What's your latest rum purchase?

I made it to Davidson's Liquor yesterday, which is probably the most tiki-friendly store in the Denver metro area. Not only do they carry BG Reynolds' syrups (I picked up some orgeat, but didn't look for passionfruit, which they've had in the past) and have a few mugs from Frankie's on the shelf, but they've just started stocking Denizen Merchant's Reserve.

Ran some errands today and made a trip to "The World's Largest Liquor Store." A week or so ago, their website said they had Senior Curacao, but there wasn't any today. However, I did pick up my first bottle of White Stache:

As I was standing in the rum aisle, an employee brought a guy in his twenties up to the Lemon Hart 151. I tried to sell him on the Hamilton, because of flavor and price ($5 less), but he said, "I don't know much about rum; my dad just recommended this." Who am I--some weird alcoholic stranger at the liquor store--to contradict someone's father?

Two bottles of the nearly unobtainable (at least over here) Coruba, found gathering dust in a little liquor store way out of the way.

Keep in mind if they restock Senor Curacao it will be a shell of it's former self. I think they call it Genuine Curacao now and it went through two changes I've noticed. First they added artificial coloring (used to be clear) now is orange-ish, then they raised the sugar content from like 30 grams to a whopping 222 grams. The flavor is medicinal and it will destroy your cocktails. Senor Curacao of Curacao used to be my go to orange liqueur, especially for Mai Tai's. Now I can't touch the stuff.

Glad you were able to find some bottles. Coruba recently (last year or so?) changed their labels back to the previous style so they look less like Malibu. I know you were having to look high and low for these, I'm curious if you've asked any mom and pop shops to special order it for you. Chances are they already buy product from the distributor who carries Coruba so they won't have to start a new account or go out of their way to place an order for you. Some shops are less receptive to this, but in general if they don't know you want it, they won't order it. So keep pestering.

Yep. That was my first thought. But then it turns out the distributor in FL is - get this! - out of stock. They're waiting to hear when they will get more. (It's Wray & Nephew, "Dashing the hopes of tikiphiles since 1944.") So I was glad to have scored these.

(As usual, I left a couple for the next person. I remember a few years ago, someone found a big stash of Kohala Bay at some out of the way Mom-and-Pop, cleared them out, leaving nothing for whoever came next, and THEN posted about it. Which struck me as deeply un-ohana.)

[ Edited by jokeiii on 2022-04-24 08:22:52 ]

I wonder if Florida is going through the transition to bring in new bottles but for some reason the distributor is waiting for shops to sell out of the old label or put in enough orders to justify the next shipment. I still think pestering is worthwhile. It's one thing for a shop to check distributor stock and simply say, they don't have it. It's another for them to report to the distributor saying people keep asking for this, when will you be getting more? Or perhaps this is just a supply chain issue.

I remember that KB score from a few years back. On the bright side, the world of rum has exploded so much in the past few years that for how much of a work horse/essential ingredient that rum was, we have so many more amazing options to choose from nowadays.

1. If I had to guess, I'd say you're right re. label transition.

2. It was "We just put in your special order, but the distributor is out of stock. He'll let us know when he gets his next shipment." But! I can call them every 10ish days or so (and they can call the distributor who can then call either Wray or his Nephew) and maybe yanking that chain gets some results.

3. My point (which I think I could have phrased better) is that when something is Highly Sought After and Difficult To Find...and you happen to chance upon it, the ohana thing to do is leave a few for someone else and then let people know.

Yes, we're very fortunate there are many workarounds for rums that disappear (invariably these are from Wray & Nephew, for some reason) and sometimes playing Indiana Jones is part of the fun. But still, people should be SLIGHTLY considerate of others.

I don't disagree with this assessment.

Thanks, Mike. I think I'll pass then.

My last purchase, a few months ago.

This clip from Alton Brown (on DIY orange liqueur, from his video on Margaritas) has been for me a bit of a game changer.

https://youtu.be/a85P5SBeYDs?t=39

You can adjust the sugar up or down, tinker with the base spirit(s), play with the orange varietals, etc., etc.

Give it a try.

P.S. If you don't have a sous vide rig, a slow cooker set on warm should do the trick. (You can double check the water temperature and toggle between off and warm to keep it in the 150F-165F range and you'll be fine.

Stopped at Hazel's in Boulder for a couple of specific things, and then found some things I didn't know I needed. The El Dorado 15 in the back is a birthday gift for my brother-in-law (of Mr. Tiki fame).

Picked up at duty free during a Panama City layover

Made a trip to Hazel's and Daveco on Tuesday for these bottles

For anyone in the San Diego area, this isn't bad! Visited a couple months ago, was more impressed than I expected to be. They're on Magnolia, on the Santee / El Cajon line. Copper Collar Distilling

I'm going to be a long way from my beloved HiTime Wines for the foreseeable future but there are still a few liquor stores up in the bay area that have the good stuff.

I wasn't familiar with Copper Collar. Can you tell us what rum it's similar to and the price? I checked Copper Collar's website, but it doesn't give much info on this particular spirit.

Arriano - Ted keeps saying that Copper Collar barrel aged rum reminds him of a Foursquare rum. I don't know if it's quite that level, but it was better than expected. Had nice flavor, and wasn't sweet. We first tasted it at a party and between not too many of us, we finished the bottle. It wasn't inexpensive - I think $50-$60 a bottle normally? But they had some kind of deal when we visited that gave us a discount.

Stopped in Martinique on a cruise and picked this up.

From recent trip to the Islands..

Storm,

If you can’t find Coruba, you might be able to get in the ballpark by mixing Blackwells and Meyers -both of which might be more available. Coruba is better but has some of that distinctive flavor I first tasted in Blackwells, which is more readily available near me.

This Japanaese rum is a K&L exclusive. It is one of the best things that I have ever put in my mouth.

Just picked up at Total Wine. Probably the only thing I found new there.

Cruzan Aged Gold (now called Cruzan Aged Dark) is suprisingly good in a Mai Tai and other cocktails calling for Puerto Rican or Virgin Island rum.

Recent trip to Tijuana. They've slightly changed the 3 Anos label to include the word "Original," which I'm guessing is a slap at Bacardi's fake Havana Club.

[ Edited by arriano on 2023-04-20 13:01:50 ]

I decided to go for the gusto at KL Wines today. With the temperature rising in a hurry now that the rains are finally over I figure I'll need to inaugurate Mai Tai season with a real banger.

Well I was hoping to share that I acquired Havana Club 3 year + Seleccion de Maestros, but for whatever reason it successfully made the trip from Denmark to LAX, then LA, and then for some reason right back around and sent back to Germany.

I've never had a problem with FineDrams.com before, and clearly it passed customs, but zero explanation. They apologized and sent them back out again, so hopefully in a month I'll have a better update.

Received today from Fine Drams. One for me, one for my brother-in-law. One for me, one for my brother-in-law.

Picked this up remembering the Myers Mona daiquiri shown on old DTB menus and thinking that it might be in a similar vein.

A Father’s Day gift, first time ever having it. And now I am a much better person for downing several glasses of this clear ray of sunshine. If for some reason you find yourself running low on morphine or have recently been rudely awakened from a coma, a bottle of Old Republic Rum will get you thru the day.

Was in Orange County last week and went to Hi-Time and picked up some Coruba (which I've found in CO in the past but has been scarce recently) and Worthy Park. Also excited to learn that they are able to ship to the state again, as of the last month or so. Then after getting back to Denver, I stopped at Divino Wine & Spirits on South Broadway to pick up The Breezeway Blend and some White Stache.

The haul i brought back from my recent trip to the US. Didn't get the exact things i was after but i'm happy with this lot.

GROG bought rum Saturday. It was in a few drinks at the Tonga Hut. It's gone now.