The Rum Barrel Blog

Extra extra! Read all about it, fresh off the presses!

The 2nd edition of The Rum Barrel Awards is here! This is my way of showcasing my personal highlights of the year by adopting a spirit format competition with awards by category. As I was going through my scores I noticed this year has been absolutely outstanding in terms of quality rums and I can’t wait to shine a spotlight on them. One could say it was a magical year, hehe. Expect everything from great praise to drama and controversy… but before we get started, let me explain how this is going to go.

There are 4 different main categories for rums to win: best molasses rum, best cane juice rum, best white rum and best release of the year + a bonus category which will be chosen by me at the end of each year. The rums are “awarded” based on the score I’ve given when I reviewed them and if there’s a tie I will go by the “Flavour/taste” score, but if that’s also a draw I will just choose the one I personally prefer. As I mentioned last year, don’t expect objectivity and fairness here.

The rums eligible for this must have been reviewed during the year in question, but don’t have to have been released the said year except for the best release of the year rum. Also rums can be present in multiple categories if their score allows it – for example an unaged cane juice rum can go in both best cane juice and best white rum.

The best white rum encompasses everything from unaged, aged & filtered to unaged to which aged rum was added – yes, I am categorising this by the colour in order to give more rums a chance.

Now grab your popcorn and let’s get on it!

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Best Molasses Rum 2023

Appleton Hearts 1993

It was a tough choice between 3 different contenders, but I believe the Appleton 1993 won just by a margin in this category. I’ve had the pleasure to try this when I went to the German Rum Festival this year, courtesy of Lance, The Lone Caner.

This is a collaboration between Velier and Appleton which resulted in releasing a series of long aged, pot still only expressions. Appleton bottling something that is exclusively distilled in pot stills is already rare enough, but having them aged for so long makes them a real treat. Appleton Hearts 1993 is a blend of 13 different casks with only 3600 bottles available.

Still: pot still;
Age: 29 years;
Casks: most likely ex-Bourbon;
ABV: 63%;
Flavour profile: aromatic tobacco, black tea, acetone and stone fruits;
Score: 93/100;
Full review: I know you want to read this!

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Best Cane Juice Rum 2023

Single Barrel Selection Dominican Republic Aroma Grande

Frankly I haven’t focused too much on sugar cane juice rums this year, but this one is definitely a stand out. This is distilled in Dominican Republic at the Alcoholes Finos Dominicanos, same distillery that makes Barcelo. They do use cane juice, but it’s normally multi-column distilled to the point where it loses all its grassy aromas and most of its flavour congeners.

For this release, Joshua Singh, the owner of 1423 (the ones that bottled this), made an experiment with the distiller of A.F.D. and the result was an unaged cane juice rum with an ester count of almost 500 g/hlaa. This is highly unusual for a Dominican Republic rum hence why I find it very interesting.

Still: column still;
Age: unaged;
Casks: none;
ABV: 57%;
Flavour profile: nail varnish, glue, shoe polish, gherkins, almonds and cardamom;
Score: 88/100;
Full review: You want to read this one too, right?

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Best White Rum 2023

Foursquare LFT White – Habitation Velier

This release was a premiere for Foursquare Distillery, as it’s the first expression to contain cane juice distillate that was made by them. Richard Seale, the Master Blender and Distiller of Foursquare, has been experimenting with the cane juice being inspired by the rum production in Barbados in the 18th and 19th century.

Similar to Appleton Hearts, this is a collaboration with Velier and was launched as part of their Habitation series. The rum is a blend of 2 hours fermented molasses distillate and cane juice distillate that has been naturally fermented over several weeks. The resulting distillate clocks in at an ester count of 555g/hlaa and it’s like nothing I have ever tried from Barbados.

As a bonus, notice the handsome lad in the photo.

Still: pot still;
Age: unaged;
Casks: none;
ABV: 62%;
Flavour profile: glue, sour cream, coconut, raspberries, white chocolate and lime zest;
Score: 91/100;
Full review: You have to read about it!

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Best Rum Release Of The Year 2023

J. Gow Hall of Clestrain

It wasn’t an easy choice, but this rum has ticked all the boxes for me this year. It’s tasty, very complex, great value for money and it comes from one of my favourite UK rum brands.

J. Gow is the brainchild of Collin van Schayk and it’s made in Orkney, Scotland. This rum is the oldest British rum released on the market so far and it’s aged in a combination of chestnut wood barrels and PX sherry casks which makes it even more unique. Definitely the rum of the year for me!

Still: pot still;
Age: 5 years;
Casks: chestnut & former PX sherry;
ABV: 54%;
Flavour profile: dried fruits, Tokaji wine, floral honey, passion fruit and ginger;
Score: 94/100;
Full review: Click and read already!

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Bonus Category: Worst Rum Of The Year 2023

Big Titty Rum 44D

Given I tried so many good rums this year, I wanted to highlight the worst one for me. I think it is important to acknowledge how not to do things, and this brand is a good example of that.

The reason why I chose this rum is for a number of reasons such as: the outrageous branding, the lack of any production information and the bland taste. All that I know for sure production-wise is that the rum is made in Belize.

Still: N/A;
Age: N/A;
Casks: N/A;
ABV: 40%;
Flavour profile: barbecue wood, smoked bacon, caramel and vanilla;
Score: 30/100;
Full review: Yeah, not sure you’d want to read this one!

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Other Mentions:
Black Tot Master Blender’s Reserve 2023 – 93/100
J. Gow UKRC Single Cask Selection – 92/100
Velier Beenleigh 2006 – 91/100
Sugar House Blood Tub Rum – 91/100
Doorly’s 14 Year Old – 90/100
Foursquare Covenant – Mark XXIII – 90/100
Scratch Distillery – Single Cask Winter 2023 Release – 90/100
That Boutique-y Rum Company – The Flying Dutchman 4 Years Old (Batch 2) – 90/100
Dram Mor Fiji 2014 8 Year Old – Secret Distillery – 90/100
Cotswolds Treacle Rum – 2022 Batch – 90/100

That’s all folks! I’m very grateful to all the brands mentioned here (except the one) for delivering such great rums this year! I’m looking forward to see what the next year brings us – hopefully even more amazing cane distillates!

Many thanks to everyone that have supported me, with a click, with a share, or simply with a nice thought – it’s one of the reasons I can keep doing this! I’ve met a lot of great people over this year and I’m grateful to have experienced the awesomeness of the rum community over the past 365 days.

Have a great New Year and I’ll see you all on the other side… preferably over a tot of rum!

Cheers!