What's your latest rum purchase?

For me good rum is part of tiki - I started drinking rum, wondered 'what cocktails can I make?' & found tiki :)

I think TC needs a thread to show you latest rum purchases, let others know if it's good or not etc etc. Basically booze porn with a few opinions thrown in :)

I expect people will post 'the good stuff' but I'll get the ball rolling:

Most people will have this in their collection ~ Appleton VX is a benchmark Jamaican rum. I have better jamaican rums but when I run out of VX, I make sure to go & get another bottle quickly.

Over to you TC! :)

I recently and FINALLY got my hands on some El Dorado 12 and El Dorado 5. Before that, Coruba dark. Both of them are relatively hard to get around LA in that you can't just swing by the local chain store, or even my local liquor stores to get them (where Pyrat XO is a jackpot of a find.)

kkocka just scooped by last rum purchases. . . ED5 and Coruba are essential for the home bar and I was out of one and desperately low on the other, so that was what I picked up this week. Before that, ED12 and Appleton 12 were the last things I bought. Both regular rotators on my budget-constrained sipping shelf.

The most exciting new recent new finds for me from a few weeks ago were El Dorado 3 year white rum and the newly re-available Cruzan Estate Diamond 5 year gold rum. Both are very solid and destined to become fast friends.

[ Edited by: Sunny&Rummy 2013-09-26 19:33 ]

I just got a new bottle, right before I left home. I can't recall the name, though. From Thailand, with a crazy gold inlay on the bottle.

On 2013-09-26 19:20, djmont wrote:
I just got a new bottle, right before I left home. I can't recall the name, though. From Thailand, with a crazy gold inlay on the bottle.

Phraya. . .

http://www.phrayarum.com

A 1.5 liter bottle of Flor de Caña 4 yr Gold for $19.

ED15, Plantation overproof and St. James Vieux

2 bottles of Coruba - they've just switched distributors in the Chicago area. Time for some Planters Punch!

My most recent rum purchase was a bottle of Coruba. It's not available in Ontario but a friend was coming to visit from Manitoba and I got him to bring a bottle with him. My most recent rum purchase that I was able to go to the LCBO and buy was Smith & Cross.

Phraya. . .

http://www.phrayarum.com

That's it. Anyone try it?

No.

Appleton Estate Reserve.

I'd rather have Coruba but nobody sells it afaik within a 20 mile radius.

Funny you should ask . . . I just completed my quarterly "Booze Road Trip" which yielded the following:
2 1.75L of Coruba (Special ordered at Total Wine)
3 Smith & Cross
1 Appleton Reserve
1 Appleton (12 year old)
1 Appleton Special gold - 1.75L
2 Lemon Hart 151
2 El Dorado 5 year old
2 El Dorado "Cuba Libre" dark
1 El Dorado 12 year old.
2 Cruzan "Aged" white 1.75L
2 Cruzan "Aged" dark, amber, whatever.1.75L
2 Blackwell
1 Pussers 15 year old
2 Pussers blue label
2 Saint James extra old
1 Mount Gay extra old
2 Zaya
3 Kohala Bay 1.75L

Plus various components; Orgeat,falernum,bitters and pimento dram,Orange Curacao, Triple Sec, etc.

I have to travel 35 miles North to Ray's Liquors in Ft. Pierce (the only place I can get LH 151, and I call first to make sure they have it), then I work my way South stopping at Total Wine & More, Crown Liquors, ABC and finally my neighborhood Star Liquors III who carries Kohala Bay. Anyway, that's why I stock up every three months. I sometimes feel like "Norm" on Cheers . . . when I walk in, the employees all call out "Will!". Is that a bad thing? They all know me because of that "Wanted" poster I passed around and possibly because I empty their shelves of "the good stuff". ABC has my 'Wanted' poster on their bulletin board in the office!

This should hold me till December.

[ Edited by: gentlehangman 2013-09-28 08:12 ]

[ Edited by: gentlehangman 2013-09-28 11:35 ]

December 2015! Damn, that is a haul.

And when I go to Roy's looking for Smith&Cross and LH151 and not finding any I'll know who to blame!

Some day I'm going to splurge and buy that bottle of Pusser's 15 year red label on the shelf at Roy's, but I will have to pass on the $325 bottle of El Dorado 25.

[ Edited by: Sunny&Rummy 2013-09-28 14:09 ]

On 2013-09-28 07:12, GentleHangman wrote:
Funny you should ask . . . I just completed my quarterly "Booze Road Trip" which yielded the following:...

This should hold me till December

Thats impressive!

Far be it from me to judge Mr Gentle Hangman but that's...34 litres of liqour aka half a bottle a day (ish)!

If you need a hand lemme know :wink:

I recently did my recycling & it looked like a pretty good bar!

L-R = Gordons Gin, RZ23, Four Roses, Falernum, Triple Sec, Cruzan White, W&N, Cointreau, Plantation 5 Barbados, VX, El Dorado 12, Appleton 12, Bacardi 8, Matsuleum 15.

Admittedly some of the bottles were a year old plus but I have replaced the Appleton 12 & VX, Bacardi 8 & RZ23 quick smart.

On 2013-09-28 12:33, Sunny&Rummy wrote:
Some day I'm going to splurge and buy that bottle of Pusser's 15 year red label...

Do it! I had a miniature recently & I cant recommend it enough ~ If you like Pussers Blue Label, Pussers 15 Red Label is a sipper version :)

I had a glass of Pusser's red label courtesy of a friend years ago when my rum appreciation was still in its infancy. I remember liking it, but also think I had it on ice with a squeeze of lime, totally defeating the purpose of a fine sipping rum. What the hell did I know?

Sunny & Rummy: Call Roy's before you make the trip; that's what I do. I get the Smith & Cross at Total Wine, it's cheaper.

AdroAdam: I do a lot of entertaining so I have plenty of help. This run was much larger than usual as I missed one of my usual runs and allowed my bar stash to get too low.

On 2013-09-28 17:10, GentleHangman wrote:
Sunny & Rummy: Call Roy's before you make the trip; that's what I do. I get the Smith & Cross at Total Wine, it's cheaper.

I work at the oceanographic institute in Fort Pierce so it's only a 10 minute trip down to Roy's for me.

I have been shopping at Roy's for about 5 years, and I have still not worked up the nerve to go inside the Boozgeois Saloon.

I just stocked up a couple more bottles of Havana Club 3 Anos which is without comparision the rum that I use the most at home. Especially in cocktails it makes for a big difference compared to their standard Anejo Blanco.

On 2013-09-30 04:12, Klas wrote:
I just stocked up a couple more bottles of Havana Club 3 Anos which is without comparision the rum that I use the most at home. Especially in cocktails it makes for a big difference compared to their standard Anejo Blanco.

You are very fortunate! I have a half bottle left and I have a hard time bringing myself to use it.

Yeah, I know what you mean! Lots of various Havana Club rums readily available here but no Lemon Hart!

Driving from LA to Trader Dick's in Sparks Nevada, five days ago... passing through Carson City, saw a liquor store... Aloha Spirits... tiki torches and surfboards adorning the facade... stopped in and quite possibly purchased the very last bottle of Lemonhart 80 proof in the Silver State! For 20 bucks!

Nice find Eric.

Sunday-

I love the way that liquor store looks. I wouldn't even care about finding anything! :)

Havana Club 3 is my preferred rum for mojitos & Hemmingways :)

Lunavideogames - which Saint James is that & how do you rate it?

My latest purchase:

Rum cask finish so Im spreading the word - it has a nice edge on it, in the same way the Plantation range has a nice edge from cognac barrels.

2 bottles of Coruba and an Aged Gold Cruzan.

Still cant find Coruba or Kohala Bay. Just bought a bottle of Ron Bermudez Anejo. Really smooth straight in a brandy snifter with a good funk. Its only $16 a liter. Will try it in mixed cocktails this weekend.

Storm

I've bought Coruba before at Toledo Liquor & Wine, in Northport...

Deciding the 1st drink from the new stock will be hard! :)

Definitely the Smith & Cross!

Chairmans Reserve rum.

IMO: Neat at first it feels a bit more mixer than sipper. Adding a bit of water or ice doesn't change it much for the better. If you mix it 'too much' the flavour disappears (eg 3 mins stirring in a old fashioned) & you might as well use something straight column distilled. If you 'lightly' mix it, its quite good (eg in an old fashioned with 30 second stir). It worked well with Peychauds bitters making me think that Rum Sazeracs could be in order.

To compare it to other 'english' style rums, it's got a pot stilled flavour neat with a little smokey / woody aftertaste ~ it's light but has some 'fuller' characteristics. Definately not an Appleton, for me it sits a slight step up from El Dorado 5 & Mount Gay, slightly below Angostura 1919.

Cheers all!

Kraken. Always more Kraken.

Some Hamiltons...

I got 4 Hamiltons, too, although I haven't opened the package yet. And some Cockspur overproof.

The Cockspur 130 is good. Definitely recommend it.

Which Hamiltons did you get, David? I hear that the cask strengths are disappearing.

I was able to snag the 7 year and 5 year cask strengths. They were sold out of the 9 (cask strength).

Just ordered some of the 8 (cask strength) with fingers crossed.

Cheers!

I got the Jamaicans, and the 7 year and 9 year St. Lucia, both regular strength.

I suppose I should have got the cask strength ones... But I opted for the regular instead. They're still high enough proof for me. :)

On 2013-11-12 15:36, djmont wrote:
I got the Jamaicans, and the 7 year and 9 year St. Lucia, both regular strength.

I suppose I should have got the cask strength ones... But I opted for the regular instead. They're still high enough proof for me. :)

Really tasty and unique (I think, for what is available in our stores) rums. The Jamaican has a wonderful molasses aroma.

It looks like Hi-Time will be getting more in.

Anybody know if Total Wine will be stocking the Hamilton bottlings?

They're currently only available in a few states. You might need to reach out to the distributors (and your local retailer) to light a fire.

http://caribbean-spirits.com/distributors.php

On 2013-11-12 15:17, djmont wrote:
I got 4 Hamiltons, too, although I haven't opened the package yet. And some Cockspur overproof.

The Cockspur 130 is good. Definitely recommend it.

Hey David,

May I ask where you found the Cockspur 130?

It was a sample from the PR person. I'm not sure if it's made its way into stores yet or not.

David J. Montgomery
Author of Professor Cocktail's Zombie Horde: Recipes for the World's Most Lethal Drink

[ Edited by: djmont 2013-12-06 11:04 ]

I reviewed the new Cockspur overproof:

Cockspur 130 Overproof Rum

Picked these up today

Good recent purchases hang10tiki!

Mine:

I have been making my own falernum recently - the problem is it doesn't last long & can be quite variable batch to batch. John Taylors is long life!

Pussers 15 & El Dorado 12 are excellent.

I've tried El Dorado 8 & Clement VSOP previously & been impressed.

i bought some Maui dark rum on Kauai recently. Made some excellent "Planters Punch” and “Lapu Lapu”s” but a sipper it’s not!
Cheers
Btw, I don’t foresee buying any here in Cali unless it’s at a sale price.There are too many good “mixers” available in the Maui dark price range.
Cheers