Spiced Rum comes in for a lot of flak. It is widely viewed as a cheap party drink and in the US it is widely seen as a Frat House mixer. Drank with the sole purpose of getting very drunk, very quickly.
Here in the UK many peoples views on Spiced Rum have been clouded by Morgan’s Spiced Gold and Sailor Jerry. In the late 00’s Sailor Jerry and Cola was actually the “in” drink for a short period. For reasons which have never been fully explained the Sailor Jerry boom in the UK was cut short, not by changing trends but by the actual producers of the rum.
Bristol Classic Rum are a wonderful little bottling and ageing experiment, overseen by drinks legend John Barrett. They produce some of the rum worlds most interesting independent bottlings and they price them competitively and sensibly, so most can access their wares.
Bacardi Carta Fuego – Red Spiced Rum to give it it’s full moniker. In 2011 Bacardi moved away from creating weird and wonderful Flavoured Rums and introduced their competitor in the Spiced Rum market – Bacardi Oakheart.
Dark Matter: Inspired by Science, Driven by Curiosty. Is the tagline for this newly released Spiced Rum which hails from the less than Caribbean like island of Great Britain. More precisely from Aberdeen, Scotland.
Admiral Edward Vernon AKA “Old Grog” was responsible for a reduction in the British Royal Navy’s rum ration in 1740. Many of the sailors were dissatisfied with the dilution of their rum ration and legend has it that Admiral Vernon suggested the men spruce up their “tot” with sugar and limes.
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.
I’m one of those people with a very short attention span who easily becomes bored or disinterested. Fortunately I’m also one of those people blessed with no fear when it comes to trying new things. If I go the bar for a drink and it’s well stocked with rum you would never guess what I might come back with. If the bar isn’t well stocked with rum the guessing game becomes even more difficult. I love rum but I have plenty of it at home. I don’t always have to drink rum.