Review: Cruzan Watermelon Rum
Cruzan Watermelon Rum is a Limited Edition release that was announced in July. It has had a very limited presence as we just located a bottle last week. Cruzan currently features 15 flavored rums on their website. Watermelon is not one of them. In 1760 a sugar mill began crushing cane at the site of the Cruzan Rum Distillery on the island of St. Croix. The Nelthropp family built a distillery at the site in the early 1800’s. Today the eighth generation of the family still works at the distillery. Cruzan Watermelon is made from a rum base made from sugar cane molasses and tropical rainwater. The rum is distilled in a five column distillation process and aged in oak barrels. The rum is shipped in bulk at barrel proof to Florida where it is reduced to proof. Natural flavors are blended before bottling at 42 proof. Read more 
Review: Big Spring Spirits Coconut Rum
Big Spring Spirits Coconut Rum was released December 2014, along with a Spiced Rum, and Seven Governors Gin. Big Spring Spirits is named for Bellefonte’s Big Spring. This spring was awarded the Best Tasting Water in the State by the Pennsylvania Rural Water Association. The distillery also received a Gold rating from LEED, considered the leading benchmark in green buildings. Big Springs was conceived by friends, and Penn State alumni, Paula Cipar and Kevin Lloyd, and is located in the old Bellefonte Match Factory. This factory opened in 1900 and was one of the leading producers of wooden matches. The factory closed in 1947 due to competition from book matches and cigarette lighters. Big Spring Spirits Coconut Rum is made from 100% Caribbean Fancy Molasses, and is distilled in a pot still. Water sourced from the before mentioned Big Spring is blended to reduce to proof. Natural flavor is added before bottling at 70 proof. Read more
Review: Pinkertons Coconut Rum
Pinkertons Coconut Rum was released March 2017. It joins Pinkertons Platinum Rum and was followed by Pinkertons Gold Rum. Each rum starts with a base made from Texas grown cane sugar molasses from the Rio Grande Valley, water, and yeast. The molasses and yeast ferment for a week. Distillation follows in a still designed and built by Founder and Master Distiller Lucas Pinkerton. Once reduced to proof, coconut essence and natural flavors are infused. The spirit is redistilled before bottling at 60 proof. Read more
Review: Malibu Lime Rum
Malibu Lime Rum was just released. This is not the first time Malibu has created a lime flavored rum. A previous Malibu Lime was produced until 2003. This is one of 15 rum varieties Malibu currently produces. With lime being such a popular flavor to mix with rum, I’m a little surprised Malibu went 15 years without having a lime flavored rum. But checking Bacardi Rums flavor lineup they don’t a lime flavored rum either. The rum base for Malibu is made from molasses created from the finest sugar cane crops and pure water. After fermenting with a proprietary yeast the spirit is distilled 3 times at the West Indies Distillery in Barbados. The rum is barreled and shipped to Canada where lime liqueur is infused with the rum before bottling at 42 proof. Read more
Review: Bacardi Banana Rum
Bacardi Banana Rum was just released. This is one of ten flavored rums in their current product line. If you thought they had more, they did at one time, but several flavors have been dropped. Bacardi Banana starts with a rum base made from molasses, and a single strain of yeast, Le Levadura Bacardi. After fermenting for 30 hours in closed fermentation tanks, the fermented molasses is split. Some is column distilled, and some beer distilled. Each is aged separately in charred American white oak barrels previously used to age bourbon. Once mature the rums are blended and filtered through a mix of charcoal made from tropical woods and coconut shells. Natural flavors are infused before bottling at 70 proof. While this is Bacardi’s first banana flavored rum I have already reviewed 7 other banana flavored rums. I can’t wait to see how Bacardi Banana Rum compares with the others. Read more
Review: Muddy River Coconut Carolina Rum
Muddy River Coconut Carolina Rum was released June 2015. It is one of four rums crafted at a distillery that is located 50 yards from the Catawba River. Hence the name. They also produce two Moonshine varieties. The husband and wife team of Robbie and Caroline Delaney moved into 500 feet of warehouse space they found on Craigslist in 2011. Their first product Muddy Water Silver Rum was introduced September 2012. They soon quit their full time jobs and needed more space to keep up with demand. Today they operate in a 6100 square feet warehouse in the same old textile mill. Their other rums include a Spiced, and Queen Charlotte Reserve, their oak barrel aged rum. Each rum starts with high quality molasses sourced from Louisiana and Florida sugarcane. Two new custom hybrid reflux column stills are used. After distilling, natural flavors are blended with the rum base, before hand bottling and labeling at 70 proof. Read more
Review: Plantation Stiggins Fancy Pineapple Rum
Plantation Stiggins Fancy Pineapple Rum was created by Alexandre Gabriel, Cellar Master of Plantation and David Wondrich, author of the book Imbibe. This rum was not intended for sale it was created to share among colleagues and friends at Tales of Cocktail 2014. The rum is named for Reverend Stiggins whose favorite drink was Pineapple Rum in the Pickwick Papers novel by Charles Dickens. The hand cut bare rinds of Queen Victoria Pineapple are macerated with Plantation 3 Star White Rum for 1 week, and then distilled in a copper alembic pot still. It is then blended with Plantation Original Dark Rum which has been infused with the fruit of the pineapple for three weeks. The rum is then rested for three months in oak casks. Read more
Review: Toppers White Chocolate Raspberry Rhum
Toppers White Chocolate Raspberry Rhum is one of six handcrafted rhums produced on the island of St Maarten at the Toppers Distillery. Rhum is the French spelling of rum. The other Toppers rhums include Coconut, Spiced, Mocha Mama, Banana Vanilla Cinnamon, and Caribbean White. These rhums are based on recipes Melanie Daboul has been perfecting since 1994. Each Toppers Rhum is handmade with natural ingredients and hand bottled in St Maarten. Read more
Review: Toppers Coconut Rhum
Toppers Coconut Rhum is one of six handcrafted rhums produced on the island of St Maarten at the Topper’s Distillery. Their other rhums include Spiced, Mocha Mama, White Chocolate Raspberry, Banana Vanilla Cinnamon, and Caribbean White. Each flavor is handmade with natural ingredients, and hand bottled in it’s own beautifully colored bottle on the Dutch side of the Island of St Maarten. Each bottle features a glass embossed Topper’s on both bottles sides, and a hand painted palm tree on the flip top bottle topper. If there is a more attractive rum bottle design it doesn’t come to mind. Read more
Review: Toppers Banana Vanilla Cinnamon Rhum
Toppers Banana Vanilla Cinnamon Rhum is one of six handcrafted rhums produced on the Island of St Maarten at the Topper’s Distillery. Rhum is the French spelling of rum. The other varieties include their unflavored Caribbean White, Coconut, Mocha Mama, Spiced, and White Chocolate Raspberry. The rhums are based on recipes Melanie Daboul has been perfecting since 1994. They were given as a complimentary after dinner drink at the two restaurants owned with her husband Topper. A partnership was later formed with good friends Mike and Thelma King and a distillery was build. Unfortunately the Kings were killed in a random home invasion and robbery shortly before Topper’s Rhum was first released for sale November 2012. One of Mikes brothers Todd took his role in the company. Toppers Banana Vanilla Cinnamon Rhum is handmade with natural ingredients and hand bottled in St Maarten. Read more