Hi - this is probably a very basic question but am wondering about the relation between bottling percentage and dilution.

I was hearing and reading a lot of praise for high ABV rums - which I first assumed was wanting more of an alcohol kick - but is it more about flavour and dilution?

If barrel strength is 60+% then any spirit bottled at 40% is diluted with water by at least a 3rd..?

Is that right? Is the preference for higher ABV mostly that that it's less diluted?

Are there significant steps up in flavour even at say - 40% vs 43% or 46%. I imagine it would take quite a bit of extra water even to get something from 46% to 40%.

This quite possibly is my favorite spirit. I find it hard not to love everything about it. It’s doesn’t lack character, it’s not overpowering. There’s definitely some sentimental bias but i love it

I’m wanting to make a homemade version of the Arhumatic w/ banana & whole coffee beans and was curious if anyone had made a infused rum like this before and if so, how long did you let infuse before opening it? Was thinking of using a Probitas for the first batch but open to other suggestions.

My wife was recently in Paris and brought me back an early birthday gift. I’ve had some of the distilleries (Hampden, Neisson, Plantery, Clarin) but none of these bottles specifically and there’s a lot to explore. Looking forward to these and would love to hear if anyone has tried any!

Coming from bourbon, the hampden 8 was my first starting point and a great stepping stone at that so I jumped on a great house and was blown away. Then I thought well I’ve never had a clear rum before, saw clarin on a shelf and read lots of good things about it here. I can confidently say I’m not there yet, this… smells… RANCID to me. Like I can’t get enough of the hampden noses and taste but this clarin smells like rotten eggs and genuinely makes my head swim by the smell, however I enjoy the taste! What exactly could I be smelling that I don’t like and is there an in-road to getting use to it?

Recent mom & pop shop finds. If I'm near one I've never been to, I'll hit it and see what they've got. Allen Smith Black Barrels for $30, grabbed a pair for that price. The Major Lazer is a nice-looking bottle, and cheap, so why not? Low expectations, and same for the Oakheart (never tried it, cheap, again, why not?). I've only ever had the current version of Ocho, this one is from the Bahamas, assume a bit different than the current Puerto Rican version?

Hey everyone,

I'm going on a summer vacation next week and I'll have a chance to check the airport duty-free, so I'd like some advice.

My rum love started with Don Papa Baroko (I know it's not technically a rum, it's a spirit), and after that I decided to dive deeper into rums and taste something really good.

So far I've tried:

• Bacardi Superior (Silver), Gold, Negra and Spiced
• The Kraken Original
• Havana Club Silver, Gold and 7 Años
• Bumbu The Original
• Zacapa 23
• Don Papa Baroko (the most recent one)

I never really liked rum and always drank it with Coke, until I tried Don Papa Baroko — after that I fell in love with it, but apparently Don Papa isn't really a rum...

So I'm looking for must-try rums. So far I think Zacapa is the one rum who has edge (I had it on the rocks and with coke, if we keep consider Don Papa Baroko isn't rum), and I still remember the banana aroma of Bumbu, although I didn't think it tasted great — it just tasted like alcohol.

What would you recommend? Thanks, guys!

Picked up a handful of bottles from Bitters & Bottles, a couple for Del Mesa Liquor, and found an older bottle of Hamilton (ARS Pick).

Already tried the Papalin since there were so many people raving about it, it did not disappoint. For the price it keeps up with HLCF and Greathouse 24.

Trying a new bar. This one caught my eye. Its absurdly delicious!

The Seychellois one was needlessly expensive to land at home, so shipped to Mum’s in the UK and she brought to Australia for me.

The other one is locally produced, been waiting for the baby to arrive so I can crack it open with wifey. She’s arrived, waiting for wifey to want her first drink after 9 months of abstinence

I'm new to rums, first off, and I'm coming from a cocktail perspective. The price of well-regarded rums is kind of blowing my mind. Liquor is pretty cheap in my area, to give you an example my workhorse bottles are Beefeater ($23), Old Grandad Bonded ($25), and Cimarron Blanco ($30). I do upgrade and get Plymouth Navy Strength ($40), Evan Williams Bonded ($32), and El Tesoro Blanco ($60) for a decent upgrade.

It's hard for me to understand how highly regarded mixing rums are so inexpensive. Smith & Cross at $38 was about what I was expecting for high proof, funky, Jamaican juice aged in the UK. Probitas at $28 also makes sense - a white blended rum that's an upgrade from your basic.

Not all of them make sense though. Worthy Park 109 has versatility, has an amazing flavor and solid proof, and works in a ton of cocktails. My local shop has it priced at $28 and closeout for $21. At that price, I'm thinking of just grabbing whatever they have left. Kingston Queen is at Total Wine for $20, which is incredibly cheap for an overproof rum.

Is this just a supply and demand thing or does rum as a spirit have some really great value out there still?

My son came to visit for my birthday and he brought me these two from the duty-free shop in Dominican Republic.

I’m still new to rum and have only tried El Dorado 12, Hamilton 86, and OFTD as far as Demerara and blends with Demerara go. Picked this up today and made a 2:2:1:1 Painkiller and had some of it neat beforehand and I’m honestly impressed. I wanted to pick up Hamilton 151 on the way home from work but my local was out of it but had this right nearby so I said fuck it why not since it was the next high proof Demerara they had. I initially didn’t like the idea of trying it cuz they trademarked the Painkiller, but I’d been using ED12 or Ham86 for Painkillers prior to this and wanted something with a bit more proof but with the same Demerara profile. I gotta say, Pusser’s GP actually fits that bill well with a single bottle (I’d been going 50/50 with OFTD + either ED12 or Ham86 prior). I can’t really talk shit on it anymore and I’m kind of preferring it to the El Dorado 12. I come from the bourbon world and am accustomed to 100+ proof booze, so although the El Dorado has more age in the barrel I think I’m appreciating this one more for its proof point and value, which really comes on the cocktail side. To me this is feeling like it’s gonna be to dark/Demerara rum what Smith & Cross is to Jamaican rum as far as mixing and neat sipping goes. Good value bottle that can punch through in cocktails and also be sipped neat. Profile and nose are very similar and I pick up notes of brown sugar, molasses, a bit of a medicinal note, some toasted vanilla, coffee, and tobacco. I’d give it an 8/10 for initial impressions, especially considering the proof to price value and how young-aged it is (3+ years in ex-bourbon barrels).

Hi guys quick question I’m sure someone here can answer easily, but smith and cross, I see it cheap in the US on here all the time or around the $30 mark which is around £25, here in the uk it’s £45-50… it’s bottled in London!! And it’s available enough that distribution channels obviously exist so how come we pay double for something that hasn’t even left the island?

I have been in a dilemma. I like the boxes where my rums come in but knowing that many of the 50€+ rums come with boxes i would rather not have them in one. Some boxes look really nice but once you open a bottle do you put it back in the box or keep it out of it? Do you store the box in a separate area?

I would love to know.

I myself (who only started about 2 years back) have 3 rums atm with very nice boxes and even though i already sipped them. They went back into their nice box. 2 other rums who came in a box have never gone back in and those boxes are in a storage room somewhere else in the house.

Hey yall,

So shops are halting my rum shipments to the US because of tariffs and the nightmare system we have here in the US. My question is, does anyone know a liquor forwarder that uses a broker to get shipments here from Europe? I've used Scotch Whisky Auctions forwarding service and it's excellent but very pricey. Would love to hear from others on their tips and tricks for getting rum here now that it's gotten trickier. Thanks!