u/Thin1ce

Here is my collection so far. I live in a rum wasteland but I'm making do to get ahold of what I can.

Is your favorite here? What would you make with what's on the shelves? Any home built recipes you like? Good split bases that go with any of these? I wanna know!

Not pictured are Appleton Signature and Mocambo 20.

Gave Farmington another $200 on my way back East. Mostly rebuys but I figured I'd also get another navy strength rum and Appleton 8 in a place where it isn't priced incorrectly.

Just picked this up at the Farmington Liquor Store in Beaverton, tasted it straight and immediately thought it would go nicely in a Hot Grog and I was right. That nice caramel and almost like butterscotch flavor that I got blended real nice with the honey and the lemon juice just brought everything together. I know a Hot Grog is typically served with lime, but I thought lemon might be better in this particular case.

Fantastic cocktail for this particular spirit.

Might get told off for this one but my favorite drink with a top shelf spin. Wonderous.

Went out of my way to Beaverton to pick up some rums I can't get at home. Didn't get quite as many as I wanted because I was in a hurry and didn't want to pack the car up even more than it already was, but successful nonetheless I think.

Usually when I'm at the liquor store, I tend to stay away from bottles that seem to make a bigger effort to look pretty, but I ended up getting this bottle as a wedding gift.

I did some looking around and couldn't find a whole ton of recent reviews or anything about this stuff so I decided I would make one myself.

I'm still pretty new when it comes to rum tastings to take everything I am say here with a grain of salt.

Presentation - This bottle always drew my eyes for at least a few seconds during my liquor store trips. It stands taller than any other bottle I have on my bar and has that sort of matted dark glass that sort of gives me Jack Sparrow and Pirates of the Caribbean vibes. The sort of netting around the bottle definitely makes it stand out on my bar shelf. The color also has that deep amber and honeyed hue that I kinda like to look at and is something I like when I sit to drink some Appleton 12.

Nose - At first I get a sort of toasty caramely scent, that shifts more towards tobacco leaf and vanilla. The smell is smooth and pleasant even for people who aren't typically fond of rum.

Taste - The toasted flavor rolls in just as quickly as the smell does, paired with an oak flavor that leans a bit into vanilla. There's certainly a nuttiness at the end, but it feels like it gets overshadowed by a note of tobacco.

I let it sit for a few minutes and tried it again. I feel like I tasted more chocolate at the beginning, and towards the end I tasted something that reminded me of muddled coffee beans. I could just be trying to read into something that isn't there.

Either way, it's very smooth and goes down easy. I'm not sure if I'm at much liberty to say whether or not there's sugar added, though with this category if rum I'm not sure if I could say that I would be surprised if it were.

Overall - This one leans pretty sweet, so if thats not your vibe in a sipper then I would skip this one. However I think it'd be worth mixing into a solid spirit forward cocktail, or something where you could make the sweetness take a backseat. Something with a bit of citrus, maybe. I think this is also one that has a flavor profile that I feel could be easily manipulated to fit the kind of flavors you like.

I would say that it's obviously above your typical mixer grade rums, but I'm not sure if it has enough go to sit too far above the likes of Diplo, Zacapa 23, or anything else in the "premium" category.

Rating - 6.5/10

Starting to build up the home bar. Just barely have enough rum for a dedicated shelf (without cheating and putting the large Appleton Sig bottle on it).

My state has quite a poor rum selection, and also has state run stores with little option in the way of any single person getting ahold of anything they don't decide to carry themselves. However I do have a moderately sized shopping list to get through in a couple weeks when I drive through a place that actually has a selection.

Probitas, Hamilton, Appleton 8, Worthy Park, and a couple others...

Hadn't heard of Mocambo until I received a bottle as a wedding gift. I exercise caution with pretty bottles to the point that I mostly just stay away from them. If anyone's tried it, let me know what you think, and if you've tried it in anything.

Money can be tight at times so I'm building a bit slower than some, but I'm happy to have found a few solid things that I enjoy, and I'm excited to try more!