Distillerie de Paris Rhum Galabe 97
Distillerie de Paris Rhum Galabe 97. This is the first distillery to open in Paris for over 100 years. The distillery is ran by the Julhes Brothers, Sebastien and Nicolas. The distillery produces Gin, Vodka and this Rhum Galabe which I am reviewing for you today.
Rhum Galabe is not some fancy brand name. Galabe is actually a traditional form of pressed sugar cane juice, which is produced on the Reunion Island. The resulting solid product is often eaten as candy there. It is the product that is used to produce this rhum. I am not 100% how this qualifies 100% as a rhum but it is for sale as a rhum/rum so I will review it as such.
Distillerie de Paris are quite famous for their gin, of which they produce only 400 bottles per month. I am not sure how limited this rhum is. I assume it is a small batch product produced on a Pot Still. Certainly its not produced on a huge industrial multi column still. Bottle and batch numbers are printed on the front of the bottle. I only have a sample so I am unsure which batch/bottle etc. it is bottled at 43% ABV.
The Distillery have their own website it translates reasonably well into English. Looking at the website they now have an Amber Rhum and a Little Mary Rhum. Further reading reveals this may be a rhum sourced from Marie Galante. I can’t actually find the Rhum Galabe on the website so it may not be available anymore.
Distillerie de Paris Rhum Galabe was released in 2018 and you can still find bottles of this for sale at £58.95 on Master of Malt. When poured Distillerie de Paris Rhum Galabe 97 is a golden brown colour with no signs of any colouring.
All the Distillerie de Paris spirits are housed in the same stubby 50cl bottle with a very similar minimalist kind of design. It doesn’t really jump out at you as such but its unusual enough to merit a second glance.
The nose is buttery, with lots of peanuts , almondsand some cream cheese. There is a creaminess to the rum and a nice mixture of double cream and subtle spices. Underneath this is a slighty sour sweet note which is a little vegetal. Quite a lot of sugar cane going on here.
Further nosing doesn’t reveal a great deal else it is quite light an very much like an aged cachaca in its profile.
Sipped it is completely different to what I was expecting. The lightness and balance on the nose is definitely lacking! It’s hot and boozy and it has some pretty rough notes to it. It doesn’t strike me as being the greatest piece of distilling ever accomplished.
Further sips are more foregiving but there isn’t all that much going on with this one. It starts off hot and boozy with a slight sweet/sour flavour. The mid palate sees the sweet/sour note disappear and you are left with a very spicy boozy hit of chilli and a little touch of toffee.
Finish wise it is very short with a slightly bitter note. It burns for a little while but there isn’t much flavour.
Bland is the best way to describe this.
It was way back in November 2017 when I first published a list of the “Worst Ten Rums”. By this point the website had been active for around 3 and a half years. Fast forward to 2024 and I thought it would be interesting to see how a Ten Worst Rums might look now……
Plantation came in at number 10 on my last list. They appear again but this time with a different and even worse offering.
The first of two entries from the home of Paddington Bear. Another example of what appeals to the “fancy bottle brigade”. All fur coat and no knickers. Style over Substance. Sugary water over Authentic Rum.
It would seem that in Belize 2 years is classed as old….because that is the age of this monstrosity. I bought this as an import so paid south of £30 for it. I bought it on the back of a positive review. Seek out that review it stills lurks online, sadly. If this was just a young rum then I wouldn’t have had such beef with it. I’d have accepted it as entry level fayre. Unfortunately its use of the words “refined” and “old” really stick in my craw when I’m drinking something which has a strange maple syrup/butterscotch like concoction running through it. It’s so artificial it tastes almost plastic-like. See-no evil, smell-no evil. Despite the changes to the list this one is still hanging in the top 10.
Even a change of name can’t disguise this repulsive muck. I’m quite surprised I even gave it one star to be honest. One of those rums where you feel a little queasy just thinking about your experience of. Had the funny “mineral-ey” note found in Bacardi Superior but they’d dialled it up a bit and added a hefty dose of tar and nasty burnt tobacco. I struggled with this even in cola. Definitely heavily coloured and a rum which I am convinced just doesn’t have a clue what it is meant to be. We need a dark rum……..no Bacardi you really didn’t. I still have nightmares about this one.
I picked this up in 2019 in Barcelona. It was quite readily available in Spain at around that time. I can’t recall seeing it recently but I’ve not been on the mainland recently. Yes it was/is cheap and to its credit doesn’t have any additives.
This is marketed as a fine sipping rum from an artisan distillery in Peru. Personally I find that story a bit fanciful. Even if this rum is produced at an artisan distillery, there is precious little evidence of the actual distillate by the time Ron Millonario XO ends up in the bottle. Without doubt one of the most altered rums available. It is almost like perfume. For anyone who thinks this is “pure” rum and a product of exceptional distillation and ageing – you’re only fooling yourself. Another pricey premium product which is simply not worth the money. It has its fans but they really are deluded.
Technically I shouldn’t have included this as a “rum”. This particular variant of “Bundy” is bottled at only 37% ABV. Which means it legally isn’t rum in the EU. Still having tried this, I didn’t exactly rush out to try the other expressions (an export 40% version is available). I had to include Bundaberg as it is truly without doubt one of the world’s worst rums. Its rough and tastes like nothing else. Bad whisky is the best comparison I can give. Nothing can mask the taste and small of Bundaberg Original UP Rum. The stuff is legendary and absolutely bloody awful! Quite why we bother importing the damn stuff is beyond me. So glad I never tried it when I was in Australia in 2009 or I may never have started drinking rum!
As with Bundaberg – I arguably shouldn’t really include this in the list as it is (very subtlety) not as a “Spirit Drink” as it comes in at just 35% ABV. However, it is always in the rum section both online and in physical stores. Plus it has become such a “Poster Boy” for all that is wrong with rum amongst enthusiasts that I couldn’t not include this.
Don Papa avoided the original 2017 list by virtue of the fact I hadn’t reviewed any expressions. Sadly I have since experience the “7” and this 10 year old abomination. This replaces Ron de Jeremy XO at number two. That rum has been discontinued so I haven’t included it in the list. Nevertheless this still would have snuck in at number 2. I was gifted around 3/4 of a bottle by someone who had been given the bottle and couldn’t drink it!
Probably the worst thing about this particular rum is the fact that as it isn’t their most “Premium” offering. So it probably isn’t their worst. Needless to say after trying this “grog” I have no desire to inflict any more damage upon my taste buds. According to the company website this is made from Pot Still Guyana rum. Well like the Millonario good look spotting that!
El Dorado Rare Collection Skeldon 2000. The only rums I have seen in my rum “career” that denote Skeldon are the Velier 1973 and 1978 releases. Which are long gone except for those with very deep pockets. As any rum blogger will attest researching Demerara Rums is on the most complicated and time-consuming pursuits. Excellent work by the likes of Marco Freyr of Barrel Aged Mind have helped with this. I will once again recommend reading his huge article on 
rops of water would be recommended. A couple of drops does bring out a bit more of the fruitier notes and does temper some of the spicier elements of this rum.
Flor de Cana Extra Seco 4. Flor de Cana are a rum producer from Nicaragua. They are one of the most popular and recognised brands worldwide.
Sipped its not all bad – it’s a little on the rough side in terms of alcohol – plenty sweet young alcohol notes. That said its still pretty tasty. The “Extra Seco” part if certainly there as it is very dry and crisp on the palate. The finish is relatively short with this one as it dries out quite quickly from the initial sip.
Alnwick Rum Golden Spiced. Alnwick Rum is a bit of an icon up here in the North East. I reviewed the original Alnwick rum a couple of years back (a re-review if forthcoming as I do feel I got the original review wrong).
ill aimed at the younger end of the market who perhaps have the sweetest tooth. Sipped its surprisingly agreeable even with the slight saccharin aftertaste. Certainly much better than most spiced rums!
Another independent release from Berrys’ Bros and Rudd. This time they have bottled a Latin style rum from Panama.
ck for quite some time until I turned up and bought all the Berrys’ bottlings. (I’d estimate this bottling is from about 3 to 4 years ago). I paid £38 if I recall correctly.
ch of sherry which give way to a nice smoked finish. The finish is reasonably spicy – I am pretty sure this rum has been solely aged in ex-Bourbon barrels. It is short though. All in all the overall experience of the rum in the mouth is fairly short lived.
French producers Bardinet are behind the Ron Pujol brand nowadays, though the rum has a heritage stretching back to 1818.
Is galabe like panela? A local distiller near me in Portland, Oregon experimented with panela to see if he could make something similar to rhum without having the still in the sugar field. Turned out to be too expensive to be profitable. I bought two bottles and was able to trade one for an AD Rattray Caroni.
I think it might be. I didn’t go too far into it when I did this review.