Tuesday 21 April 2015

Rum World Cup - Last Rum Standing

It's hard work sometimes
2015 saw 40 hardy competitors drawn from across the globe compete in the inaugural Edinburgh Rum World cup organised by the fine people at Kilderkin

A supreme athletic endeavour over three months saw each rum blind tasted and scored for aroma, taste and finish in an alcoholic version of Battle Royale (but with rum instead of Japanese teenagers).

Kilderkin, Bennets, Skean Dhu, the Blue Blazer and the Windsor Buffet each served two  flights of four rums a piece at the very friendly price of £8 a flight

To keep things reasonably fair the organisers tried to keep the rums to an average of 8 years old, a tricky endeavour given the loose age statements on certain rums.

Given the  titanic amounts of rum consumed over the period the top 7 rums were re-tasted and re-scored on Easter Sunday before the final identity of the winners (and losers) were revealed.

The top 7 rums were revealed to be (position prior to re-tasting in brackets)....

1 - Pampero Aniversario - Venezuela  (1)

2 - Captain Bligh XO - St Vincent  (4)

2 - Ron Milonario Solera 15 - Peru  (3)

2 -  Ron Zacapa 23 - Guatemala (2)

5 -  English Harbour 5yo - Antigua (6)

6 - Chairman's Reserve - Forgotten Casks - St Lucia  (5)

7 -  Appleton Estate 8yo - Jamaica  (7)






The big surprise was Captain Bligh which for a rum that retails at £28 a bottle beat some illustrious names to claim joint second place and Old Monk of India hitting 10th place while a personal favouite like Pusser's Blue Label only managed 19th place.

While it's a tricky thing to compare these spirits, given some are more aimed at the sipping market and others at mixing (or drain cleaning in the case of Stroh) it was a lot of fun and an interesting experiment in just how much your perception of a spirit is influenced by packaging, price etc.

The other nations and their positions were:

8 - Angostura 1919 - Trinidad & Tobago 
9 - Bacardi 8yo - Puerto Rico 
10 - La Mauny XO - Martinique 
10 - Old Monk - India 
12 - Gosling Black Seal - Bermuda 
12 - Fair 5yo - Belize 
14 - Mount Gay XO - Barbados
14 - Barbancourt 5 Star - Haiti 
16 - Abuelo 7yo - Panama 
17 - Flor de Cana 7yo - Nicaragua 
17 - Cruzan Single Barrel - St Croiz 
19 - Pusser's Blue Label - British Virgin Islands 
20 - Cubay Anejo - Cuba 
21 - Mekhong - Thailand 
22 - Cadenhead's Green Label - Brazil 
23 - Papagayo White - Paraguay 
24 - La Hechicera - Colombia 
25 - El Dorado 8yo - Guyana 
25 - Seven Fathoms - Cayman 
27 - Alchemist - Guadeloup 
28 - Pyrat XO - Anguilla 
29 - Don Papa - Phillipines 
30 - Berry Bros & Rudd - Grenada 
31 - Flamboyant - Mauritius 
32 - Cadenhead's Straight from cask in store - Scotland 
33 - Montanya Oro - USA 
34 - Ryoma 7yo - Japan 
35 - Ron Prohibido Solera 12 - Mexico 
36 - Bundaberg - Australia 
37 - Brugal Extra Viejo - Dominican Republic 
38 - Jefferson's 1785 Dark Rum - England 
38 - Berry Bros & Rudd - Fiji
40 - Stroh - Austria 


If you do ever find yourself in Edinburgh and in need of some rummy goodness I really can't recommend any of the bars that participated in this highly enough.