I don’t know what the sales of this rum are like worldwide. However, I’ve seen it stocked in a few high end hotels over here in the UK and a good few wine merchants carry it.
However, it hasn’t quite hit Aldi over here yet and I suspect it never will!
If Patron did indeed “add” the infamous orange flavour to this rum then as a marketing strategy it would seem to have worked wonders! Notwithstanding Bacardi this rum brand has to the be one of the most talked about rum brands in the world (not bad going consider they only do two rums!).
I’d been itching to try Pyrat (Ye Olde English for Pirate) and on a visit to Tynemouth (small coastal village in the North East of England) I came across “Wine Chambers” which stocked quite a nice little selection of rum’s. I picked the Pyrat up and had a little look at it. I had actually tried a shot of it in Durham the previous week but it was drowned out with cola so whilst I found it not unpleasant it was difficult to really taste the rum. I always think you need at least half a bottle before you know if you like the rum……..Anyway I turned to leave the shop and my wife asked why I wasn’t buying it. I needed little encouragement and quickly turned back around, picked up the bottle form the shelf and took the bottle and my wallet to the friendly proprietor.
The Pyrat bottle is similar in style to the bottles used onboard ships at, I assume the times Pirates roamed the oceans. Its the kind of bottle that cannot be knocked over onto its side its short and squat (a bit like a weeble except much more attractive!). The bottle itself is great and the labelling is clear. Their is a metal pendant with Hoti (the patron saint of Bartenders), a yellow ribbon and a nice little booklet which gives you some useful backgrond on Pyrat rum and Patron’s other offerings. The cork also has Pyrat wrote on it and also gives a very satisfying pop. As presentation goes it doesn’t get much better. Some may be dismayed there is no cardboard sleeve. I’ve also noted that sites such as the Whisky Exchange and the Master of Malt carry the rum with a limited edition lantern style box. Mine sadly did not come with this.
So on with the tasting. Having read so much about the orange taste of the rum, I was expecting some citrus. Upon opening the bottle I was hit immediately with a very definite hit of oranges. Now I quite like oranges and I don’t know many people who don’t so this wasn’t an immediate problem for me. It was nice however to note that for once the rum snobs hadn’t been exaggerating the “notes” of this rum. For a change it did actually smell like what they had observed!
The rum present itself in the glass with a very nice golden orange colour. Upon sipping the rum it is very smooth and sweet. The orange taste is very much at the forefront and the burn leaves behind a bitter tang of orange peel. I quite like it to be honest, its different, though not really “rum” as such. It’s not terribly complex – it is a pretty much one note rum.
Upon adding a little bit of cola to the mix the overall experience doesn’t change much. Mixed with more cola unsurprisingly the burn of the rum gives way and I prefer it a little more this way. Unlike many rums it is one I could sip, you are definitely getting a lot of flavour (admittedly mostly orange) but is interesting. It makes a variation on standard rum and cola and even goes well with lemonade. Is it really rum though? Well in name it is and even its presentation is in spirit with rum but sadly overall this isn’t really rum.
As a drink though its not bad but not great either.
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Ken Lovell
May 11, 2018 at 8:33 am
It’s a nice drink. It’s not rum the way some “gins” aren’t gins but flavored white spirit. But really, who cares? Provided consumers aren’t being defrauded with products that are a danger to their health, it’s up to them to make informed choices. I like Pyrat with coke, and I like rum and coke. I don’t confuse one with the other.
Hopefully one day Pyrat will quietly drop the ‘rum’ label and be a kind of Caribbean version of Glayva. And good luck to them.
NozzaC
February 27, 2017 at 8:47 am
There is zero doubt that Patron added the orange flavour and a ton of sugar and something else I can’t quite put my finger on. I think this is a joke of a product really – an insult to the consumer because they just buy a load of commercial rum and mix it up with sugar, colouring and flavouring in the same way Fanta do with water but get away with selling it as a premium rum product. For some reason, the rum marketplace will buy any old rubbish in a fancy bottle. I don’t get it. It’s not very nice, tastes like orange liqueur and, as you point out, has no complexity at all. Yet it gets rated highly all over the net.
Pyrat Pistol Rum Review
December 1, 2015 at 7:08 am
[…] You seem to either love or hate it, which was a little odd because I found it overall to be pretty okay (once you get past the fact it’s not really all that rummy). If you are interested my review is here. […]
Mount Gilboa Triple Distilled Pot Still Rum
September 30, 2015 at 4:07 am
[…] of the segment. This is with the exception of Smith & Cross or Old Salt Rum as far away from Pyrat XO or Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva as you will […]
Capn Jimbo's Rum Project
July 14, 2014 at 10:20 pm
My good friend, apparently you have not yet learned that what is called “rum” is really a mixed drink in a bottle, with all manner of unlabeled additives and artificial flavorings. This is exactly unlike the fine single malt whisky’s of Scotland or American Bourbon, for example which are pure and unadulterated. By cheating in this fashion, the rum producers can buy the cheapest possible, column-stilled distillate and flavor it to death – to the point that nearly no one knows what real rum actually tastes like. Rum – unless altered – is NOT sweet, does NOT exhibit brash orange or heavy vanilla. Even the lovely amber color is added.
Most rums are phony and this one is the poster rum for such shenanigans. My suggestion: try drinking real, pure and unaltered rums such as those from Richard Seale, most Jamaicans, Barbancourt, or perhaps Pussers. There are many more. In the US, this rum long ago was outed as a flavored fraud, and little respected. It joins such other highly manipulated products such as Z23, Zaya, Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva. Ron Matusalem was caught adding prunes and vanilla. El Dorado was outed having added huge amounts of unlabeled sugar. The same for a number of Plantation’s weak offerings.
Frankly, it’s a shame that rum is the regulation-evading rogue of spirits, and still – most ordinary drinkers don’t know that.
Good luck…
Fat Rum Pirate
July 19, 2014 at 4:52 pm
Thanks for the education….
Anonymous
September 28, 2017 at 9:58 pm
Thanks for your information. I do like Pyrat over ice on occasion.