Kristian

Ah, thanks for the clarification. The liquor store was indeed on Cambie... Now, I cannot but hope to be able to visit Vancouver again soon to visit the Reef... That's pretty much the reaction of all those whose only reference is Bacardi to any other decent rum out there... and V/X is pretty good, after all, given its price!

Ah, sounds like a great place! If only I had found it when I lived around there... If I remember correctly, the QE park was very close to the main liquor store in BC (along the same street and about half a mile apart). Is the Reef also along this same street? (if it is, I must have driven past it a few times... )

Now that they cannot rely on law to do their work for them in the US, Bacardi seems to be trying to overwhelm the older Havana Club product with their own similarly named product... Oh well, HC is an ok rum and I rather like the ~5 yo Anejo Reserva, although the 7yo is older and one would expect more from it.

I did the exact same thing for the exact same reason in New Orleans once... But I did ask for a splash of water when I tasted the thing and realised how bad it was...

http://www.susimetsa.net/rum/reviews-en.php Angostura 1919 is light amber in colour and its nose is very sweet and complex, with hints of vanilla and caramel. The rum's taste is as complex as its nose, pleasantly flavourful, although with a slightly spirited edge. It has a long, soft aftertaste. So, in short, I liked it and will try to get some more with the first chance I get!

That may be true, Rebecca. With Bacardi inventing their own history about just about every aspect of the birth of rum, it is hard to stay clear on what's "true" and what is not "true"... You start to consider even the true stories as Bacardi marketing propaganda...

Actually, I read that Bacardi made the whole "American soldiers" thing up in order to market their rum in, well, the US. It was just one small detail between the Bacardi family and the US government and Bacardi's private war against Castro (they even bought some bombers, intending to smash Castro's palace). In the deal between the US and Bacardi, including the Cuban trade embargo, Bacardi funded a part of the election campaigns of a couple of US presidents, Bush the Elder and Clinton (it was Bush who signed the embargo papers in Miami in 1992 with the management of Bacardi in return for 550 000 dollars of campaign funds). Source: Hernando Calvo Ospina: Ron Bacardí. La guerra oculta Red de consumo solidario, Madrid 2000 But back to the topic (we had one!?), I can well understand mixing some, say 7yo rum with coke, like Havana Club 7, but I would never do it with some 23-year-old, or even a 15-year-old... Actually, I have never done it even with HC7, but that's mainly because rum is so expensive in Finland that it would feel like wasting it...

Heh, I'm not dissing anyone for the ways they want to enjoy their rum. Far from it. To each his/her own. I just that I cannot understand mixing quality rums with anything else. It's like mixing scotch or cognac with cola and I've never seen anyone do that...

Better keep my mouth shut... keep my mouth shut... keep my....

Are you saying that you mix even the top-shelf rums with coke?

Increasing rum awareness would be good... But I've never taken a look at the book, so I can only hope that the awareness would be positive...

A Gaissa tumbler (the smaller one of the glasses behind the link below). http://www.iittala.fi/designor/web/iittala...gaissasarja.jpg Got 4 of them as our wedding presents a few years ago from a friend who evidently knew what we would like to have...

I haven't tasted it personally, but I've read both good and bad things about it. Check these threads: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=72717&st=30 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=43314 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=30798 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=30349 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=26471 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=24629 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=13839

I enjoy Extra Old neat, I haven't even tried it with ice or anything else, since I like it the way it is. Mostly, I try rums neat first and only if they taste a bit harsh to me, I may add some ice or water. I only enjoy rum about twice-thrice per month, one drink only at a time. In unusual occasions (like if we are having a gathering of friends or such), I may drink a bit more (if the guests are people to whom I'm likely to offer some rum to). I don't usually get drunk on rum or anything else.

I've been trying to search through various online rum shops, especially in Germany, but I have been unable to spot anyone selling Cockspur VSOR in Europe. Knowing that there are numerous European rummies here, I finally decided to turn to those wiser than I and ask for help. So, if anyone can point me to the right direction, I'd be grateful! EDIT: Also, if someone would be willing to donate a picture of the bottle for my rum review page, I'd be even more grateful!

A friend of mine just asked me for a good rum punch recipe for a party he's arranging. He wants it to be both tasty and treacherous. Since I don't play with mixed drinks very much, I thought someone here might give me some help!

Um... Don't waste good rum on drinks! Good rums are meant to be drunk neat.

In Europe, they should not call it rum. We have laws that don't allow you to call anything rum that is not made of sugar cane molasses or the juice.

Whoa! Looking at that site, the selection available in Ontario is enviable! I guess it is the question of going to the main distribution center for shopping, rather than try to find good rums in local liquor stores.

I think I may be a snob, but my flag product would be premium quality sipping rum, molasses based and aged for at least 15 years if not more, presented in a tasteful bottle, with the air of eras past.

I can never remember the order of the Canadian provinces (from left to right), but if you pop into British Columbia, you should be able to find a decent selection there. Having lived there for a year, I enjoyed Mount Gay Extra Old the most, but they also had the Barbancourt and Appleton rums mentioned in this thread always on the shelves, as well as a few other good products.

Heh, in Finland, at the moment, I can only get my hands on Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva, Havana Club 7yo and Cruzan 5yo... I'm entirely dependent on my international trips to get some more decent rums. German Internet stores would help as well, but I'd have to pay about 22 dollars in taxes for every single bottle that I purchased...

I'm always mentioning this rum, but it is simply so good. A definite addition to my shelf would be Cockspur VSOR

And I would add: Cockspur VSOR (if you can find it) Barbancourt 15 year old Mount Gay Extra Old Cruzan Single Barrel Angostura 1919 So, to answer the question: yes, I guess most of us on this forum drink our rum straight... Which does not mean that we did not enjoy mixed drinks now and then as well, but, in my case, that's for cheaper rums.

I think Ed once mentioned (I bet he'll respond if I'm misremembering!) that HC rums vary a lot, because they don't control the longterm consistency of the rums and if the specific barrel has been aging for 7 years, then it will be bottled as HC 7yo even if did not taste like the previous patch of HC 7yo rum. It is said that even the colour of the 7yo changes from year to year... Still, I enjoy the HC rums, despite the surprising changes.