My wife found it sitting forlornly on a shelf on Crooked Island, in the Bahamas, which nation has no embargo against Cuba. So she swept it up and brought it home for a taste test.
We have tried Havana Club previously on trips to Central America and not found it to be our favorite. However this is the first time we have tried seven year old "aged" Havana Club. The label on the bottle shows a sticker from the French importer of Havana Club, so one has to assume this bottle made a circuitous route to the Bahamas from neighboring Cuba. Oddly enough the blurb on the back (not very legible in the next photo) is in the universal language; and that's not Esperanto.
I have found the Havana Club to be slightly peppery and light, smooth enough but not as sweet as I like my dark rums. This Flor de Cana ("Flower of the Cane") from Nicaragua hits the spot just like brandy might in these frigid times:
Aside from the novelty value, Havana Club is a decent rum but I don't feel desperately deprived because it's not sold in the US. I would feel deprived if Flor de Cana were banned. The other bottle my wife brought back from the Bahamas was one of their local rums, flavored with coconut this time. I'm not generally a big fan of flavored rums and I have yet to taste it. Perhaps when it's warmer outside this might do something with ice and a mixer.
The old stand by we use to mix rum drinks is a four year old Flor de Cana which comes in one and three quarter liter bottles and does a fine job of putting sweet alcohol in a glass with something else.
I also like Barbancourt from Haiti but we don't have any in hand at the moment. I have always liked brandy from grapes and rum from molasses over the harsher drinks like vodka and especially whisky. I usually drink whisky on occasions when I don't want to drink much but I want to be polite, as the flavor prevents me from guzzling the stuff. Sitting around in a mildly heated house looking out at a nearly frozen sub tropical landscape is never a very fun experience in my world. A glass of rum helps.
9 comments:
Desperate times require desperate measures I see. I don't think I've ever had rum straight, perhaps I'll go have a little nip from my bottle of Meyer's dark rum. Just to keep you company, you understand. I'm empathetic -:)
We seem to have met you in the middle: temperature in the Northernmost City today was about 41F, 5C. Everything is melting... for now.
D
Flor de Caña is some wonderful stuff...
I cannot resist:
Yo ho ho, Conchscooter and a bottle of rum!
Dear Sir:
Mr. Pefley's selection of spirits — Meyer's Dark Rum — is an excellent choice for discerning palates who like mixed rum drinks, and who intend to drink at lot of them at a clip.
Sipping rum straight is more than an acquired taste... It is a tradition straight out of the Royal Navy, on a par with lashing sullen sailors or sodomizing slow moving ones.
Yet if I were to sip rum straight, and I have, the brand I recommend is 10 Cane Rum, which is distilled from the first pressing of virgin Trinidadian sugar cane, as opposed to molasses. The liquor has a slight tint to it, and is has the body of a fine whiskey.
There is no such thing as a harsh whiskey — only harsh people and vicious souls. Those who first taste Scotch may find it harsh, as misguided Celts run it through old gym socks before putting it in a bottle.
Irish whiskey, however, is proof that there is a God, and that he loves some men.
Conch, old man, I was deeply saddened to learn that there is "no Bonneville" below fifty degrees. Is this because it doesn't start? My Beemer turned right over yesterday, at 35º, after not having run for 2 months. It's probably that fuel-injection thing.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
Of all the rums Conch has displayed, I have never seen in the local liquor store (and Total Wine in Fort Myers or Naples is akin to an alcoholic as Harold's sweet shop section is to a diabetic). Favorites are Appleton's reserve and Mt. Gay (dark).
If straight rum and buggery are too much drop a lump of ice in the glass. Or add caramel colored fizzy high fructose corn syrup.
The Bonneville starts just fine, it's me that is averse to freezing my ass off.
I have heard Irondad and Bobskoot both say that if you can't ride in the rain, then you don't ride (where they live).
Around here, if you don't ride in 30 degree F weather, then you don't ride (at least for a few months)
As I write this it's raining and 43°F in Portland. The weather is like this about five months of the year, so yes, if you won't ride in this, you won't ride.
Conch, one word: layers.
__Orin
Scootin' Old Skool
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