redd granite

My latest purchase was a rum listed by several sources as one of the top rums made today:  Mount Gay Rum—Extra Old.  This premium run is from Barbados and has been made since 1703.  While I am always fascinated by the various bottle shapes by Rum makers(marketing geeks take note) it is ALWAYS about the inside that counts.  This bottle is  mostly plain with manufacturers’ crest of some sort etched into the bottle. What caught my eye was the cork screw top.  Don’t have any scientific documentation, but the rums I have tried stopped with cork, just seem better than those with a regular top.

This was the most expensive bottle of rum I have ever tried.  It was a birthday present to myself, and it was in the $40-$50 range.  The rich amber color of the rum as it poured into the glass was very promising.  It is 86 proof, a little stronger than most rums I have tried, and you can tell the difference.

Opening the bottle, the aroma is rich, stout, promising warm nights, cool breezes, and swaying palm trees.  A very good start.  Sipping it straight, the first intake is unbelievably smooth, no bitter aftertaste, no bite.  This was the first rum I can honestly say I could sip straight, like a whiskey.  It melts in your mouth like warm brown sugar.  Mixed with Coke , or Cherry Coke Zero, it mixes well, with a rum flavor that blends, if used in the right proportion with the mix.  However, it is not a rum to drink if you decide to “double down” the rum content of your drink.  It will overpower the cola.  Also, it does not mix that well with fruit drinks or the frozen mixes.  A lot of darker rums don’t make good Boat Drinks and this one is no exception.

Bottom Line:  Very good rum within its particular parameters.  Expensive, and not necessarily a good value for the money.  Sometimes paying the cost for higher end goods and services brings a higher return in quality and sometimes you just pay more.  Mount Gay Extra Old did not meet the high expectations given the cost.

My Top Three Rums:

Pyrate

Plantation Grand Reserve

Goslings Black Seal

The Quest Continues.

The Rum Guy