Caribbean RUM wars continue

Puerto Rico Must Open Books on Secret Rum Subsidies, Says Letter From Black Chamber of Commerce to Gov. Fortuno
- Governor Must Address Rumored Puerto Rico Payments to Rum Companies by Releasing Contracts, Financial Information

Alleged Hidden Payments Mislead Citizens and Lawmakers; Payments from General Fund Exceed Self-Imposed Cap

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a letter to Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuno, National Black Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Harry Alford today called upon him to disclose his territory's direct and indirect payments and subsidies to its rum companies....

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/puerto-rico-must-open-books-on-secret-rum-subsidies-says-letter-from-black-chamber-of-commerce-to-gov-fortuno-85248882.html

Admiral Nelson Premium Spiced RUM

Shopping for RUM, or any spirit, is the same as ordering a drink in a bar...lower on the shelf, typically means lower the quality. When I bought my bottle of Admiral Nelson's Premium Spiced RUM, I found it on the bottom shelf at the very end of the RUM aisle. Not a good sign for any distiller but a preview of what to expect from this RUM.

I won't spend long on this RUM because it is simply not worth it. It has a light tea color, smells like of mixture of chemical, leather, light vanilla and oak.

Drinking this straight was not a good idea. The initial chemical flavor lead to a slight burn and left me with the slightest spiced vanilla flavor. Adding ice removed the burn but seemed to enhance the "skunky" flavor. Adding Coke Zero did kill the chemical taste but it somehow managed to remove all of the Coke taste too.

Generously, I give it a 2 of 10. This "spiced rum" made me long for Captain Morgan's...never a good sign.

NOTE: I have decided to re-taste Admiral Nelson's because this tasting was done off the last drops of my bottle; not the first. I am concerned that the age of the opened spirit might have effected my review. So, I will be retasting this Spiced RUM in the near future.

Folly Cove RUM

I just read an interesting article about a new, small-batch RUM producer in Glouchester, MA...Folly Cove RUM.

"Produced from molasses, Folly Cove is fermented and distilled in Ryan and Wood’s alembic custom copper pot still. Once distilled, the rum ages in white oak barrels which adds a distinctive flavor. The rum is then bottled and labeled by hand.

The still, or the component that actually distills the rum, was custom built in Germany and its style has been appreciated for hundreds of years by manufacturers interested in hand crafted or small batch products."
- North Shore

Follow up to RUM bars - La Descarga (Los Angeles)

The LA Times blog covered the opening of La Descarga, a new RUM bar in Los Angeles. Sounds like the opening was to be appreciated...just look at the title "Opening night at La Descarga: Rum, rum and more rum"

Rum war threatens the Carribbean

I found this article quite interesting. The US Virgin Islands have used $2.4 billion in direct subsidies and other incentives to convince Diageo, LLC (Captain Morgan) to move production from Puerto Rico to USVI. USVI also firmed up their relations with USVI-based Fortune Brands (Cruzan) convincing them to stay in USVI long-term. Needless to say, Puerto Rico is not very happy with this turn of events.

The quote that jumped out at me. "The Puerto Rican delegate said that the Virgin Island’s subsidies are so large that, in the case of Diageo, the rum producer could manufacture a gallon of rum free of cost." Diageo is the 2nd largest RUM distiller in the world and now it can manufacture its RUM for FREE! Yikes!

The article gets kinda complicated from there but it's still worth the read.