Just so you know who is who:

Graeme is speaking like this.

Ross is speaking like this.

Ross showed up with some Mount Gay Eclipse for general drinking, some Rumtopf in a glass jar and Zacapa 23 in a plastic soda water bottle! There was apparently some worry about it spilling from the real bottle whilst travelling but I think he was worried that I’d drink all of it.

Ahh, Graeme almost got it right. I somehow managed to crack the bottle-top (that will teach me to open it after a night at Rum Club!) A substitute cork was found, but not one I would trust to do anything but sit on a shelf!

There was some debate around the bottle design, but this is something that the two of us have always completely agreed on (and that’s saying something). As far as we are concerned, Rum is the primary beverage of pirates, and the bottle should reflect that. We want to imagine Erroll Flynn sliding down a sail using his cutlass. And while Ron Zacapa have certainly created a beautiful product, it just doesn’t have that “swashbuckling” feel. The bottle is more Tate Modern than Jack Sparrow. Not a bottle that would have attracted my attention were it not for the recommendation of our new rum friend, John Collingwood of Want to Impress and Newcastle Rum Club. (Top night and a great host.  Get yourself down for the next one! 25.5.2010)

Ahh yes, it is a very Premium looking product indeed (the actual bottle as shown on the left, not the soda water bottle) and sometimes that isn’t such a good thing. Rum is rapidly becoming the next big thing and brands are experimenting with different presentations. The look of a bottle can make a big difference, but at the end of the day it’s all about the taste. Oh, and value.

If you are spending around £50 (apparently our American cousins can get a bottle for around $40, which is incredible value, lucky swines!) on a bottle of rum you need to make sure it’s worth it, luckily Zacapa 23 most certainly is.  So, value dealt with, on with the taste!

The colour of this rum is much darker than my regular tipples however not quite to the levels of naval rum.  In fact it reminds me more than a little of liquid bonfire toffee. The flavour is where this rum really stands out, incredibly smooth with no harsh afterburn and a distinct red berry taste with a hint of chocolate when sampled neat. Call me weird (and many have) but strangely a glass of this makes me feel like I need to buy a cabin in the woods and start hunting bears.

As my favourite way to enjoy rum is the old faithful Cuba Libre (please don’t scream “heathen” at me) this makes a fabulous accompaniment to Coke as the sweetness of both liquids really accentuate each other without the mixer overpowering the rum.

Well, I can agree with Ross on aspects of the taste. This tastes just like I imagined rum would when I discovered how it was made. When you know that rum is made from sugar cane by-products, and its colour is a lovely shade of dark brown, you expect a little sweetness and maybe a caramel element. You expect some kind of dark brown sugar feel to it. Most rums do not taste like you would imagine… This one does.

Speaking as someone who has tried many aged rums,  I can wholeheartedly say that Zacapa 23 is an outstanding rum. Well worth a spot in your drinks cabinet and well worth the asking price.

Where to get it:

The Drink Shop Ltd: £50.95

The Whisky Exchange: £49.95

Hi Time Wine (USA): $33.99

Being relatively new to the world of dark rum outside of the token offerings of the supermarket shelves planogram, I looked forward to taking off the training wheels. Through gentle coaxing of our esteemed host I took my first steps into the epicurean delights of the dark rum connoisseur with a bottle of R.L Seales 10 year old from Barbados.

My previous Barbadian rum experiences had come from Mount Gay Eclipse and Cockspur’s 5 Star, both solid all round performers and stable of the ‘mid week mixer’ so I was looking forward to yet another positive experience from our main event.

R.L Seales 10 year old comes from the only distillery still family run and owned in Barbados and you can tell that rum making passion from the off in the bottle. Colonially inspired by the early Caribbean sailors, the bent neck bottle looks like its been freshly plundered from some recently undiscovered booty and is simply stunning.

Given other aged rums I’d seen I was surprised firstly by its colour, brilliantly light with a stunning amber glow. With the nose too I was equally surprised, syrupy sweet with hints of vanilla and almonds, like being smashed in the face with a Tortuga rum cake. This gently dissipated on tasting as its characteristics changed in the mouth showing off its full 10 years. Incredibly smooth with a devilishly morish butternut taste, moving to a subtle but clean hint of oak with hardly any after burn to speak of.

Suitably impressed and with a newly found ‘masonic’ sense of belonging R.L Seales has made the beginning of my journey into the world of aged rum a memorable one.

Newcastle Rum Club takes place at “Tiki-O” at Tokyo (Google Map) on the last Tuesday of every month.

The Rum Club is organised by John Collingwood of Want to Impress. Be sure to check out their site as they run other rum related events in the North East.

The idea is quite simply to open your eyes and taste buds to thirty six of the most distinguished and distinctive rums that money can buy, letting you try brands you’ve never heard of or tasted before.

Once you’ve been expertly guided through all thirty six of our house rums on our exclusive and unique menu, you’ll be automatically upgraded to the high status of Tiki God, thus gaining access to rare & limited edition rums.

You can become a purveyor and connoisseur of the finest rums money can buy, guided by our expert bartenders and placed into your individual choice of cocktail, be it Mojito, Mai Tai or Daiquiri.

Hopefully I will see you there!

Within five minutes of entering the Royal Horticultural Halls we had landed at the Ron Barceló stand. Kirsty from Love Drinks talked us through the history of these Dominican Republic rums and treated us to a sample.

This brand of rum has been distributed by Love Drinks in the UK since July of this year I believe, and until Rumfest we hadn’t had the opportunity to try it.

Let’s talk about Ron Barceló Imperial. The aroma of this rum sent my head swimming with wonderful thoughts, citrus and chocolate, late nights at the beach, jumpers for goal posts. Maybe not, but something about it reminds me of childhood anyway.

On to the taste and it actually does live up to the aroma, no burn on the throat with this rum at all and a very syrupy and smooth taste. The Ron Barceló Imperial oozes quality and the bottle (lets face it, the bottle IS important) is fantastic and would look good on anyone’s rum shelf.

We can heartily recommend this rum. Get a bottle, you will not be disappointed!

A tremendous start to Rumfest for us, and shortly after this stand we realised we would have to slow down or things might get messy…

Myself and Ross will be there to sample all the wonderful rums and also to document the event for everyone who can’t make it. We’re hoping to get photos and video as well as tweeting live from the event.

This will be my first rumfest and I’m sure it will be fantastic!

If any of you have any specific requests or are going to Rumfest and fancy a chat with someone like minded don’t hesitate to get in touch.

See some of you there!

UPDATED: Rumfest done and your happy bloggers are back at home, nestling some very fine rum in our hands. Our updates will follow this week, where we review the rums we tasted and report on all of the happenings…

RumDood is continuing his excellent Rum 101 series and his latest post is Six Summer Cocktails.

While we’re half-way through summer here in the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemispherists are still waiting for their summer, it seemed like a good idea to talk about six summer rum drinks to keep you cool and refreshed while in your bathing suit.

• Daiquiri
• Caipirinha
• Mai Tai
• Jamaican Mule
• Mojito
• Queen’s Park Swizzle

The Jamaican Mule is, of course, a Dark ‘n’ Stormy. Renamed due to the copyright issue I mentioned in my last post.

Rum 101: Six Summer Cocktails

Apparently the cocktail Dark ‘n’ Stormy is a registered trademark in the US. It’s registered by Goslings and the trademark DEMANDS that any cocktail calling itself a Dark ‘n’ Stormy uses Goslings Black Seal rum.

The strange thing is my recipe for a Dark ‘n’ Stormy calls for Goslings by name, because frankly,  it tastes better than other alternatives.

This little fact might make me change the name and use a different Rum. I do hope this doesn’t become a trend, the possibilities are endless, and a little bit scary.

2 oz Rum Cream (Cruzan Rum Cream)
1 oz Jamaican Rum (Appleton Estate V/X)
1 oz Rhum Agricole Vieux (Clement VSOP)
1 oz J. Wray & Nephew Overproof
.5 oz Cointreau
.5 oz Absinthe (La Fee)
.25 oz Allspice Dram

Combine ingredients in a tin and shake with ice.  Strain over crushed ice and dust with fresh nutmeg, garnish with a cinnamon stick.

This is a cocktail recipe I’d really like to try myself, maybe even adapt, just need to source some of the ingredients.

Be sure to check out Gifted Rums for the development of this cocktail and, of course, RumDood for the full details of his version.

I’ve been looking for an excuse to try this one out and I’ve found it, I think. The site I get all my rums from (TheDrinkShop) has put this little beauty on special offer! It’s down from £81.15 to £72.95!

Every month, I allow myself one complete extravagance, and I think this will be it. I often buy art prints with my monthly allowance but I can’t help thinking that this would be art itself.

The bottle and box alone are fantastic!

Anyone tasted this? Do you think it’s worth the price? Let me know!

Zacapa XO Aged Rum for £72.95!

I’ve sampled the Tortuga Rum Cakes before and they are, as you would expect, absolutely lovely. There is something special about a cake that you have made yourself however, so try this recipe, it looks delicious!

My sister just came back from a week long trip to Jamaica. She brought back some Tortuga rum cakes and was raving about how moist and delicious they were. Her biggest complaint was the fact that you could only get them in the Caribbean and that they were tiny.

Needless to say that after listening to her describe said cake, I was hankering for some myself. Out the window went my diet, but it was well worth it.

See the full recipe at Culinary Escapade.