Rums of Europe

The title of this thread does not refer to rums MADE in Europe, but to rums AVAILABLE in Europe - which is a fact that is of some solace to me when I am on extended Foreign Legion duty on that continent.

The American rum market, though growing with new rum brands, is still quite limited compared to what is out there in the world, so I take advantage of being able to try out new labels whenever I am working here. There are many more Demeraras in existence for example, as I have mentioned here...
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=45641&forum=10&vpost=684142

..and here:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=24304&forum=10

I always end up having to watch my intake because there are so many yummy options, especially since I lately have been partial to sipping Agricole rhums, like this fine Trois Rivieres...

...while this Cuban and the XM Royal Demerara are very palatable also! Adding to my conund-rum (excuse the pun) is the fact that the Sushi restaurant at my street corner recently installed a rum bar...

... with a menu offering more than 60 varieties of the cane juice...

...from all the rum-producing regions of the world.

The only thing that will keep me from becoming a total rummy are their prices (in Euro!)
I still could not resist some of these sweeter temptations from Austria and Italy:

• hic -

Nice pics :)

Im not sure if this thread is to debate the difference between rums available to different countries, to ask what you can get in Europe or what you can only get in Europe!

The difference in rum Europe to the US is massive. In Europe it is more expensive than the US & the level of choice is lower. I've not seen much good stuff on the shelves in mainland Europe but Germany has quite a few sites you can order from.

It would be normal for European supermarket to have available a few 'light style rums' (e.g. Bacardi, Captain Morgan, etc), with off licences being a bit more hit & miss - I may be wrong!

I think the UK has a good rum market compared to Europe - Bajan, jamaican, cuban styles, some demerara style rums are freely available.

In the UK (therefore Europe) you do see products that I think arent availble in the US, mostly demerara rums

e.g. OVD, Woods 100, McKinnon, Thompson.

You also get 'Plantation' style limited bottlings but they tend to be more premium prices.

Tiare from A Mountain Of Crushed Ice is a fan of demerara rums (I think she hails from Sweden so that suggestd they are obtainable over here) - have a read of her site:

http://www.amountainofcrushedice.com/?p=11382
http://www.amountainofcrushedice.com/?p=15840
http://www.amountainofcrushedice.com/?p=15856

Cheers! :)

The sheet variety of demerara rums that exist outside of the US is nearly enough of a reason for me to plan a trip overseas. I enjoy El Dorado, but I'd also like to taste what others can do with demerara rum.

Thanks for photos Sven!

kevin

All the rums I mentioned and show above are of course:

A.) not readily available outside of the larger metropolises

B.) not commonly displayed on the average supermarket shelf

Saw this website & thought of this thread:

http://www.wmcadenhead.com/collection/cadenheads-rums

:)

In Sweden, the government still has a monopoly on selling liquor but offers a pretty generous selection of (currently) 250 different rums from all the major rum producing countries. Most of these aren't on the shelves but can be easily ordered for you to pick up at your local "Systembolaget" store at no extra cost.

Check out their selection of rums here.

Wow, that's an impressive list.

I haven't seen a great selection in Italy, so far. There's a few good tums out there but Bahrain had a better selection and that whole country only had two liquor stores! I fear I may not be able to restart my tiki bar here.

Wayfarer - if the Italian postal service can be trusted not to rummage through your mail packages, worldwidespirits.de ships in plain white boxes. Their catalog is online, and service is friendly and prompt. Prices are in line with what you'd expect to pay in Europe, I never complain because they come through for me with some challenging stuff and unique stuff.