at fewer than a dozen retail locations nationwide.

As for the rest of the Trader Vic's rums, sadly, they are a total waste.

[ Edited by: Dr. Coruba 2018-08-23 09:37 ]

It can flambé in a few things.