I've got mixed feelings about it, Jimbo. I think in this case you might be going too hard on 'em.
I mean, even Pusser's itself tastes better if you squint your vision shut on the marketing and brand promotion side of things.
In the UK I'm seeing Woods 100, Lamb's Navy Rum. All been around for a long time with cheesy sailors and nautical regalia all over 'em. None of these have been the Royal Navy formula either.
Also, if they're trying to take the world by rum-soaked cannon ball marketing fire, they're not exactly exploding onto the world stage - this rum is only available in Sweden through their state monopoly distribution. It would take me a lot of work to get some, and I don't think I want to pull those kinds of favor strings for this.
I think "Navy Rum" has become an identifiable style, and this one appears at first read to conform to it - high proof, dark rum with a guyanan base and Caribbean pot still blending.
I say style here because I mean style, and not strict category.
I read in that great Demerara article you linked recently (I got through the whole thing and have to read it a few more times once the cranial sieve gets drained enough) that the old navy dark Demeraras didn't ford the generation gap very well. Let me find the quote...
http://barrel-aged-thoughts.blogspot.de ... glish.html
Ah here it is, about 40% down, under the heading "The Change Of The Rum Market (An Opinion)"
"So how are Seagram and URM tackling the problem of a declining market? Seagram's UK marketing manager for spirits, John Cornish, describes the problem: 'If you look at the dark rum market place, it's being drunk by predominantly older and is concentrated into a relatively small proportion of heavy users. That's fine at the moment, but you are looking at the next ten years. That market is going to disappear and you haven't got the same level of heavy usage in the age group 25 to 45.' These long term problems have led both companies to pitch for younger drinkers in the past. Their quandary is how to attract the young without alienating the old. However, dark rum's youth appeal has thus far failed to emerge"
Is this rum Pusser's, who have acquired the blend recipe fair and square, with a tip of the hat, a code of silence, and a percentage of profits to the British seaman's fund? No...
...Woods 100 and Lamb's aren't either. But those labels have "navy" written on 'em and things are looking pretty nautical to me...
Does this new rum have a fun name that will appeal to today's youth, and therefore hopefully stimulate the next generation of demand for dark and higher proof blended pot still rums? Looks like it.
I think the bigger question is is this rum unfutzed with? Is it an honest blend without additives? The Secret Origin does give me pause...
But it might be really good, damn it all!
I don't think the Kraken is worried about it's namesake being cheapened by campus marketing practices? I kid...
In a year when Pusser's itself announced it would be further downproofing it's US release blue label in order to bring it into compliance with naval base liquor proof restrictions (CRAP!), I for one am happy to see a new Caribbean pot still blend above 130 proof, allowing me to add my own water.
Provided it's not got any additives and it's as tasty as Tiare indicates, it could be a very positive addition to the market. The Swedish market, anyway. I'll buy one if it makes it to the UK or the US.
It could ratchet the hooey factor down a notch by saying "navy style" instead of "navy rum", for example. I agree.
But even Pusser's itself is guilty of errors of intentional omission, and "imagination spacing" in its story.
At this point in rum history I'll take whatever branding nonsense leads to the success of a stiff dark unsugared blend that isn't from the US Virgin Islands.
(I'll also need them to get the bottle size up to 750ml if we're going to do this thing. 500mL don't cut any ice with this buyer)
Not saying that's what this is confirmed to be yet - but at this stage, my fingers are not pointing, but are crossed instead.[/url]