Margaritaville RUMs coming soon! Finally!?!?

The Margaritaville RUM site has added additional details and descriptions concerning their RUM line to their website. Originally they had announced a launch date of Summer 2009 but until now we've heard nothing. I look forward to trying their four types: Dark, Silver, Spiced and Coconut. My expectations are very low based on the abhorent taste of the Margaritaville Tequila so I hope to find myself at least some what surprised by one of the flavors.

Bermudez Don Armando (Ron Anejo 10 Anos)

This is a fun RUM that my bestest friend Dee Sanders brought back from Dominican Republic for me about a year ago. I'm not sure if you can get any of the Bermudez RUM line in the USA; if you cannot then that is a real shame. The only information online I found for its distribution in the USA was over a year old and the distributor listed has closed its website.

This Bermudez Don Armando RUM was good but not great. I'll admit to having higher expectations for a 10-year-old RUM. It has a slightly spicey and smokey aroma but it also holds a fairly strong alcohol smell that came with those first sniffs; surprising for an aged RUM. I also noticed hints of carmel apple and a near Scotch smell.

My 2nd surprise from this aged RUM was that its not very good at room temerature. It only improved once I put it over ice and then again over Coke Zero.

At room temerature, Don Armando has a nice iced-tea color and has no noticable legs. The first sip starts with a light alcohol burn which is followed by an even strong burn. I was glad to taste that subsequent sips found the burn to be less noticable and the carmel, cinnemon and citrus flavor to be more noticeble. With a couple of ice cubes mixed in the true flavor of this RUM was finally unearthed. Here's where the Scotch flavor returned again with a stronger carmel but true Autumn leaf flavor on show. While of much lesser notes, I also caught waves of a spicy orange flavor which made for a very nice finish.

My last tasting found me pouring a couple of ounces of Don Armando over about four ounces of Coke Zero on ice. While I found this mixture appealing from its balanced sweetness and slightly dry flavor, I now could no long distiguish the RUM from the mixture and was only able to slightly detect the aromatic remnants of light moss. A middle of the road RUM; I give it 6 of 10.

Seven Tiki Spiced RUM

Here's another RUM that caught my eye. I am big into all things TIKI so a RUM with tiki in it's name is a must try. This is a 70 proof Spiced RUM but from what I've read there is a Dark and Silver RUM available too. Their literature says that it's made in Fiki but there seems to be some doubt to that claim. According to Edward Hamilton at Ministry Of RUM, it "is produced at the South Pacific Distillery in Fiji, a small distillery adjacent to the major Fiji Sugar Corp. sugar mill, which is near Lautoka city on the North West Coast of the main Fijian island of Viti Levu." It's raw material is "Sugar cane molasses from high-quality Fijian sugar cane, which has been growing in Fiji for thousands of years. It is produced on a continuous still. The continuous still gets its steam from a wood fired boiler." Yes, it actually is blended and ages in Fiji but bottled in France (for Europe) and the United States. It's primary uniqueness is that they use pure water from Fiji and sun-baked Indonesian nutmeg and Madagascar vanilla beans. It is certainly the only South Pacific RUM I've ever heard about. Seven Tiki Spiced RUM is part of the Bacardi Globe Brand line-up and is currently only available in California and Florida. I think I can order it online. Huh, maybe I am do another Christmas gift!

Horne Rum

I haven't tried Horne RUM yet but the website caught my eye enough to write the address down. It's an 88 proof Spiced RUM. I like it's dark color and it's Hurrican flag label. It says its a US Virgin Island blend of RUMs. I'll be on the lookout for a sampling.

Bacardi Select RUM Tasting

Bacardi Select RUM is 80 proof (40% alcohol). It has a dark carmel appearance with medium legs. In the bottle, this RUM has a pleasant, mossy, carmel, smokey aroma. The smell has a light detection of alcohol and is a bit fruity (hints of orange).

Over Ice: Bacardi Select blends in a smokey, mossy, almost burnt aroma. Unfortunetly the alcohol smell increases dramatically. Taste straight over ice produces a great deal of alcohol burn which is quite harsh. However, I did notice a mix of carmel and fruit after taste once the burn subsided. But let me be clear, the burn is hot and thus not good.

With Coke Zero: Sweet and tasty. This is how to drink Bacardi Select RUM! This mix definetly enhances the carmel flavor and adds to the sweetness of the Coke Zero. Really, it is almost like they distilled this RUM specifically to make Cuba Libre with it. I like this much more than over ice.

Final score: 6.5 out of 10

Gosling's Black Seal Bermuda Black RUM

I'm trying to clean out some RUM remnants now that I've accumulated 60+ RUMs. Today's offering is Gosling's Black Seal Bermuda RUM (80 proof).

I must admit that I liked this RUM more than I thought I would on first approach. Having already tasted, and not enjoyed, Cruzan's Black Strap RUM I was affraid that this extremely dark RUM would taste equally as bad.

I found myself surprisingly mistaken. Black Seal is a dark RUM with a slight orange/red hew. It carries a unique smokey/sweet molasas fragrance with sound legs.

My "on ice" taste test showed semi-spicey, butter scotch/carmel candy sweetness. I thoroughly enjoyed the smokey, molasas linger and instantly gave it atleast 8 of 10.

My "Coke Zero" taste test unfortunetly did not go quite as well. The sweetness of the coke overloaded the instilled sweetness and washed away nearly all of this RUMs unique appeal. All that remained was an overly sweet, somewhat spicy drink which I no longer wanted to finish (all though I did; waste not, want not).

On final vote I would say this is an 8.5 of 10. I especially like the numerous "Dark n Stormy" drinks I pulled from this bottle prior to this test. I want to also shout out to my bestest friend Dee Sanders for lovingly bringing this bottle back from Bermuda to me. It almost makes up for the bottle of Blackbeard's Gold RUM for me that she left in the Cayman Islands. Love ya' Dee.

Margaritaville RUM "Ready To Drink" Classic Mojito

I apologize for the lousy picture quality. I snapped this on my last day of drinking this mix and was hoping to find a better photo online (no such luck).

Just a quick review of the first RUM product from Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Spirits line. The "Classic Mojito" is part of a larger "Ready To Drink" product line which includes a number of flavored margarita pre-mixed beverages. Margaritaville Spirits has promised a full line of Margaritaville RUMs including Dark, Silver, Coconut, and Spiced RUM. The website has bottle photos and an announced street date of "Summer 2009".

First I must admit that I typically HATE this type of pre-mixed spirit. They typically are too sweet and carry a heavy syrup taste. Well, that description applies to thie product too.

To it's defense, the Mojito mix isn't quite as bad as the Margaritaville "Ready To Drink" margarita drinks. This drink carries a heavily sweetened lime/mint taste and it has a overt syrupy thickness.

Drinking it straight is nearly impossible. I found that I could improve it's drinkability by cutting it with club soda and splashing in some fresh lime juice. It does have a fairly nice nose of mint and lime but the strong, sugary-sweet smell is a major drawback. It's light, lime green color also reminds me of their afore mentioned pre-mixed lime margaritas.

Pre-mixed lime & mint flavor can never replace freshly muddled lime/mint. In the end, this beverage is simply not worth the time or the money. The mix is only 30 proof and once you add the extra club soda/lime juice waters this gets watered down to nothing worth drinking. I give it a 3 of 10.