John von Pey

I've got three miniature bottles of Cadenhead's rums (from the Cadenhead store), and I once received six miniatures from Bristol Classics rums. But I don't have a clue either if these are available in the states.

Here are the pictures from the tasting. They are a bit dark, sorry for that. Some of the visitors And more The owners joined us in tasting The remains of a rum tasting The Green label rums at the shop And ofcause the Dated Distillery rums

For those wondering... Ofcause I would love to visit, so I send an PM to Ed. I got a reply, and a visit will be planned soon!

Okay, here is the report. Pictures will follow soon (they are being develloped now, and I have to find out how to put them on this site). I arrived around 17.00 (way too early) to check the location. Amsterdam can be confusing with all those small alleys. After a hearty welcom of Andries (one of the owners, Erik is the other) I went off for a bite to Kantjill (see the forum about Dining in Amsterdam). At 19.20 I was back. In the shop three tables were set out, each for 6 persons. Unfortunately three people didn't show up, so we ended with 13 in total. And I have to say, the show-up was quite divers: rumlovers, whisky-lovers an other interested people (both male and female) were present. The owners told us this rumtasting was new for them too, and apologised already if they said "whisky" instead of "rum". The planning for the evening was six rums: three "Green label" rums and three "Dated distillation" rums. While we were tasting, the owners gave us information about rum in general (molassis/syrup, distillation, aging etc.) Quite basic information, but new to most of the people present. Most of this information was based on David Broom's book, and on information given to them by Ed Scheer (also on this forum). Each of us got a sheet of paper on which tasting and bottling information could be written, and than the tasting could start. Since this was the first serious tasting for me, I found it quite difficult. I never really spend much time tasting the sepperate flavours of rums. I mostly divided rum in "like it" and "didn't like it". This evening I heard other people mentioning flavours, and mostly checked if I smelled / tasted that too. The tastings were blind at first, and after initial remarks bottling information was given. I am not going to bother you with my personal remarks on the rums (reason mentioned above), but this are the rums we tasted. Green label: Gyana, 13 year old, 46% ABV Barbados, 15 year old, 46% ABV Jamayca, 15 year old, 46% ABV Dated distillation rums: Enmore distillery VSG 1990, 13 year old, 73,6% ABV Blackrock Distillery BRS 1986, 16 year old, 67,7% ABV Uitvlugt Distillery PM 1964, 36 year old, 69,3% ABV Especially the last rum really got high remarks (as it has here on the forum where this distillery has been mentioned before). Unfortunately they only got six bottles of this excellent rum, and this was their last bottle... After this official part, some small sample bottles were also opened, and we could taste 5 year old Cuban, 20 year old Guadeloupe and 29 year old Guyana rums. The general impression to me was a very succesfull evening, and I will certainly go back for another tasting (although the trip in total was quite expensive thanks to the hotel). The day after the tasting I went back to pick up a bottle of Uitvlugt 25 year old that was put aside for me, and had a nice chat with the owners. They expressed their regret that the rummarket in The Netherlands is so small, and that they both were impressed with rum in general. But, on the positive side: I also made recomendations for eGullet and other rum sites, so I hope more people will discover the joy and pleasure of rum.

I send an email to Cadenhead, and they gave me permission to make photo's of the rum-tasting. So you can look forward to an illustrated report

Some years ago, I regularry visited Vespa Scooter Rally's in Great Britain (coming from the Netherlands). I soon learned some of the scooterists loved likorice (as do I). So on every trip I took several bags with me. On one occasion I went over without my scooter, and had to put my luggage through an x-ray machine. I than was nicely asked to open my bag. And out came a (foil) bag of sweet likorice. And another one. And a salted one, accompanied by a second. The eyes of the lady got bigger with every bag. All for your own consumption???? Ofcause I knew how to answer that one "yes, I haven't been able to find the real stuff in Britain. Would you like a taste?" I suppose that last one did it, and I could go straight through

Hello, I have two comments on the (marvellous) kitchen scale manifesto. 1. About scales: why kitchen scales? On my previous job (at a school) I was able to buy a cheap laboratory scale (OHAUS) for less than 40 dollar. It has metric and American scale, accurate to 1 gram, and is lasting 5 years on just one battery. And, being a laboratory scale, it is resistant to most chemicals, so kitchen ingredients shouldn't be a problem... 2. about converting: several years ago I found a small program for converting all kinds of units in to other units (of the same style). I.g. Fahrenheit to Celcius (very usefull to me, since most American recipies use Fahrenheid, and I have grown up with to Celcius). But, for this manifesto, it also converts from "cup" to "teaspoon" or ml (the version I have only has "cup" in the map "volume"). Weight can also be converted from a lot of units to a lot of other units. Now the crucial part: the program is called "convert", and can be found at the following site: Convert I hope my five cents can be usefull to someone... edit: p.s. convert is freeware!

Yes, I registered for the tasting too. Any other members on this list going?

Hello all, just surfing for rum on the net, I found an interesting item (at least for Dutch members): Cadenhead's in Amsterdam is organising a rum-tasting (only Cadenhead though) on april 2nd. There will be rums from 12 - 36 years available for tasting. It isn't cheap though: 22 euro for a three hour tasting (starting at 19.30). More information (in Dutch) : Cadenhead Netherlands

I shamefully have to admit that I didn't take time to read until very recently But I started again and indeed, it is a great book. The chapters about the technicalities were a bit tough to get trough (but very extensive and educational), but then the book became a great joy to read. Yes, I can recommend this book to every rum-lover.

It is not that new... See the mail by John Reekie about the same book.

That is one of the rums that is general available here in the Netherlands. I've got a bottle, but it isn't open yet.

Because Cacha sounds like cashew?

Black cat? That's not an Indian rum, it's a Suriunam rum...

It is! As said, I bought a couple of bottles in Cologne, and I love it. Very smooth, a rich taste, just great! But a question though: can anyone tell me if the rum in the dagger-shape bottle is the same as the rum in the regular bottle?

Hi all, Today I found (and bought) a bottle of Sea Wynde in the Netherlands (in Arnhem to be exactly). It came with two extra's: - a pewter (?) keyring (Made in Mexico), with on one side the Zacapa label, and on the other side three lines of text: - Great Spirits - 1-800-882-8140 - www.greatspirits.com I suppose the second line is a phonenumber? - a booklet. If you take a legal size sheet of paper, and fold in lenghtwise in two, you've got the size of it. It contains of two sheets of paper, which makes 8 sides in total. Front cover: Blue with the Sea Wynde label 1st page: A history of rum 2nd page: Sea Wynde (this is a short history of the brand) page 3/4 a large colour ad with all the good points of Sea Wynde, and a bottle / glass 5th page: tasting notes (by Jim Murray) 6th page: Sea Wynde (a short history of Great Spirits, how they got into rums) Back cover: Just plain blue, with the adresses in the USA (Texas and Rego Park) and yes, the phonenumber mentioned earlier is printed on the back cover with the Texas adress.

No, I live in the Netherlands, the southern part. And from my house it is about a five minute drive to the German border. And I can make it to Cologne in under an hour. So sometimes I make that trip to add to my collection Last time the most important addition (for me) was the Coronation Khukri. I thought is was only for sale through a Britain shop (which never answered my request for information), so you can imagine how happy I was to find it!

I got this book last friday. To me (as a first impression!) it seems more like a travelbook, with atmospheric pictures. But that was only globally scanning the book. I'v read the first chapter (history of rum), and I must admit, it is a great read. I also like the "A-Z directory of rums", but think it might be dangerous to rate rums... A final opinion will follow when I've had the chance to read it entirely.

I have seen this rum in several shops in Germany, and it is still on my wishlist. So I can't give you a review, but it is known outside India!

Last year I bought a bottle of Bacardi Spiced, and loved it. But unfortunately Bacardi stopped production on this one. So I spared a second bottle for a special occasion. A month ago I found another bottle, bought it and decided that one spare bottle is enough. Now I'm asking myself why I loved that rum so much A very strong, sweet vanilla taste. Abolutely not worth keeping for a special occasion... My taste for rum has changed in a relatively short time (and I like to think it has "evolved"). I now prefer aged rums much more (my favourite is still Zacapa Centenario). So, cheers to evolving taste!

There also is a Moneymusk 25 years old... Ask CTQM about that John

Hello Jay, Thanks for the information. But there is a Cadenhead shop in Amsterdam too, so that isn't on my "must visit" list.

This bottle was offered to me in Amsterdam, at a shop called "Cave Rokin". I myself live in Sittard, in the southern part of The Netherlands, close to the German and the Belgium border. After next week I have a week-long holliday, and plan to visit Cologne. To be more specific: the Koelner Rum kontor. They claim to have about 300 rums in stock, so this visit must be worthwile

Final update on the rum and sunlight experiment. The bottle (clear glas) has been standing in direct sunlight since february 2003. That's eight months now. Results? - no change in color - no "fog" visible - no change in smell - no change in taste (edit: the bottle is empty now , so the experiment can't continue) Conclusion after this single experiment (so not reliable at all ): it takes more than eight months of direct sunlight to get a possible influence of this sunlight on the rum.

Thanks for the information. It seems to be the same rum, produced in 1974 by G & M. But it's 20 euro's a bottle cheaper. Makes me think... I wrote to G & M, but haven't yet received any information about this rum. so the search continues