In 2011 after numerous “flavoured” expressions and a couple of rum “liqueurs” Bacardi finally released a Spiced rum to the market. Except at only 35% they aren’t legally allowed to market it as a Spiced rum so it becomes a Smooth and Spiced Spirit Drink.
Oakheart takes its name from the charred white oak barrels that the rum, sorry spirit drink is housed in. The rums contained within the blend are aged between 1-3 years. Bacardi were hoping upon its release that the tagline “Oak and Coke” would be heard in bars all over the world. I don’t think that has quite worked.
Bacardi Black. Along with Bacardi Gold, the two rums have recently been re-released into the UK market at 40% ABV rather than 37.5%. For whatever reason Bacardi Black is not as readily available as the White Superior or Gold. In most supermarkets and many off licenses the White Superior and Gold can be picked up at entry-level prices. However, the Black is largely absent from these outlets.
Bacardi 8 rum was the “sole preserve of the Bacardi family for over one hundred and thirty years” it is a “unique blend of the finest Bacardi Rums matured for no less than eight years”. Whilst the first part of the of the statement may be slightly fanciful the second part indicates to me that ALL the rum in the bottle is at least 8 years old. Still this hasn’t stopped the Bacardi Bashers and the Rum Conspiracy Theorists (there are some absolute crackers to be found online) from suggesting otherwise…….
A Premium Sipping Rum isn’t really a big deal anymore. You could probably spend most of your life trying every premium sipper and never get close to trying them all. However, what hasn’t really been done before is a white sipping rum. Whilst the casual rum drinker may consider Bacardi Superior to be a premium white rum, in terms of sipping it doesn’t even come close to the kind of smoothness and complexity that befits a true sipping 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.