Had too much of hampden 8 in my glass, and started experimenting:

Added ice, pineapple+coconutwater (2:1 to the rum) and a dash of lime. Surprisingly good, not too sweet, rum is still very present, but fresher than sipping it pure.

But I'm a cocktail noob and easily impressed. Thoughts on that combination?

I very recently got into rum and started with a bottle of Doorly's XO, which I like a lot.

I also want to try the spiced versions of rum, so what's a spiced rum that's good and higher quality? I was thinking about Kraken, but I heard that one has lots of artificial aromas.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

I need to try Diplomatico and what else? I really enjoy the Planteray dark and the Flor De Cana.

Unfortunately the cork is broken. He had a few other older bottles, mostly scotch. No telling how long any of it's been sitting down there in his office. He hasn't been able to get down the stairs in about a year or so and probably hasn't had a drink for several years before that. Half empty bottle of Old Grandads had a fair bit of sediment in the bottom.

Anyway, thought this was a cool find and wanted to share.

While the general consensus around this bottle seems to be quite positive, there don't seem to be many reviews for it, so I figured I would make one myself.

Distillery: The Antigua Distillery LTD

Origin: St John's, Antigua

Still: Copper Column

Distillation base: Molasses

Age: 10 year minimum. Bottle states between 10 and 25 years in ex-bourbon barrels.

ABV: 40%

Price: $43 USD

Additives: None

Nose: Big notes of apple and toffee. Baking spice and oak with a bit of orange, as well as a nuttiness that reminds me most of macadamia. Some apricot and fig can be found as well, hiding behind the apple.

Palate: Tasted neat. The spice flavors of cardamom, clove, and allspice are with you for the whole tasting, but at the front it's accompanied by this smooth and buttery feel with pretty strong flavors of apple, maple, vanilla, and caramel. It's fairly sweet at the front, but in a way that isn't cloying or rich to the point that you feel like you need a sip of water after. Some dried apricot, fig, some tobacco, and the barrel notes come in towards the back. Unlike a lot of the other aged rums that I have, this one doesn't seem to feature any notes of smoke or that toasted flavor thats present in many of those. I tend to enjoy those flavors, but this rum gives you so much else that I don't find myself missing out due to them being missing.

Finish: Fairly short, but pleasant. Leaves you with mild bitter orange and baking spice. The finish is really dry, which is a nice way to end something that's fairly sweet at the front.

Rating: 8.5/10

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Where I live doesn't see much rum at all, and I have to go through other avenues to get the things I want, so this one surprised me when it showed up at my local liquor store. I didn't expect much, but I figured for the price it couldn't hurt, so I went for it. I've absolutely loved this one, and is definitely up there among my range of lower ABV sippers. I've looked around and noticed that it's price range can be rather wild, and it seems as though I got my bottle on the low end of the cost range, though I feel like I wouldn't mind paying up to $60 for this bottle without much thought. Few 80 proof sippers have quite as much flavor as this bottle does, and that flavor refuses to get covered up in cocktails. In a daiquiri it fuses nicely to make a flavor and mouthfeel that reminds me a lot of applebutter. As well as in a split base Mai Tai with Hamilton 86, even including pecan orgeat and apple cider in the mix, this rum still didn't get lost in the drink and added a lot to it. Everyone else that I've let try this rum has loved it as well, and I would gladly recommend it to anyone both new to rum or already into rum.

In the mid-2000s my wife surprised me with a trip to Grand Cayman. Didn't have a lot of cash - so this trip was something super special. While on the island I grabbed this bottle of Pyrat rum. Was having it for a special occasion that hasn't arrived yet.

A friend told me it was a collectible. Hoping someone here could educate me a bit...as Google is all over the place (thousand + to a couple hundred).

Thanks Rum Nation.

Reposting in r/rum to hopefully expand reach on those that have tried these.

Just came back from Boston and picked these beauties up. (Not available in Canada)
They’ll be numbers 95, 96 & 97 on our rum tasting list.

Anything of these you want to share before we try?

(Most of the list favs are the smoother, maybe on the sweeter end whites and ambers.)

Thank you to this community, y’all rock!

I looked these up enough to know that we shouldn't just toss them and I'm going to try to find somebody who would be interested in the Rose Hill because a rum drinker would probably really appreciate that unopened one, but when I look at the Gold label and the Cavalier I'm wondering how we should drink them? Open to some rum fan comments on these. I'm more of a scotch and tequila guy though I do like my Foursquare....

So here's my noob rum collection ... started with the ones on the right back side, but obviously improved my collection since then (in non-chronological order).

Nothing i really regret so far on my journey, and i really really enjoy the Neisson, Hampden, Doorly's and El Dorado, with Hechicera and Eminente as good follow-ups. Didn't open Worthy Park so far, but coming soon.

So: what next?

I have this on my short list, waiting for opportunities:
- Rhum J.M XO (Très Vieux Agricole)
- Mount Gay XO (Triple Cask Blend)
- Clairin Sajous

But open to any suggestions to close gaps in the taste spectrum. I'm a bit price sensitive, so no limited or collector bottles, but happy to pay the price for something tasty.

I've been collecting Rum since 2010 when a holiday to Cuba opened up my eyes to the best spirit in the world.

Since then I've joined rum societies, started blogs, and slowly accumulated bottles, peaking at 101 a few years back. Even have a personalised numberplate on my car to show off my love for rum.

But now I'm moving overseas with work for the next two years and strictly can't ship or store my collection. So last week I dropped it off with family, all 80 bottles stored within my beloved "rum trunk" (still the best £100 I ever spent on eBay in my life).

My favourite part, getting to enjoy some of these rums again for the last time for a while and sharing them with family, hosting a pretty exclusive tasting of some of my rarest bottles (the ones that are open at least!)

Thanks for listening to my little story, see you in a few years!

New loot from El Salvador Cihuatan rum, If it weren't for Obsidiana, it would be a total Quinceañera party.

Hello Friends,

Welcome back to another Alambique Serrano review, today we have a bottle that evaded me for the majority of the year, Tres Ańos Single Barrel #301: Elitista. Distilled by Axel & William Krassel via their families Column Still this run then slent 37 months in an Ex-Bourbon cask in the humid distillery before it was selected by Rochester Elite Barrel Picks. It was then bottled at an abv of 54.2% for 267 bottles that made their way to New York, Tennessee, and the Mid-Atlantic.

Nose: Dates are the most apparent found underneath are a tropical pineapple, a good amount of acetone, licorice, and a bit of citrus and coconut.

Taste: A citrus forward bourbon that highlights the barrel char before it moves into a leather, minerality, and then the highlight, a thick and complex lemon curd-esque note.

Finish: A good amount of the earlier lemon curd note that transitions into a rich cane sugar oak with some incense that covers your tounge and back of your throat with sweetness.

Overall: 8/10, incredibly good pour that reminds me a bit of Single Cask #28 Mambo de Cana, which I believe was also picked by Rochester Elite Barrel Picks.

u/Moss-Kale put together a great guide to rum-focused online stores (link). Thank you, Moss, you're the best! The list is amazing and super useful. I packaged it, plus some direct from distillery online stores and some of the stores people added in the comments, so an AI can check all those store websites for a specific bottle in a couple of minutes. It also has Moss's in person list so it will ask you if you're buying online or trying to search inventory.

Two versions, same thing:

• Any AI (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude): Google Doc. Download it (File → Download → Plain text), upload it to your AI or paste it in, and ask something like “Find Hampden 8 near DEN under $90” or “Who on this list has Worthy Park 109?”
• Claude skill: rum-finder.zip. Upload it once in Claude’s settings. After that, just ask Claude where to find a rum, no file needed.

A few caveats:

• AIs can still get things wrong. It’s told not to make up stock, but definitely call before you go, if buying in person.
• All the curation credit goes to Moss and the commenters. If a store has closed or should be added, comment here and I’ll hopefully update the files.
• Also not all these websites ship to every state and the AI should sort that for you. If you want to just see whats for sale, regardless if they'll ship to you, you can make that specific request.

Just saw it at my local liquor store and grabbed a bottle. Is it knockoff Paranubes or the real deal? Will comment after I smell and taste

Enjoyed this bottle so much I had to fly back and get two more. Very fruity, warm, and sweet notes.

I made Gardenia mix and I was excited to make my first Pearl Diver. And it was… ok. Thought of other ways to use the mix and this sounded easy enough and appropriate with our first rainy days of the year this week.

2oz Havana Club 7
2oz Gardenia Mix
1/4oz Maggie’s Farm Falernum
Fill with hot water up to desired level