Category: Rum

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Kill Devil 2.0 Rum List Completion

The Forbidden Island Kill Devil Club is a loyalty program for customers who complete their Kill Devil rum tasting lists. There’s the basic list which covers a broad selection of 100+ rums. I completed the first list in March last year.

The Kill Devil 2.0 list features hard to find, allocated, and rare rums that are generally longer aged and are often limited releases (thus, more expensive). For this reason, the 2.0 list changes over time as bottles are emptied and no longer available. The latest release of the 2.0 list came out in November and that’s when I started the list of 60 rums and 5 wildcards, most of which were consumed at home thanks to Forbidden Island’s To-Go program that’s still going strong.

For completing the 2.0 list, you get this cool limited edition mug from Outl1n3 Island. And of course the fame of a ceremony led by FI’s Michael Thanos. Thanks to Brenda for the photos.

This was a pretty good list, even if I didn’t love some of the Central and South American releases that often included added sugar. Though, I must say I was super impressed by the Diplomatico Pot Still expression. You should always end these lists on a good one, so my final rum was Mt. Gay XO LE Cask Strength, a rum I knew I’d love.

I kept tasting notes and ratings for each rum sampled, and this is the list of the rums rating 4 or 5 stars.

Admiral Rodney Officer’s Release ****
Ak Zanj 10yr ****
Blackadder Hampden ****
Cadenhead’s Diamond 14yr *****
Clairin Vaval ****
Diplomatico #3 Pot Still ****
Don Q Single Barrel 2005 ****
Facundo Eximo ****
Foursquare 2009 ****
Foursquare Exceptional Cask ****
Holmes Cay Mhoba 2017 *****
Holmes Cay Uitvlugt 2003 ****
Holmes Cay Wedderbum 2011 ****
Lost Spirits Polynesian ****
Mt. Gay XO LE Cask Strength ****
Mt. Gay Origins Copper Column ****
Mt. Gay Origins Copper Pot *****
Real McCoy 14yr LE Cask Strength ****
Transcontinental Australia *****
Transcontinental Fiji *****
Transcontinental Guadeloupe ****
Transcontinental Jamaica ****
Trois Rivières Spéciales Reserve ****
Vaval Clairin Ansyen Oloroso Cask *****

Best Rum from the List:
Cadenhead’s Diamond 14yr, a delicious pot still release from the Diamond Distillery in Guyana.

Thanks to the team at Forbidden Island for helping me with the rum list, filling the little bottles, and pouring the rum in person.

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Forbidden Island / Forbidden Ohana Silent Auction for Universal Aid for Children of Ukraine

So pleased to attend a fabulous event last night at Forbidden Island, where there was a silent auction to raise money for Universal Aid for Children of Ukraine. The event was organized by Jenny and Chad Martens and included a host of items donated by members of the community as well as a few local businesses.

The event ran from 6:00 – 9:00 and also included a special cocktail called the Molokai Molotov also sending proceeds to the charity. The cocktail represented Ukraine’s blue and yellow colors, and featured two layers. Yellow layer: Lemon, Pineapple, Cruzan Light Rum, Simple Syrup. Blue layer: Giffard Blue Curacao, Rum Fire Overproof Jamaican rum. Each layer was fantastic and put together was even better. Like a Blue Hawaii but with extra oomph from the Rum Fire. I loved it.

The event raised thousands of dollars. I walked away with a bottle of the Trader Vic’s Royal Amber Rum (donated by Trader Vic’s), and a couple books including the hard-to-find 2nd edition of James Teitelbaum’s seminal Tiki Road Trip. Mrs. Mai Tai walked away with the cute tiki pillow.

Such as great event and very well-attended. Thank you to the entire Forbidden Island crew for helping with the event and the speedy service on such a busy night. Everyone did a great job.

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Zombie Grapefruit Shootout

My last cocktail comparison between White Grapefruit juice and Rudy Red juice is a Zombie. For the comparison I decided to use the recipe on the bottle of the Beachbum Berry Zombie Blend from Hamilton Rum since this uses a bit more grapefruit juice than the original 1934 recipe (and significantly less rum, useful since I wasn’t going to drink two full Zombies). The Zombie Blend is pretty great and this does make a very good Zombie.

Unfortunately, from a grapefruit juice comparison the two Zombies tasted nearly identical. I was getting slightly more cinnamon notes from the Ruby version, which might be due to the juice being sweeter and with a lighter body. Or I could simply have measured an ever so slightly different half ounce in the cocktail. I’m pretty sensitive to the cinnamon flavor, and in fact went a little light on the measurement. I compensated by adding an equivalently higher amount of Falernum.

To conclude the Grapefruit Juice Shootout Comparisons:

Thanks to @vonschiltach for the white grapefruits for testing.

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Navy Grog Grapefruit Shootout

My previous White vs. Red Grapefruit juice comparison was with a classic cocktail served up, the Old Friend. In that taste test, I preferred the sweeter Red Grapefruit. But that was a cocktail without a lot of sweeteners.

Today’s comparison is with a tiki classic, the Navy Grog. And the recipe is our own Ultimate Navy Grog that blends the historical recipes from Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic, and includes our potent Ultimate Mai Tai rum blend as one of the base spirits. This recipes includes a full two ounces of sweeteners, counterbalancing 1½ ounces of citrus.

Ultimate Navy Grog
¾ oz Lime Juice
¾ oz Grapefruit Juice
1 oz Honey mix
½ oz Pimento Dram (Hamilton)
½ oz Vanilla Syrup (BG Reynolds)
1½ oz Ultimate Mai Tai Rum
1½ oz Demerara Rum (Hamilton 86)
Shake with crushed ice. After pouring into glass, top with 2 oz of Soda.

I made two Navy Grogs and found that the Red Grapefruit version felt thin on the tongue. Meanwhile, I found that the White Grapefruit introduced a noticeably heavier body to the cocktail, and this version simply tasted better overall. So, the White Grapefruit was the clear victor in this taste test.

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Ultimate Mai Tai Jamaican Rum Blend

As I’ve learned more about rum over the past few years, and tasted hundreds of them, I’ve come to the conclusion that the best rum in the world comes from Jamaica. Most of the world doesn’t know this, because Jamaican rum doesn’t have a cool region-specific name like “Scotch” or “Cachaça” or “Bourbon” to designate a spirt made in a specific locale. But the unique character of Jamaican rum has been known to bartenders and to savvy consumers for decades.

I have been less than enthused by actions of Plantation Rum’s parent company Maison Ferrand when it comes to the draft rum GI (geographical indication) in Barbados, and to a lesser extent the existing GIs for rums from Jamaica and Guyana. I enjoy many of the Plantation Rums, including the Xaymaca and OFTD expressions that are in my Ultimate Mai Tai rum blend, but I don’t love their Barbados expressions with tons of added sugar. And it is exactly the Jamaican Rum GI and other regulations that prevents any producer from adding sugar or other additives to the wonderful Jamaican pot still distillate that goes into Xaymaca. If the market was flooded by “Jamaica Rum” products with sugar and other additives, the spirit wouldn’t have the universally stellar reputation that it currently maintains. So this GI stuff is actually pretty important.

I’ve been looking for a Mai Tai rum blend that omits Plantation products, and tried to include rums from various countries. Over and over I’ve tried to approach the unique and complex flavor from the Ultimate Mai Tai blend, and tried to match the 50% ABV which that blend is famous for. None of them approached the taste I was looking for. After a year of experimentation, I’ve decided this blend is good enough to be let out to the world. And it turns out it is an entirely Jamaican blend.

Ultimate Mai Tai Jamaican Rum Blend
2 parts Appleton 12 Rare Casks (43% ABV)
2 parts Smith & Cross Traditional Jamaica Rum (57% ABV)
1 part Worthy Park 109 (54.5% ABV)

The Appleton 12 and Smith & Cross are carryovers from the Ultimate Mai Tai blend, and are widely used in the industry. The blended aged rum from Appleton tempers some of Smith & Cross’ infamous funky pot still flavors. Just the two of them together make a fabulous Mai Tai. In fact they make up the rum in the excellent Mai Tai at San Jose’s Dr. Funk Rum House and tiki bar, one of our Top 5 Mai Tais.

The inclusion of Worthy Park 109 is to add some Demerara Rum-style flavor notes, such as burnt sugar. The caramel coloring also adds to the mouthfeel of the rum blend. I found Worthy Park 109 to be similar to some circa 1950s Myers’s Planters Punch rum that I was fortunate to try. The light funk provided by 109 keeps that flavor in the rum blend, and the high ABV allows us to keep the overall blend just above 50%.

Unfortunately, the 2-2-1 ratio does not make for easy on-the-spot jigger measurements for a Mai Tai that features 2 oz / 60 ml of rum. So, we suggest you batch up a bit to give this blend a try in a Mai Tai. It compares quite favorably to the Ultimate Mai Tai blend in side-by-side comparisons.

Give it a try and let us know what you think.

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Centenario Rum Shootout

I’m almost done with the Forbidden Island Kill Devil Club 2.0 rum list. Tonight I am sampling four expressions from Centenario in Costa Rica. Forbidden Island is offer rums to go in addition to cocktails and food, so this is really convenient to try all these rums at the same time without having to worry about how to drive home.

These column-still rums with the solera aging method aren’t my favorite, but these appear to have less sugar than some rums in this style. Of these, I thought the 12 had a nice bite with a mild and pleasant flavor, and that the 30 was the overall winner with a more complex and buttery flavor. Overall, though, I do prefer true long-aging and also more pot still distillate in my rum.

Barring any unforeseen pandemic outbreaks, I’ll complete my 2.0 rum list on Tuesday, March 22 which is Ohana night at Forbidden Island. Come on down and let’s drink some rum!