Ron Zacapa Centenario is a premium rum produced in Guatemala by Rum Creation and Products, a subsidiary of Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala and distributed and marketed by Diageo. Zacapa was created in 1976 to celebrate the centenary of the foundation of Zacapa, a town in eastern Guatemala.
The rum is produced using Virgin Sugar cane honey rather than molasses. One of the confusing aspects surrounding the various Ron Zacapa rums which have been available has been the ageing statements. This has also been further confused by different territories enjoying different expression of their rums. I have used the full naming convention on the bottle for the purpose of this review to avoid any confusion. This is something I usually do with my reviews but I took extra care with this particular one.
Pirates Grog rum is from (wait for it…) Roatan. Yes, me neither. Roatan located between the islands of Útila and Guanaja, is the largest of Honduras’ Bay Islands. The company have been trading since 2012 and are currently trying to extend their distribution into the UK market. The Pirates Grog has its own website http://www.piratesgrogrum.com. The website builds around the Pirate theme and adds some mystique to the rum.
Produced in Mexico by Licores Veracruz. The rum is bottled in small quantities and aged in white oak barrels (ex bourbon). There is more information on the bottle. Unfortunately other than the attached label it is all in Spanish!
The name “Old Grog” dates back from the early days when the finest of Grenada’s Rum was shipped to his Majesty George III England. In order to identify the King’s Rum, the casks were marked G.R.O.G. which is the abbreviation for Georgius Rex Old Grenada. Or so the story on the bottle goes. Whether this is true or not is another matter. It does sound feasible though. The term “grog” is usually used to describe a mix of rum, water and limes which was given to sailor’s to prevent them getting too intoxicated drinking solely rum.
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.