This posting is completely different from any other I have written – no recipes, no pictures, essentially a list of rums and nothing more. This installment of the luxurious time I spent at the Miami Rum Festival has to do with the rums I experienced, and my immediate and brief thoughts on them. Out of the large roster, some rums I knew of very well, some I have on my shelves at home, some I have heard of, some I have not, and a special few bottles I have waited a long time to see. I did not taste every single rum, nor stopped at every booth, either because I knew enough, or simply did not have enough time. Also, I did not taste every rum at each booth for the sheer reason of keeping my head and not getting so inebriated I could not discern fact from fiction. I had to resort to near blasphemy: Throwing into the trash an exquisite rum time after time so that I would not ingest every drop of rum I took in hand.
One of my regrets was not taking a picture of every rum I visited (or revisited). After all, sometimes seeing a bottle with the brand’s label on it makes the description more conspicuous. For that I apologize. Click here to go to the festival’s website listing of rum bottle images. I also wished I would have taken more pictures of the grand view of it all.
On my festival program, I kept track of each rum I tasted by rating it (the ranking is between 0 & 4), whether I would buy the rum (or better yet – “will” buy, or without a doubt – “MUST” buy…in a way ranking the rum in another fashion), and finally a few words to differentiate each from one another. Below resembles what I wrote in my program, but with more words and less symbols.
Abuelo 7 year – 3 – makes a lovely mojito, I will buy this (for the record – on Trade day, the vivacious woman working the Abuelo booth in my mind won Queen of the Festival)
Appleton Estate 12 year – 3 – maybe too good for cocktails, at which the Reserve excels (did not taste the Reserve since I vigilantly maintain a hardworking bottle at home)
Bayou Silver – 1 – would require bold flavors in a cocktail
Bayou Spiced – 1.5 – not often do I prefer a brand’s spiced rum over its silver, but not much better
Botran Reserva Blanca – 3 – nice mixing rum, and pleasant neat – I will buy this
Botran Solera 1893 – 2.5 – makes a wide variety of cocktails better – I would buy this
Brugal Blanco – 3 – a tasty white rum – I would buy this
Caliche – .5 – did not care much for this, nor appreciate the neglect by the booth (shared by other Puerto Rican rums who refused to sample) – they were late, ill-prepared, and did not wish to help people learn about them – these rums lost a customer
Centenario Añejo Espacial 7 year – (from Costa Rica) – 2.5 – I’d only want to drink this tasty rum neat – I would buy this
Diplomatico Añejo – 3 – way too good for my mixing needs, maybe as a treat – I would buy this
Don Q Cristal – 2 – separate from the group of Puerto Rican rums, I enjoyed my visit to this booth – nice clean white rum, and versatile – I would buy this
Don Q Gold – 2 – pretty good gold rum
Don Q Coco – 1 – super sweet, sugary more than coconut flavor
Don Q Passion – 3 – a lovely rum, and made a dynamite cocktail, would work with many recipes – I will buy this
Dos Maderas 5+3 years – 3 – delicious mixing rum, made a fantastic punch – I will buy this
Dzama Cuvée Blanche 40 – 4 – Good grief this rum is good, rare to give a white rum a 4.0 – wishing to drink this white rum neat, and the one below only with cocktails – not only would I buy this, I MUST buy this (too bad I could not buy at the festival)
Dzama Cuvée Blanche Prestige 80 – 3.5 – a fantastic white rum, would make perfect cocktails – I will buy this
Dzama Vanilla Amber 30 – 3.5 – probably the best vanilla rum flavor I have ever tasted, such a strong pronunciation of vanilla – I will buy this
El Dorado 8 year – 2.5 – a big fan of the 12 year, this almost tasted like fruit not yet ripe, good…but not at the level of excellence as the 12 – I would buy this
El Dorado 12 year – 4 – this rum is incredibly hard to beat, so good, so versatile, so bold – don’t know why I tasted this when I’m very familiar, but couldn’t resist – I will buy this for years to come, a constant on my shelf at home
El Dorado 15 year – 2.5 – too good for cocktails, almost as if its quality is lost on me – I’ve heard of this in cocktails, but hadn’t tasted it, now that I have, either my palate is too juvenile, or I disagree – my rating does not justify this fine rum
English Harbour 5 year – 3 – I really enjoyed tasting this for the first time, I could do many things mixing this – I would buy this
English Harbour Reserve 10 year – 2 – an excellent rum, too good for cocktails
Flor de Caña 7 year – 4 – I have waited a long time to try this year, the anticipation worth the reputation – I DID buy this (at a Miami liquor store down the street)
Gosling’s Gold – 3.5 – the Dark n Stormy is one of my favorite drinks, which of course is only made with Gosling’s Dark Seal – they made one more with their gold rum…delicious – I will buy this
Goslings Old Rum – 1.5 – where the Black Seal is versatile for me, the Old Rum is better off neat than mixing
Koloa White (excuse the spelling, I could not create a link with an ō) – 2 – not that an astringent flavor is necessarily bad every time, extremely clean in every other way, a resourceful white rum – I might buy this
Kōloa Gold – 2 – almost exactly like the white, but with more flavor aside from the astringency – I liked the white better though
Kōloa Spice – 1.5 – just like the first two, strong astringency as the foremost over-distracting flavor, leaving little room for spices
Kōloa Dark – 3 – pure vanilla flavor, yet astringent like the first three rums – I liked this rum very much – I might buy this
Kōloa Coconut – 4 – likely the best coconut rum I have ever tasted – was told by one of the owners (what’s his name – find card) they infuse for 2 years, long enough to completely obliterate any astringency…completely free of it, 100% coconut – I MUST buy this
Lost Spirits Navy Style Rum – 2 – pretty dry, pretty hot (68%) – thought it would make a good mixing rum
Ron Medellin 3 year – 3 – I liked this rum and saw it making lots of cocktails – I would buy this
Ron Medellin 8 year – 2.5 – less likely to mix with cocktails unless not the main rum, rather a background rum – seemed more like a neat drinking rum
Mount Gay 1703 – 4 – I can’t think of any better rum for appreciating neat, even large ice might insult how good this rum tasted – a sin if mixed – a treat for special occasions – I definitely would buy this
Papa’s Pilar Dark – 3 – rich and friendly, ready for a long list of cocktails, as well as mixing with other rums – I DID buy this
Plantation Guyana 2005 – 3.5 – delicious – for both mixing and neat, but I’d want to mix everything with this – I really want to buy this
Plantation Trinidad 1999 – 3.5 – Good grief this was good, tasted like an agricole, lovely balance of many flavors – I DID buy this
Plantation Original Dark – 3 – delicious, tasted like what the rep. said, “The overproof is 100% the flavor, this is a lighter version.” – I could mix so many drinks with this – I would buy this
Plantation Original Dark Overproof – 3.5 – way better than the Original Dark, like drinking the real this – at 73%…it’s a hot one – I DID buy this
Plantation 3 Stars White – 3 – a lovely white rum, it could do almost anything – I would buy this
Real McCoy 3 year White – 1.5 – I didn’t care for this one as much – seemed limited to what it might make
Real McCoy 5 year – 2 – better than the White, opening more possibilities for various recipes
Rum Fire (White Overproof) – .5 – like it was supposed to special simply because it could be hot, but nothing special about it
Tanduay Silver – 3 – one of my favorite white rums at the festival, one I would think would become one of my all-time favorite whites – I would very much like to buy this
Tiburon – 1.5 – I was disappointed with this one, hoping for it – the flavor did not call to me
Viejo de Caldas 3 year – (from Columbia by Industria Licorere de Caldas) – 3 – I particularly liked this rum, and could smell it all day – so many things this could do with all kinds of drinks – I liked it better than the Grand Reserva – I would love to buy this
Viejo de Caldas Grand Reserva – 2.5 – a bit more sophisticated, and better suited drinking neat, but still would make excellent drinks (just not as many) – I would buy this
Zafra 21 year – (from Panama) – 3.5 – very impressed with this new rum, did I hear correctly they started in 2009, and already had rum aging? – if so, in my opinion the best new rum not only of the festival, but perhaps the best new rum start I have ever tasted – nonetheless, not a mixing rum, only suited for neat imbibing – I would buy this
a tiki a wiki 