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Intriguing perspective of which I haven't heard before today. (No offense taken as it would take an enormous lot for me to be offended over rum or whiskey.)

That will be my first public rum event/festival, and I definitely look forward to it.

I've visited five or six different stores around my area but haven't been able to find it. I did find Zaya, but haven't picked it up yet. They had it on the top shelf, costing about $45. ← One of the first top shelf rums I tried was Barrow's Grand Reserve Cigar Blend Rum from Trinidad since I enjoy the occasional cigar. It was about $45-50, but the rum didn't impress me with or without an accompanying cigar. In addition to Cruzan Single Barrel Rum, the 2 other best non-General rums I've tried so far are Pampero Anniversario Ron Añejo and Demarara El Dorado Special Reserve 15yo. The latter reminds me of Pusser's, only finer, much smoother, and well-married taste. Pampero was a little lighter on the body and drier with a definite oak but still a very good rum.

Welcome to the world of rum! Mount Gay, after I visited Barbados in 2004, was the rum that led me to look at the finer rums beyond Barcardi Silver and Malibu although I did a triple take at MG's name. Eclipse, Appleton Special Gold, or a Cruzan Estate 2yo is my faithful standby I always have on hand in addition to Mount Gay XO, Appleton 12yo, Gosling Black Seal, and Cruzan Coconut. Mount Gay XO I found to be very oaky almost as oaky as whiskey (of which I also have fondness). For softer oak, I would recommend Cruzan Single Barrel or Cruzan Estate Diamond. The former has a vanilla and slight sugar cookie taste to it. If you like dark rums, I would recommend Gosling's Black Seal, which has a mild sweet spice note to it. If you travel outside of the US, I would also recommend the older Havana Club rums (which are difficult and officially illegal to get in the US due to the Cuban Embargo), which I first tried in Madrid and like a lot. Regarding how to drink your rum, the others have made very good recommendations. Good rums and whiskeys are meant to be drunk neat unless they are a little harsh. For the little harsher one, I chill them in the refrigerator or freezer so that they are not diluted by water or melting ice. I try not to add water or ice to them. For the general rums, I would recommend chilling them, watering them, or mixing them. Another lesson that I learned from my also enjoying wine: drink what you like as the arbiter of taste is yourself, but it is good to learn more to better serve your guests who may or may not like the same rums as you do. I've not had MG Eclipse with pasta, but since you enjoyed it, I will give it a go sometime. What pasta were you enjoying?

Let's give him a bottle of good rum (i.e, a non-spice rum with a vanilla note in the taste). If he doesn't like it; then, arm your revolver and put him out.

I'll keep that in mind as I open my bottle of it next week. I do love Oranges and its related flavour in beverages.

It can't possibly be worse than Wray and Nephew Overproof. Tasted straight, its like rocket fuel. Although, Bacardi 151 is also pretty nasty, but its designed for flaming, not drinking straight. ← Regarding flaming, the majority of the cases I've seen did not do it right and yielded a small conflagration with singed goatees, chins, and the anterior neck portion. Is there a right, safe way for flaming?

I'm near finishing my first bottle of it. Indeed an interesting taste. Sugar cane nose but the taste has a little bit of a citrus note. A touch of lime only emphasised the citrus.I did try mixing it. When I tried mixing it with Guava juice (2 part rum to 8 parts juice), the combination yielded a strong black currant taste. I also tried 2 parts rum, 4 parts guava juice, and 4 parts orange-pineapple juice. That was good. But neat is still good with 10 Cane.

Um... Don't waste good rum on drinks! Good rums are meant to be drunk neat. ← Hear, hear! (For mixers, use Appleton Gold, Mount Gay, or another General Market rum. Indeed, don't use Premium and Ltd. Edition rum for mixing.)

I would strongly recommend: Crown Royal Reserve, George Dickel Beige label, Jameson 1780, Jameson 18yo, Bushmills Black Bush, Woodford Reserve, Makers Mark, and McCallan 12yo for starters to give you a range of whiskies.

The genuine Dark and Stormy is Goslings Black Seal and Barrit's Bermudan Ginger Ale. However, any good kind of Ginger Ale/Beer would do.

I've arrived at these cocktails as I've experimented with rum and whiskey. Most of them are simple, and I am not too creative with names. The Spiced Peach 1 part Dark Rum (Myer's Dark, Gosling's Black Seal, Cruzan Black Strap) 4 parts Orange-Mango Juice The Peach on the Oak Tree 1 part Whiskey 4 parts Peach Juice Pina Colada Light 3 parts Cruzan Coconut Rum 8 parts Pineapple Juice Serve over crushed ice in hurricane glass. Rum Sour 1 part Heavily-oaked Rum 4 parts Lime-ade Jamaican Sour 1 part Whiskey 4 parts Lime-ade Serve over rocks: optional. Clarksville Flies to Aruba 2 parts Medium or Dark Rum (OR 1 part dark rum and 2 parts Coconut rum) 4 parts Mango Juice 4 parts Orange-Pineapple Juice 1/2 - 1 part Lime Juice Splash of Grenadine Serve over crushed ice. (named for my hometown where I was born and raised) Holden Beach Sails to Barbados (My own variant of Bajan Rum Punch) 1 part Lime Juice 2 parts Sweetener (sugar, Equal, or Splenda) 2 parts Medium Rum (Mount Gay Eclipse or Appleton Gold) 2 parts Coconut rum 8 parts Water Use less water if you serve over crushed ice. (named for the beach to which our family has gone for the past 25+ years.) Vanilla Coke 3 parts Vanilla Rum (Cruzan Vanilla, Mount Gay Vanilla, or Capt. Morgan Private) 8 parts Coca-Cola

What is this supposed to mean? Something tells me you are slagging off Daiquiris for some weird reason. Are you even making them properly? George S. ← I would agree that as with any cocktail it is important for it to be well made, and I ensure my cocktails are well made. However, what I mentioned is not related to the quality of the make, whether it is ready-made, or the person making it. The appeal of the daiquiri with me is decreasing as I find that it is very common. In the United States, White Zinfandel (in addition white merlot and white cabernet) is made with the leftover or non-vintage grapes, and hence those "white" wines are lower tier. As with the "white" wines, I do enjoy Daiquiris albeit seldomly. Therefore, since I regard the daiquiri as "lower tier" regardless if HM the Queen, SS.AA.RR Los Reyes, or an US / Irish / CS President drank them; I prefer other wines and rum cocktails and recommend daiquiris only to those who are new to rum or rum cocktails. (Sometimes, "old-fashioned" is the only way to make cocktails well.) Whit R.

Our family has always used bourbon whiskey for eggnog and served it with nutmeg. So, until a few years ago, I thought egg nog was only made with whiskey. I did try it once when my aunt fixed the grocer's ready-made egg nog with rum, and I didn't like it since it was too sweet for me. I also tried Southern Comfort's ready-made Egg Nog which contained whiskey, and I didn't like it either since that was also too sweet. (Using ready-made egg nog instead of from scratch makes a big difference regardless of spirit used.) Next time, I'll make a rum substitution in our family's recipe and give a new opinion. In the past we didn't cook our eggs since we added the spirit straight to the egg yolks and assumed that that would take care of any pathogens. However, after recently watching a documentary about case of egg-borne salmonella that was transferred to ice cream, I'll try to remind my father to heat the eggs next time. (My grandfather was a tobacco auctioneer who traveled a lot to Kentucky and brought back bottles of bourbon whiskey, and he was fond of bourbon and his own special spirit. So, I guess that is why our family has used whiskey instead of rum. I personally love both whiskey and rum.)

Of the spiced rums I've tried, I would recommend Sailor Jerry. I've not tried Four Square or Bacardi Spice but will once I find them. Captain Morgan, for me, is borderline recommendable/not recommendable.

Admin: threads merged. I've heard often about Ti' Punch but have not seen a recipe for it. What goes in it besides rum or rhum agricole? I would like to try it sometime. Are there any rhum agricoles available in the DC, MD, or VA area? I've tried several stores (both general and high-end) in those areas except DC but haven't seen any.

The nicers rums I would recommend have been nicely recommended by others. I would also recommend Gosling Black Seal. I'm trying Cruzan Estate Diamond currently, and it is indeed a good one as Mr. Hamilton recommended. For the General Market rums, I would recommend Cruzan Estate Light and Dark, Appleton Special Gold, and Mount Gay. Bacardi is a drier rum, but I personally don't like drier rums. I drink nicer rums neat (most of the time) or chilled. If I chill them, I never let the rum liquid to be in direct contact with the ice or the cold water. Sometimes I may add a splash of fresh lime juice. I take General Market rums neat (my first tasting of particular rum), chilled, a little cut with water, on the rocks, with a splash of lime, or mixed with juice or in a cocktail. I use Cruzan Rum Cream (and Bailey's Irish Cream) in my coffee and hot tea. For rum cocktails, I would recommend Planter's Punch, Bajan Punch, Rum Punch, Hurricane, Rum Runner, Pina Colada, my own experimentally developed cocktails (I'm an engineer and like to tinker), Dark & Stormy, or the well-known Rum & Coke. (The best Pina Colada/PC and Rum Punch/RP I've ever had were in Barbados. I've never found as good of a PC or RP in the states.) I generally don't recommend daquiris has they seem too common.

I wouldn't mind a spiced rum as long as it is a vast improvment over Captain Morgan. I would probably have a line of 5 rums, all done in a copper pot still instead of a column still. For 2 of the rums, I would age one 12 years and the other 18-30 years. For the other 3, I would have a fresh-cane-juice-based light rum and dark rum and a molasses-based medium or dark rum. I wouldn't do flavored rums as they have enough out there already, and I'm very satisfied with Cruzan and Mount Gay flavors.

I would recommend the following: Bajan Rum Punch - "1 of sour, 2 of sweet, 3 of strong, 4 of weak" 1 part lime juice (preferrably fresh, not from concentrate) 2 parts sweetner 3 parts rum 4 parts water (I use 8 parts water as I find 4 too strong for me) Hurricane (made with Pat O'Brien's Hurricane Mix) Planters Punch Ti' Punch Rum Runner (and yes, Daiquiri, which is the class equivalent of a White Zinfandel relative to vintage wine.....I only recommend Daiquiris for people new to rum and its cocktails)

Out of respect for both Champagne and fine American sparkling wines, lets try to refrain from the unfortunate misnomer "American champagne". Fizzy vomit or not, it deserves the respect of place. ← Point taken.

The list has been pretty much covered. I would strongly recommend a combination of the the food, olive oil, hydrate, and analgesic cures. Two more things I would recommend is sipping strong mint tea and 1000+ mg of ginger (either in tablet, cookie, or ginger beer form).

In 2003, I had a 1988 Henriot Brut Cuvée des Enchanteleurs that tasted literally like fizzy vomit although it was rated 94 by Wine Spectator. I had a American champagne (made by methode champagnoise) that was much better. I've also had other champagnes and sparkling wines that taste like aspirin. I would recommend an American champagne unless someone has different experiences that I have had with French champagne.

I was at family friend's house for oysters on the 24th, and I tried what he offered: a Mexican beer Modelo in a white can. Tasted drier than normal. It was OK. At my sister's wedding reception on the 17th, I had Guinness Draught bottle and Import Lowenbrau (not the Lowenbrau made in America but the one made in Deutschland).

Has any one heard of or tasted 10 Cane Rum from Trinidad? It claims to be made from "fresh pressed cane", and I saw it in Westminster, MD recently.

Although I presently abhor gin, I'll give it a try. Who knows, maybe I'll become a gin convert?