Don Q rum?

Hey rummies. A friend of mine just came back from Puerto Rico & gave me 2 bottles of Don Q, gold & white. I always assumed Don Q was a cheap, harsh rum & not as good as Cruzan or Flor for tiki drinks. Anyone here tried it? Deciding whether to crack it or save it for a regift..

I still prefer Cruzan over any of the rums mentioned (just my personal preference) but just remember that Don Q isn't Bacardi. I've bought it in the past for my basic mixing rum. It'll do the job fine at any rate.

Thanks Keith!?

I agree with Keith. I have a bottle of Don Q, it's definitely better than Bacardi, but I seem to never reach for the Don Q and reach instead for the Cruzan. So I don't see myself buying Don Q again unless I'm going to make a lot of Derby Daiquiris, in which case Don Q has some "historical roots" with that drink.

I've never heard anyone really complain about Don Q. But Cruzan seems to have the edge when it comes to a "everyday" white rum.

The same is pretty much true for the El Dorado white rum too -- not stellar, but better than Bacardi white. El Dorado white sure is inexpensive.

I generally prefer Don Q over Cruzan. I was just having this conversation with a coworker and told her the same thing. Don Q is a very good product, made with natural ingredients, using sustainable methods. I've been to the distillery and actually seen the process, so it's not just marketing. They're actually doing groundbreaking work in the area of making their processes ecologically responsible. That alone would be enough for me, but fortunately, it also tastes really good.

According to Hurricane Howard, both Don Q Cristal and Don Q Gold were gold winners at this years Miami Rum Renaissance festival.

Good information, JenTiki & hiltiki. I will re-visit my Don Q Cristal again and compare it to Cruzan. My Don Q has been sitting idle, gathering dust... Thanks for your input! I may find that Don Q is underrated.

Now to solve my space issues in my bar - so many bottles and recipes, so little space!

Fwiw I tried the silver in a mutiny & a rum barrel this wkend & it worked out just splendidly. My friend told me that most of the locals in Puerto Rico drink Don Q & vastly prefer it over Bacardi

On 2016-04-18 11:24, happy buddha wrote:
My friend told me that most of the locals in Puerto Rico drink Don Q & vastly prefer it over Bacardi

Poor Bacardi... Stuck with their flavors and formulas, and can't change it. They do, however, produce a few rums which are decently rated, like the Bacardi 8 and their 1909 Superior Heritage. I personally am impressed with their Seven Tiki spiced rum which is VERY vanilla-forward and surprisingly smooth. But generally, Bacardi is not very highly rated except by those (the majority of the population?) who don't know much more about liquor other than how to simply guzzle it.

I live 15-20 minutes from their bottling plant, but have yet to find a reason (or the courage) to stand in front of the big Bacardi sign, get my photo taken, and post it somewhere. I think that says a lot. Of course, they don't give any factory tours either.....

On 2016-04-18 11:24, happy buddha wrote:
My friend told me that most of the locals in Puerto Rico drink Don Q & vastly prefer it over Bacardi

This is true. All the bars in San Juan have Don Q signs, not Bacardi. I heard from some locals that showing up to a friend's home with a bottle of Bacardi is an insult. They all preferred Don Q.

On 2016-04-18 09:56, hiltiki wrote:
According to Hurricane Howard, both Don Q Cristal and Don Q Gold were gold winners at this years Miami Rum Renaissance festival.

And the Consumer Rum Jury in Miami (I was on that one) awarded a silver medal to Don Q Signature Release 2005. I personally rated it higher than a lot of the ones that got gold medals. I don't know what the other judges were thinking rating a bunch of flavored rums higher than others that were not messed with. I mean, really, they gave best in class to a toasted coconut rum. :o I remember really enjoying that one, but there's no way I was giving my highest ratings to flavored rums knowing all 19 that we judged were being lumped together!

Of course, they don't give any factory tours either.....

Which is one of the major reasons I don't trust it! If you have nothing to hide, then why hide it?

But to be fair, they recently came out with a premium line called Facundo (named after their founder), and they're actually quite good. There is very little Bacardi branding on the Facundo bottles since they're trying to appeal to the premium rum drinkers. I think the only giveaway I've noticed is a little bat embossed on one of the bottles. They don't even list them on the Bacardi website.

I've tasted a few of them at Smuggler's Cove and had the opportunity to taste the two most expensive ones this weekend in Miami. The Paraiso is exceptionally good! Sadly, its price tag (around $250) matches its quality. I'm glad I tasted the Exquisito this weekend because I was close to buying a bottle ($90-$100). After tasting it, I would happily drink a shot of it in a bar, or someone's home, but I wasn't wowed enough to pay the bottle price for it.

[ Edited by: JenTiki 2016-04-18 12:18 ]

Don Q is preferred by Puerto Ricans because they consider Bacardi and outsider that moved to PR from Cuba, whereas Don Q is a native product. I think that if you find any cocktail recipes pre-Castro that call for Puerto Rican rum, Don Q would be the brand rather than Bacardi.

I love Cruzan, but I typically use it when it's the primary single rum base. If there's a more flavorful rum (Demarara, Barbados, etc) in the recipe I find the Don Q is much more neutral so it lets the other flavors sing a little more. Credit to 5 Minutes of Rum for even trying Don Q, previously tried some hideous PR rums.