Not An Alcoholic

  El Presidente Cocktail Review     Absolutely beautiful color. I don't know how well it really shows up in the photo, but in real life it is a spectacular and rich orange color. Looks a bit more amber in the photo, but it really is quite red in real life. I'm not really a great photo editor, nor did I want to spend too much time on it, but in real life, it looks a bit more like this. It really is vibrant.      It smells of the sweet demerara rum (I'm using Appleton Estate 12 Year Rare Cask) with a bit of the oak coming through as well, but there's also some florally grape notes from the lillet blanc. I've started freezing my citrus lately in order to preserve it for longer, and thawed citrus doesn't like to peel very well. But traditionally, this would have a swath of orange peel as well. The mouth feel is considerably more full than I was expecting. It looks rather thin imo, but it is actually pretty full. The first flavor I get is oranges, but those...

  Appleton Estate 12 Year Rare Casks     This evening's review will be the first of many full revisits that occur over the lifetime of this blog. There's many reasons to revisit reviews, for example when I first reviewed this rum, I was still doing these reviews entirely on  Twitter , leaving me with a 240 character limit. In addition to the character limit, my palate has also grown tremendously in that amount of time, and I should be able to appreciate finer details now. With that being said, as I revisit older reviews, if I'm not proud of the older ones, I'll likely be reverting them to draft on blogger, so they're no longer available here. If they were published on twitter, and you're in my twitter circle, you should be able to find them there.     Rich and sweet nose, I get maple, walnut, a little bit of dark chocolate, and a whiff of ethanol, but it's small. The mouthfeel is almost deceptively thin, the flavor is incredibly full, but rounded with ...

  Havana Club Añejo Clásico Puerto Rican Rum      Before we get started, I'd just like to briefly explain why I picked up this bottle. Simply put, you cannot legally acquire a true Cuban rum in the United States at the moment because of the trade embargo dating all the way back to the 60s. This is a horrible shame in Tiki drink culture, and rum culture in general, because cuban rum is called for a lot in drinks, and has it's own characteristics that lots of people look for. Havana club claims this rum to be made with a 1934 Cuban formula, but now manufactured in Puerto Rico. This would more or less allow you to get a very Cuban styled rum in the United States. In addition to that, this was a very reasonably priced bottle at my local ABC store.     Now that my rum has had time to chill as I type that, let's get to the notes! A little rubbing alcohol on the nose, but also some nutmeg, a little banana, maybe a bit of a nutty sweetness, like a pecan pie or some...

  A Riff on a Dark N' Stormy     First off: Why a riff? Well, Gosling's rum has a trademark on the name "Dark N' Stormy" so if you want to call your drink that, you legally have to use Goslings Rum. This is a real thing people have gone to court over. To avoid this, a lot of places will call their drink a "Dark And Stormy" or a "Dark 'N' Stormy" with 2 apostrophes, in order to get around the trademark. In my case, I'm not selling this to anyone, so I should be legally clear, but I'll call it my riff anyways, just to avoid any issues.  In addition to the name change. A "Dark N' Stormy" calls for a slice of lime, which I have omitted, it's served in a highball glass, not a double old fashioned. A "Dark N' Stormy" is also usually served with lots of ice chunks, or chips, or shavings or something, where as mine is with one large ice "sphere" (first time using the spherical ice molds, eventua...

Plantation Original Dark Old Fashioned Review     The nose is slightly sweet, orangey, maybe a bit of vanilla, something a little nutty as well. Mouth feel is a little on the thin side, not as smooth as I would've hoped. It's immediately sweet, gives to orange, gives to vanilla, I get some banana, a woody note that I want to place as oak. Finishes with a bitter maple syrup note.  8/10 Yummy My Spec My spec is: 2oz Plantation Dark rum 1/2oz Simple syrup 2 dashes Regans Orange Bitters What is an Old Fashioned?     "Sam, I thought an old fashioned was a whiskey drink" some of you might be saying. Well, you're correct. If you go to any bar, and ask for an old fashioned, they might ask you if you want it with bourbon or rye, but they will assume you want whiskey. American Whiskey has become the default for a "modern" old fashioned. "So isn't making it with rum wrong?" Well no. The origin of the old fashioned is muddy, but according to David Wond...

  A bottle that is no longer sold?     Perhaps a slight exaggeration, this bottle is no longer available to purchase from Appleton. In March of 2020 it was announced that Appleton would be changing their product stack, and the formerly Appleton special rum would now be sold by another brand under the same corporate umbrella as "Kingston 62 Gold rum". As you can tell from the photo, this is an older bottle that my parents had from a Jamaican friend of ours. Review     Sweet nose, bits of oak, banana, but also a little bit of paint thinner in there. Not incredibly aggressive, but definitely present. A little thin, a little abrasive in the mouth at first, particularly if your lips are as dry as mine, but it smooths out pretty quickly. I get notes of banana, maybe some sweet apple, brown sugar, a little something earthy, and a bit of wood on the finish. It's a shame that this bottle is no longer sold by Appleton. I have no reason to doubt that the Kingston...

Why have multiple bottles of rum from the same brand anyways?      While this might be a trivial question to some of the members of my reader audience, if you'll indulge me for a moment, I'd like to explain my reasoning for this, and go into what rum is a little bit as well. If you'd just like to see my reviews of the bottles today, there will be another section further down where the text is once again emboldened.     So, why have multiple bottles of rum? Well, lets start with a bit about rum production in general and compare it to some other spirits. Rum is at it's core, a distillate product made from sugarcane or sugarcane byproducts. But, that leaves a lot of room for interpretation, for example, you might have a Rhum Agricole made from sugarcane juice from a single harvest of sugarcane in a single country, that's distilled in column stills, not aged, and bottled at 40% ABV. Or you might have a jamaican rum, made from molasses from multiple harvest...

This is a Queen's Park Swizzle! It smells strongly of the deep brown sugary rum, I wish my mint was stronger, but my grocery store's mint was very sad. It's very boozy, but I also get lime, lots of funk, and cinnamon. Very good! 9.5/10 It's a riff on a Mojito using a much heavier rum and also bitters. My spec is: 1/2 oz Lime juice 1/2 oz Demerara simple 1 1/2 oz Lemonhart and sons 151 1/2 oz Smith and Cross 8 Dashes of angostura bitters A ton of mint, like probably 15 leaves of mint . This is going to be a lot higher proof than your standard mojito (like, 1.5x) and also the rum I chose has a lot more character and deeper flavors than a traditional spanish style that you'd see in a normal mojito

Strong vegetal nose, like earthy and also green smelling, almost savory. The mouth feel is soft, thin, maybe a bit silky, I get notes of grass and earth, but no bitterness, it's really interesting. For being a "cousin" of rum, it's not what I was expecting at all. 8.5/10

No bottle rating tonight, but I made a mixed rum pain killer. I'll put the exact recipe in the replies. It's cold, it's sweet, its got a little bit of funk, a little bit of barrel taste, and lots of sugary rum taste. Very very good. 9.8/10 3oz Pineapple juice 1oz Creme of coconut 1oz Orange Juice 1oz DonQ Gold 1/2oz Appleton estate 12 1/2oz Smith and Cross shaken with lots of crushed ice and open poured.

Smells like banana pudding and vanilla wafers, super strong nose. A little thin on the palate, sweet, simple, inoffensive. I do taste some banana and a little vanilla, but it's a very soft flavor in comparison to the nose. A perfectly serviceable rum, but, not my favorite 7/10

Caramel and banana nose, maybe a bit of green apple in there. Taste is so complex I wish I had more characters. Immediate alcohol burn, gives to brown sugar, cinnamon banana, some malt, maybe even corn notes, with bits of Jamaican funk all the way. Incredible bottle 9.7/10. The rum isn't actually that flourescant yellow, it's just my laptop behind it. Every time I take a sip I get new flavors, that might be my new favorite bottle. Its crazy how many things it has going on. Nutmeg, all spice, apples, maybe a little bit of a black peppercorn note, molasses, more cinnamon, it keeps showing the funky banana note. It's so good.

Strong maple nose. Way stronger maple smell over alcohol smell. Very thin mouth feel, but so flavorful. I get maple, brown sugar, walnut, and obviously the proofy burn. Rich and complex. 151 proof is higher than most things are even distilled to, let alone bottled at. 9/10 Wow.

Smells very strongly of acetone, with notes of paint thinner and other volatile hydrocarbons. Maybe the faintest bit of white sugar in the nose. The taste is less offensive, very strong, but rather neutral. Subtle notes of appley caramel, but generally neutral. 7/10