White Rums

[bostonapothecary]

Need a rum for my bar collection for cocktails. Was thinking of getting a white rum and possibly Wray and Newphew overproof. Anyone here tried it? Thoughts?

you are not exactly going to churn out classic cocktails with wray & nephews, but i adore it. in jamaica they drink drink their overproofs with campari. "JB" from the trelawny distillery and campari with soda was the favorite drink of Raymond the mason when i spent a month in jamaica in the fall.

[ZombieAddict]

Do you have a better recommendation for a white rum for classic cocktails then?

[MikeInSacto]

you are not exactly going to churn out classic cocktails with wray & nephews, but i adore it. in jamaica they drink drink their overproofs with campari. "JB" from the trelawny distillery and campari with soda was the favorite drink of Raymond the mason when i spent a month in jamaica in the fall.

Interesting. Is that rum with the Campari and soda on the side or are they mized?

[KD1191]

Do you have a better recommendation for a white rum for classic cocktails then?

If you can get it, Havana Club. If not, Flor de Caña or Matusalem.

Edited March 24, 2012 by KD1191 (log)

[Kent Wang]

Now that I'm in China, I can get Havana Club but not Flor de Cana. Has anyone that's tasted these blind side-by-side have an opinion of which is better? I have the hunch that Americans may prefer Havana Club simply because of the difficulty of acquiring it, just like Mexican Coca-Cola, which was debunked in a blind tasting.

[KD1191]

Now that I'm in China, I can get Havana Club but not Flor de Cana. Has anyone that's tasted these blind side-by-side have an opinion of which is better? I have the hunch that Americans may prefer Havana Club simply because of the difficulty of acquiring it, just like Mexican Coca-Cola, which was debunked in a blind tasting.

I have them both in my cupboard and, while I've never tasted them against each other blind, I'll say that I'm relatively certain I could tell them apart. HC is the standard for white rums for me. Others are judged in how close they come to tasting like HC. Of what I've tried, I feel like FdC comes closest. Now, does absence make the heart grow fonder? Does the forbidden fruit taste sweeter? Surely. It's not the best rum in the world, far from it, but that doesn't mean HC isn't still an iconic flavor.

Also, I believe the frequently sited debunking of Mexican Coke was paid for/performed by Coca-Cola itself. Numerous blind studies have shown there is a perceptible taste difference between Coke formulations around the world.

[Tri2Cook]

I can easily get Havana Club where I live and it's probably still my favorite white... with the disclaimer that I can't get Flor de Cana white and have never tried it. I say "probably" because I don't drink white rum neat. I'm always mixing it and in many cases that can hide minor differences and narrow the gaps between the whites I have.

[Yojimbo]

If you're looking for cheap but good, El Dorado makes a white rum that is about $15 in NYC and has a lot more flavor than the mass market brands. I'd be curious to hear what more rum-savvy folks would say about Barbancourt blanc -- is it a young agricole, or an agricole-ish white rum?

[Hassouni]

In my quest for mojito and daiquiri perfection, I can highly recommend FdC white and Brugal white for us embargo-affected Americans (I've used HC when I lived in London). Matusalem is very smooth and nice but doesn't have much character. Brugal and FdC have some personality and are quite lovely as they are.