XM are the signature rums for Guyanese master blenders Banks DIH (Demerara Ice House). Despite hailing from Guyana the rum’s are not Demerara rums. With only one distillery in Guyana (Demerara Distillers Limited) it is easy to think that Banks DIH obtain their rum’s ready for blending from there. However, research has found that they no longer obtain any rums from DDL and consequently the rum cannot be classed as Demerara rum.
As anyone who has spent any time on the Internet reading or researching rum will know – Bacardi tend to take a bit of a bashing in many quarters. This is mainly due to their Bacardi Superior White Rum. As with most things that go “mass market” it just isn’t cool to follow the crowd. It’s far trendier to enjoy a Caliche or an El Dorado 3 Year Old white rum.
The Kraken is a fairly newish rum to the market. Introduced in 2009 to the UK and at a time when Sailor Jerry had re-branded and changed its formula. The Kraken was introduced to compete with Morgans Spiced and Sailory Jerry. The darker nature of the rum was hoped to give a more authentic style rum experience.
The rum is sealed with red wax with ES (English Spirit) emblazoned on the top of the bottle. English Spirit is the name of the distillery which produces the rum. The distillery is based in Cambridgeshire. The rum is sealed (once you get into the wax) with a synthetic cork stopper. The 50cl (not 70cl) bottle is taller and thinner than most. It will require carefully handling as it will be quite easily knocked over. The styling of the bottle, in keeping with the Pirate theme is very similar to Patron’s Pyrat Pistol rum. The packaging of which is supposed to evoke the image of the firearms a Pirate would have used. The rum retails at around £25 per bottle. I’ve yet to find it in a store but its available very easily online in the UK (maybe less so abroad).
Rum Sixty Six is a 12 year old Bajan Rum from Richard Seale’s Foursquare Distillery who also produce Doorlys amongst others. The Foursquare distilleries rum are at the forefront of Bajan rum production and are respected and reviewed accordingly the world over.
Once again a discount led me to try this rum. Not online or in a Supermarket but in a local wine merchant I have recently discovered. If you are interested (and live in the North East of England) then here is the website http://www.thewinechambers.co.uk/. Please note the website shows only 4 rums but he does stock around 20. As good a selection as I’ve found in a physical shop. The rum was reduced to £30.99 (I’m such a sucker for a sale sticker I can’t even tell you what it was reduced from!).
Ron Espero – which roughly translates to “Rum of Hope” hails from the Dominican Republic and is bottled in Panama. They have a fairly uninspiring English language website and the rum is imported into Europe by Haromex Development GmbH.
The website has only been going since 2013. I’ve no doubt they’ve been producing rum for longer than that. I think that this may well be the first English language review of any of their rums. Online the rum seems to be getting widely ignored.
Yet another Demerara rum with a very British twist to it. Along with brands such as Lambs, OVD and Skipper us Brit’s certainly do seem to enjoy importing dark Guyanese rums and bottling them up for public consumption.
The rum comes in normal bar style bottle with a label which is old fashioned and in similar ilk to that of Skipper. The makers of these rum’s certainly don’t seem to be going for the younger sexy end of the market.