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| It's hard work sometimes |
A supreme athletic endeavour over three months saw each rum blind tasted and scored for aroma, taste and finish in an alcoholic version of Battle Royale (but with rum instead of Japanese teenagers).
Kilderkin, Bennets, Skean Dhu, the Blue Blazer and the Windsor Buffet each served two flights of four rums a piece at the very friendly price of £8 a flight
Kilderkin, Bennets, Skean Dhu, the Blue Blazer and the Windsor Buffet each served two flights of four rums a piece at the very friendly price of £8 a flight
To keep things reasonably fair the organisers tried to keep the rums to an average of 8 years old, a tricky endeavour given the loose age statements on certain rums.
Given the titanic amounts of rum consumed over the period the top 7 rums were re-tasted and re-scored on Easter Sunday before the final identity of the winners (and losers) were revealed.
The top 7 rums were revealed to be (position prior to re-tasting in brackets)....
1 - Pampero Aniversario - Venezuela (1)
2 - Captain Bligh XO - St Vincent (4)
2 - Ron Milonario Solera 15 - Peru (3)
2 - Ron Zacapa 23 - Guatemala (2)
5 - English Harbour 5yo - Antigua (6)
6 - Chairman's Reserve - Forgotten Casks - St Lucia (5)
7 - Appleton Estate 8yo - Jamaica (7)
The big surprise was Captain Bligh which for a rum that retails at £28 a bottle beat some illustrious names to claim joint second place and Old Monk of India hitting 10th place while a personal favouite like Pusser's Blue Label only managed 19th place.
While it's a tricky thing to compare these spirits, given some are more aimed at the sipping market and others at mixing (or drain cleaning in the case of Stroh) it was a lot of fun and an interesting experiment in just how much your perception of a spirit is influenced by packaging, price etc.
The other nations and their positions were:
8 - Angostura 1919 - Trinidad & Tobago
9 - Bacardi 8yo - Puerto Rico
10 - La Mauny XO - Martinique
10 - Old Monk - India
12 - Gosling Black Seal - Bermuda
12 - Fair 5yo - Belize
14 - Mount Gay XO - Barbados
14 - Barbancourt 5 Star - Haiti
16 - Abuelo 7yo - Panama
17 - Flor de Cana 7yo - Nicaragua
17 - Cruzan Single Barrel - St Croiz
19 - Pusser's Blue Label - British Virgin Islands
20 - Cubay Anejo - Cuba
21 - Mekhong - Thailand
22 - Cadenhead's Green Label - Brazil
23 - Papagayo White - Paraguay
24 - La Hechicera - Colombia
25 - El Dorado 8yo - Guyana
25 - Seven Fathoms - Cayman
27 - Alchemist - Guadeloup
28 - Pyrat XO - Anguilla
29 - Don Papa - Phillipines
30 - Berry Bros & Rudd - Grenada
31 - Flamboyant - Mauritius
32 - Cadenhead's Straight from cask in store - Scotland
33 - Montanya Oro - USA
34 - Ryoma 7yo - Japan
35 - Ron Prohibido Solera 12 - Mexico
36 - Bundaberg - Australia
37 - Brugal Extra Viejo - Dominican Republic
38 - Jefferson's 1785 Dark Rum - England
38 - Berry Bros & Rudd - Fiji
40 - Stroh - Austria
While it's a tricky thing to compare these spirits, given some are more aimed at the sipping market and others at mixing (or drain cleaning in the case of Stroh) it was a lot of fun and an interesting experiment in just how much your perception of a spirit is influenced by packaging, price etc.
The other nations and their positions were:
8 - Angostura 1919 - Trinidad & Tobago
9 - Bacardi 8yo - Puerto Rico
10 - La Mauny XO - Martinique
10 - Old Monk - India
12 - Gosling Black Seal - Bermuda
12 - Fair 5yo - Belize
14 - Mount Gay XO - Barbados
14 - Barbancourt 5 Star - Haiti
16 - Abuelo 7yo - Panama
17 - Flor de Cana 7yo - Nicaragua
17 - Cruzan Single Barrel - St Croiz
19 - Pusser's Blue Label - British Virgin Islands
20 - Cubay Anejo - Cuba
21 - Mekhong - Thailand
22 - Cadenhead's Green Label - Brazil
23 - Papagayo White - Paraguay
24 - La Hechicera - Colombia
25 - El Dorado 8yo - Guyana
25 - Seven Fathoms - Cayman
27 - Alchemist - Guadeloup
28 - Pyrat XO - Anguilla
29 - Don Papa - Phillipines
30 - Berry Bros & Rudd - Grenada
31 - Flamboyant - Mauritius
32 - Cadenhead's Straight from cask in store - Scotland
33 - Montanya Oro - USA
34 - Ryoma 7yo - Japan
35 - Ron Prohibido Solera 12 - Mexico
36 - Bundaberg - Australia
37 - Brugal Extra Viejo - Dominican Republic
38 - Jefferson's 1785 Dark Rum - England
38 - Berry Bros & Rudd - Fiji
40 - Stroh - Austria
If you do ever find yourself in Edinburgh and in need of some rummy goodness I really can't recommend any of the bars that participated in this highly enough.
