Are You Ready to Rum Bell?

My son in law and daughter gave me an amazing machine for Father's Day.  Apparently, as advertised, it cools a drink to 15 degrees F.  So this inspired me to finally create my own rum drink.  Here 'tis.

The easiest ingredient to settle upon was Blue Bell ice cream.  The only intense moment will be finding out if the melted ice cream will flow through the dispenser.  If not, then there is an alternative recipe for dispensing at parties (and on the bar for hot weekends).

Then the notion of another alternative hit me.  I love real hot chocolate--fudge.  So when the dispenser is not being used, the chocolate can be fudge rather than chocolate syrup.

The Recipes


The Rum Bell

• 1 Cup of Blue Bell Ice Cream 
• 2 Tablespoons of Smucker's Hot Fudge Topping (Unheated)
• 1 Jigger Bacardi Ron 8 Anos (or Equivalent)

The Bar Belle

• 1 Cup Heavy Cream
• 2 Tablespoons of Hershey's Chocolate Syrup
• 1 Jigger  Bacardi Ron 8 Anos (or Equivalent)

So this weekend, I'm going to try these out.  

Is aging really a reality for a real rum drinker?

Yes.  Oops, I just gave away the conclusion of this whole blog entry.  Please read on anyway.

What we need to test out the question of just how important aging is for a rum drinker is a rum that is available in a variety of aging choices.  Thank you, El Dorado.  As all the loyal followers of this blog are fully familiar, 

El Dorado is available in these ages and rated by me as follows:

• ·         Aged 12 years (Rated 7),
• ·         Aged 15 years (Rated 8),
• ·         Aged 21 years (Rated 9), and
• ·         Aged 25 years (Rated 10). 

Now one might think these ratings to be suspect considering how neatly spaced they are—7, 8, 9, 10.  Oh, but you must give me credit beyond just lining up these excellent rums in order of their labels.  In fact, I didn’t even purchase them in that order, or taste them in that order, or rate them in that order.  I’ve even set them out in front of friends for tastings and had them correctly identify their aging. 

The most definitive statement about aging is the difference between El Dorado 25 and any other rum I and all my friends have tasted.  Each of us has immediately declared the amazing smoothness of El Dorado 25 compared to other rums and the other El Dorados. 

Of course, we can’t afford to drink “El 25” casually.  So El Dorado 21 is the default, and quite frankly, is a fantastic choice. 

My conclusion is simply, when selecting your rum, pay attention to the number of years it has been aged.  The aging definitely makes a difference.  

The Spirit of Texas—The Best and Worst

How can the best and worst of Texas rum come from the same little company in Pflugerville in central Texas?  The followers of this blog already know that Pecan Street Rum (Rating 8) is one of the highest value rums.  However, its sister rum from the same company, Spirit of Texas Rum (Rating 1), a white rum, hardly passes as rum. 

Pecan Street Rum is one of my favorites with its slight hint of pecans.  However, Spirit of Texas Rum has universally drawn the most puckery, frownery grimices from the poor souls I’ve offered tastes. 

I bought a bottle from the local liquor store simply because it’s from Texas, only to be warned by the clerk that a bottle had actually been returned by another customer.  Wow, that was sobering.  Sobering is the last thing one wants from a bottle of rum!  After his taste of this brew, a colleague of mine even asked me if I might have gotten that returned bottle.

Oh well, let’s declare that the Pfugerville folks have credit in store for Pecan Street Rum.  Then let’s ask for in-store credit for Spirit of Texas Rum.  

Rum: The Spirit of Texas, Pflugerville, Texas
Rating: 1     Proof: 80

I bought this because I intend to try every Texas rum.  Ouch.  A business colleague, a new hire at my company, was over at the house tasting my rum collection.  He was skeptical that any rum could be as bad as I described this one.  So as he drank, he was trying to be open-minded and reserve judgement.  Then the harsh reality set in, and the most gruesome expression revealed the opinion that the words could not escape his lips to verbalize.  


I must remind folks that Pecan Street Rum, one of my favorites, comes from this same company.  


Value Rating: .05  Extremely Low     
This would not be of value if received as a gift.   



Typical Price:  $20/750 ml

Most Inappropriate Rum Drink

The Most Ridiculous Commercialization of “The Rum Diary” Imaginable

The real men in The Rum Diary movie drink their rum straight up or on the rocks—even out of the bottle.  Never, ever mixed in a fruity punch bowl using a spiced rum.  So how in the world do the makers of Sailor Jerry Rum try to commercialize on the movie with a specialty drink they call Hunter’s Punch named after The Rum Diary’s author? 


Sailor Jerry Ltd. produces a 92 proof spiced rum featuring a hula girl on the label. As the bottle is emptied, additional pin-up girls designed by Sailor Jerry himself are visible on the inner side of the label. The rum is distilled in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Being spiced and over 80 proof give Sailor Jerry’s rum two strikes in my ratings.  Frou-frou drinks with pom juice, lemon, and champagne were far from the minds of Paul Kemp and his newspaper buddies. 


If Sailor Jerry had wanted to honor Hunter and the men of The Rum Diary, he would have created the Paul Bearer Rum Shot.  Simply—a double shot of rum on the rocks. 


Here's the recipe Sailor Jerry published for their honorary drink. 

Hunter’s Punch

1.5 part Sailor Jerry Rum
2 part pom juice
.5 part lemon
.5 part champagne

Bottom of punch bowl add pom juice and lemon juice. Stir slowly with ice. Add rum and stir some more. Slowly add champagne while stirring. Keep punch cool with minimal ice. Serve chilled in desired glass.

The Rum Diary Gets Blogged

Sorry, the movie “The Rum Diary” isn’t about rum, and I didn’t hear the word diary once.  Yes, they drink rum often; after all, the action is set in the home of Bacardi, Puerto Rico, in 1960.  The name Bacardi is mentioned one time.   Maybe my high school English teacher would be disappointed that I failed to recognize that rum is the metaphor for all the temptations that bring out the human frailties that prevent us from reaching our full potential and that my connotation of diary is just way too narrow.

I do, however, get asked frequently about this movie and its contribution to the rum world.  So here goes.

What would be the worst drinking game while watching this movie?  Take a drink every time someone says, “Rum.”   

• ·         Rum is first mentioned 15½ minutes into the movie (counting HBO intro credits). 
• ·         Second mention at 34½ minutes. (+19 minutes)
• ·         Third time the word rum is said is at 49 minutes. (+15 minutes)
• ·         Fourth comes at 1 hour 15 minutes. (+26 minutes)
• ·         Fifth follows at 1 hour 20 minutes. (+5 minutes)
• ·         Sixth at 1 hour 32 minutes. (+12 minutes)
• ·         Movie ends at 1 hour 55 minutes.  (+23 minutes with no additional mention)

Anyone would say that’s just not the pace a screenwriter would mention rum if the movie was really about rum.  This movie is about a novelist who discovers he’s really an investigative journalist destined to expose the corruption of government and big business.  Oh, my, this is a Johnny Depp movie, isn’t it. 

The Rum Diary, based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson, follows journalist and would-be novelist, Paul Kemp, played by Johnny Depp, in 1960’s Puerto Rico.  Paul drinks more than his share of rum, and promises to cut back, then eventually to stop drinking it altogether.  As he sails off into the sunset—literally—at the end of the movie, we never find out if he either cuts back or quits. 

Imagine Paul Kemp romping around Puerto Rico more than 30 years before the excellent rums of today were even distilled and poured into their barrels for aging.  Throughout the movie, we are teased with miniatures and glasses we are left to assume are rum. 

In one scene, 10 Puerto Rican Rum bottles are struck down by a bowling ball making a Brooklyn pocket hit in what any bowler would recognize as an improbable shot, and any rum lover would declare to be a waste of 227 shots.  (Assuming the bottles are 1 liter size.) 

Unfortunately, never does anyone in the movie call for a rum by name, or is any indication given that there’s a difference among rums.  Rum is just referred to as “rum.”  The characters drink it like it’s domestic beer.  Thus, we rum drinkers learn nothing from this movie about rum.  The lazy screen play writers failed to invest even an afternoon in researching the rich history of rum in Puerto Rico.  To their credit, the photographers caught fantastic camera angles that showed off Puerto Rico in its most favorable panoramas.  Rum—well, that was just background that happened to be mentioned in the title of the movie.  They should have titled it “Depp in the Heart of Palms.“  No, really, I’ll get over it.  This movie won’t be a classic.  The biggest problem for us is that from now on when we Google rum, we’ll have to scroll past all the useless “The Rum Diary” references that’ll come up first.

An Interview with Uncle Richard

Glynn: I understand you recently returned to Barbados to see how rum has matured since 1647.

Uncle Richard: Yes, the kill-divell has really evolved in three centuries.

Glynn: You were the first to write about rum in your book A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbados.  In fact, the rum you encountered in Barbados in 1647 was the first ever distilled.

Uncle Richard: That’s what I hear.  The natives called it kill-divell and boiled it in copper pots using their locally grown sugar cane.  I see the process is a bit more refined, so to speak, these days.

Glynn: Could you English gents stand to drink the local kill-divell?

Uncle Richard: On weekends, and when we did, it didn’t take much of the Devil’s killer brew to finish us off.  Remember, the natives didn’t put their rum away in barrels for 20 years to age it, so there was quite a bite to it.

Glynn: Now I want you to try some Mount Gay Extra Old from Barbados, mixed in what we call today Caffeine-Free Diet Coke on the rocks.  That means it has ice in it.  This is my preferred concoction. There wasn’t any ice to put in drinks in Barbados in 1647 was there?

Uncle Richard: Wow, that’s really chilly.  Where’s the kill-divell taste?  That stuff’s quite tame.  If I could have taken that mixture back to England, the Queen would have knighted me. 

Glynn: What did you think of the local kill-divell?

Uncle Richard: I would have included much more about it in my book if I had any notion future generations would find this at all interesting.  I had quite a fascination for the kill-divell. Around the island, there were several native families that made the brew.  My buddies depended upon me to give them my inside rating each month of the best batch out on the street.  I posted a flier at the local dry goods each month. 

Glynn: No kidding?  That post was the first rum blog. 

Uncle Richard: What’s a blog?

Rum Recommendations

Best Rum for a Neighborhood Party

The occasion is having friends over for a party.  You want to have the appropriate rum for the occasion.  These are your neighbors, friends, maybe an office colleague—people whom you want to entertain with rum they will enjoy throughout the evening.  Your budget is modest (meaning you aren't going to set out the $140 bottle of Ron Abuelo Centuria for them to drain at midnight), so this is when the Rum Meter is your best friend.

·       For Mixing: The 3 best values are clearly Ron Bacardi 8 Anos, Ron Barcelo Gran Anejo, and for raising eyebrows and glasses—Pecan Street Rum.  These will cost just under $20 for a 750 ml bottle.

·       For Straight Up: The two best values are Mocambo and Ron Zacapa 23 Anos.  You’ll be spending around $40 for 750 ml, but the upgrade is noticeable. Really? Your friends are drinking rum straight up at a neighborhood party?  Are you having to watch slides of their vacation to Puerto Rico?  

Best Rum to Impress Your Business Clients

The occasion is entertaining your business clients in an atmosphere where you want them to go away saying, “Wow, they really know their rum!”  There are two levels to this challenge.

Corporate Level: El Dorado 21, Ron Zacapa 23 Anos, and Flor de Cana Aged 18 Years will impress anyone.  These are great for mixing or straight up.  The clients will not recognize these from their favorite restaurant bars. 

Premiere Level: Ron Abuelo Centuria, Pyrat Cask 1623*, and El Dorado 25 are all tough to find, but well worth the search.  These cost $140, $240, and $340 respectively, so be sure the clients are worthy.  *Note: I haven’t rated 1623 yet on this blog.

Best Rum for a Mojito

A white rum is traditional.  There are two that rate highly.  10 Cane is my all-time favorite (8, $30), but Oronoco has come along with the same rating (8, $35).  With all the lime, sugar, mint, and club soda that go into the mojito, the rum can get lost.  So there are two philosophies.  One is to go for one of these quality rums to stand up to the other ingredients.  The other is to just settle for a light Bacardi and try not to go home with the mint leaves stuck between your teeth. 

Best Rum for a Cuba Libre

Raise the canopy mid-afternoon at marker 102 on the beach at Port Aransas.  Pull the Turvis Tumbler out of the Igloo.  There should be about 2/3 ice and Caffeine-Free Diet Coke up to about three inches of the top.  Take out the 750 ml bottle of Ron Bacardi 8 Anos purchased from Island Liquors on Cut-Off Road and fill the tumbler up another two inches.  Squeeze in half a keylime from the IGA Grocery.  Snap on the lid.  Unwrap the orange and white What-a-Burger straw you saved from the stop in Cuero on the way down and slide it down into the lid.  Slip the tumbler into the black handle and give it a couple of easy shakes.  Drop yourself into a chaise lounge chair pointed toward the surf.  Sip.  

What Matters in Rum Ratings

Most people like their own creations.  That’s the way I am about these ratings and descriptions on www.YoHoHoNABOR.blogspot.com.   Sure, there are some rather sophisticated rum ratings and websites out there by individuals and panels of credentialed experts, but they typically include too many rums I can’t find at my local liquor stores.  Then there are websites with rums described only with standard marketing blurbs and photos, but nothing really personal about how the rum enhanced someone’s vacation or whether the rum represents their home town or if the rum brought a smile or grimace to their wife’s face.  Beyond the words, a useful rumsite needs to show the visitor a graphic that depicts each rum’s vitals for ease of comparison.  There needs to be help with selection of the perfect rum for each occasion. 

When I showed this blog to my son, Shelby, he liked the Value Rating.  That conversation also taught me that I needed a visual, graphical way to display value.  That’s how the Rum Meter evolved.  As of this date, the Rum Meter is posted for all rums rated 7 or higher.  After all, if a rum is rated 6 or lower, its value can be misrepresentative.  Would you want to buy a high-value rum that earned that value based more on price than taste? 

So what matters?  Simply, selecting the rum that fits the occasion at the right price.  Oh, yes, and that rum needs to be one that you can actually find.  

360 Years of Ligons Pour out and Pore over Rum

“… the drinke of the Iland, which is made of the skimmings of the Coppers, that boyle the Sugar, which they call kill-Divell.”  From A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbados, Richard Ligon, 1657, London.

Kill-Divell is the earliest reference in recorded history to rum.  Based upon Richard Ligon’s travels to Barbados circa 1647. 

Indeed, my very own ancestor Richard was the first to write about rum.  He documented the emergence of kill-divell (aka kill-devil) from its origin in Barbados in the 1600’s. 

Ironically, I discovered this ancestral connection when I Googled my own name to see if this rum blog was being found by the search engines.  Imagine my reaction when the top hits were all Richard Ligon from 1647.  An incredible 360 years after Richard Ligon was tasting and commenting on kill-divell in Barbados, this Ligon began a quest to find the best kill-divell descendent. 

The full quote from Uncle Richard’s book is “We are seldome drye or thirsty, unlesse we overheat our bodyes with extraordinary labour, or drinking strong drinks; as of our English spirits, which we carry over, of french Brandy, or the drinke of the Iland, which is made of the skimmings of the Coppers, that boyle the Sugar, which they call kill-Divell.” 

Apparently not only did I get my interest in rum from Uncle Richard, but also my spelling skills.  I copied and pasted this passage from his book into Word and Spellcheck overloaded.  The only words spelled correctly were capitalized wrong.  A message asked me if I wanted to submit an error report to Microsoft.  The detail in the message said that in proofing spelling,  anytime 20% of the words are incorrect, they assume Spellcheck is malfunctioning.  Hey, this is rum.  I figure 80 proof is normal, right?  

Uncle Richard's book is in the Smithstonian.  This blog--probably headed for another type of institution.  


If you are interested in Richard Ligon's legacy, here's the best article about him.

http://www.britishfoodinamerica.com/Another-Caribbean-Number-featuring-Jamaica/the-lyrical/An-appreciation-of-Richard-Ligon-featuring-some-discussion-of-a-new-book-The-Sugar-Barons-Family-Corruption-Empire-and-War-by-Matthew-Parker/

Rum: El Dorado 25 Year, 1980 Distillation, April 19, 2007, 

16:19 Hours, Guyana

Rating: 10     Proof:  80

A gift from Steve Curtis, Edustructures, to commemorate the acquisition of the National Transcript Center, March 13, 2009.  Everyone who tries it knows right off that it's special.

 Value Rating: .29  Very Low


Typical Price:  $350/750 ml

Seems the rating scale needs to go up to 36 in order for this rum to be the highest value.

Rum: Ron Abuelo Centuria, Reserva de la Familia, Panama

Rating: 9     Proof:  80

A blended rum with rums aged in white oak for as long as 30 years.  I had to get past the bite to really enjoy the aged flavor.  Didn't expect that from the Esquire article which made this out to be possibly the best rum.  Can't quite compete with El Dorado 25.  

 Value Rating: .58  Moderate


Typical Price:  $140/750 ml

Rum: El Dorado, 21 Year Old Rum, Finest Demerara, Guyana

Rating: 9     Proof:  80

Best of the aged--23 years.  Best of the "first crush of the sugar cane."  This one really suits my taste.

 Value Rating: 1.40  Moderate


Typical Price:  $58/750 ml

Rum: Ron Zacapa, 23 Anos, Guatemala

Rating: 9     Proof:  80

Best of the aged--23 years.  Best of the "first crush of the sugar cane."  This one really suits my taste.

 Value Rating: 1.93  Very Good


Typical Price:  $42/750 ml

Rum: Mocambo, Aged 20 Years, Veracruz, Mexico

Rating: 9     Proof:  80

Kyle's '07 Christmas gift.  A real find.  Unique bottle.  "Ho, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum," says Santa.  Then in 2011, Clint and Aly give me another bottle for Christmas.  So this is officially the "Spirit of Christmas."

 Value Rating: 2.31  Great


Typical Price:  $35/750 ml

Rum: Myers's Legend, Aged 10 Years, Jamaica

Rating: 9     Proof:  80

Excellent.  Dark.  Can't throw away the great bottle.  Can you get refills?

 Value Rating: 1.88  Outstanding 


Typical Price:  $43/750 ml       

Rum: Bacardi Ron 8 Anos, Ron Reserva Superior, Puerto Rico

Rating: 8     Proof:  80

Dark.  Great.  This one started the quest for the best rum--Port Aransas--Thanksgiving, 2006.  This is my Port A rum  Goes best with family and shrimp.

 Value Rating: 3.56  Outstanding         


Typical Price:  $18/750 ml        

Rum: Ron Barcelo, Gran Anejo, Dominican Republic

Rating: 8     Proof:  80

"A blend of the finest Dominican rums patently settled in oak barrels."  Very smooth.  May be under-rated at 8.

 Value Rating: 3.37  Outstanding   


Typical Price:  $19/750 ml

Rum: Pecan Street Rum, Pflugerville, Texas

Rating: 8     Proof:  80

I love pecans.  Very light.  Tasty.  Lacks that aged quality.  Pfloored Treaty Oak Rum out of the state.  

 Value Rating: 3.20  Outstanding 


Typical Price:  $20/750 ml

Rum: Aniversario Pampero Reserva Exclusiva, Ron Anejo, Venezuela

Rating: 8     Proof:  80

Very close to being a top-list rum.  Could be aged a few more years.  Paper or plastic?  No!  Leather bag.  Classy.  This is a favorite of the Culp brothers--Clint & Wes.  

 Value Rating: 2.56  Great


Typical Price:  $25/750 ml

Rum: Pyrat, XO Reserve, British West Indies

Rating: 8     Proof:  80

Excellent.  Lighter, Tastier.  Great cork.  Use as a floatation devise in case of a water landing.  Patron's rum comes from a good family.  The Pyrat asks, "Arrrrr you ready to RUMble?"  

 Value Rating: 2.29  Great


Typical Price:  $28/750 ml

Rum: 10 Cane, Trinidad

Rating: 8     Proof:  80

The bar at the old train station in Cheyenne, Wyoming, had this new rum.  Found it in Anchorage, too.  A new category is needed for this rum--first pressing, no molasses, no aging.  This is now what I look for in bars, because the really good aged rum just can't be found.

 Value Rating: 2.13  Great


Typical Price:  $30/750 ml

Rum: El Dorado 15 Year, Finest Demerara, Guyana

Rating: 8     Proof:  80

Noticeably better than 12 year.

 Value Rating: 2.00  Great


Typical Price:  $32/750 ml

Rum: Zaya Gran Reserva, Aged 12 Years, Guatemala

Rating: 8     Proof:  80

Light.  Tasty.  Distilled from "pure sugar cane."  Very sugary aroma.

 Value Rating: 1.94  Very Good  


Typical Price:  $33/750 ml

Rum: Oronoco, Brazil

Rating: 8     Proof:  80

Compares to 10 Cane but with a different flavor.

 Value Rating: 1.83  Very Good  


Typical Price:  $35/750 ml

Rum: Mount Gay Extra Old, Blended, Barbados

Rating: 8     Proof:  86

First taste was great.

 Value Rating: 1.68  Very Good  


Typical Price:  $38/750 ml

Rum: Rhum Barbancourt, Vieilli 15 Annos, 
Port au Prince, Haiti

Rating: 8     Proof:  86

Matured in selected bourbon casks.  Quite a bite after 21 years.  

 Value Rating: 1.64  Very Good  


Typical Price:  $39/750 ml

Rum: Zafra, Master Reserve, Aged 21 Years, Panama

Rating: 8     Proof:  80

Matured in selected bourbon casks.  Quite a bite after 21 years.  

 Value Rating: 1.33  Moderate 

Typical Price:  $48/750 ml

Rum: 

Flor de Cana Centenario 21, 

Nicaragua


Rating: 8     Proof:  80

Clint's gift--excellent taste!  21 is for the century not the aging.  Aged 15 years.  


Value Rating: .93  Low  


Typical Price:  $69/750 ml

Rum: Gosling's Black Seal, Bermuda


Rating: 7     Proof:  80

Dark taste--interesting flavor from the barrel. 

 Value Rating: 2.58  Excellent  


Typical Price:  $19/750 ml

Rum: Brugal Anejo, 5 Year Old, Dominican Republic
Rating: 7     Proof:  80

Tasted at Legal Seafood restaurant in Boston (November '08) Described in flier as "Dark amber with hints of coconut and vanilla, this is a rich buttery, intensely flavored rum."

 Value Rating: 2.58  Excellent  


Typical Price:  $19/750 ml