The Jamaica rum thread piqued my interest in this rum. Can you guy's give me opinions on it. Is it a sipper (seems young rums in the mix). Is there much of an alcohol taste with it?
Might get a sample of it in my next order.
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Capn's Log: Dai, there is a long thread and review of S&C here at The Project: http://rumproject.com/rumforum//viewtopic.php?t=332
Smith and Cross Jamaica Rum
What a revelation this rum is. For £30 and a few drops of water for a young rum very smooth will give a lot of older rums a good run for there money.
Couldn't wait for tonight so I'm sitting here having a sip why didn't any of you tell me about this rum before. Watered down to about 42% (according to da'rum measurements) gorgeous stuff.
Couldn't wait for tonight so I'm sitting here having a sip why didn't any of you tell me about this rum before. Watered down to about 42% (according to da'rum measurements) gorgeous stuff.
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Capn Jimbo
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Glad you liked it, and not only that...
S&C was reviewed quite some time ago in of course, the Jamaican style section. It's fair to say that to me anyway, the early Jamaican distillers took the lead of the first Barbadian producers and took things to quite another level. The use of dunder was a huge and tasty step forward. Jamaicans are proud people and have maintained their quality through the years.
The big deal?
Because of the extremely long fermentation period (weeks and not days), combined with starter from dunder pits (leftover) that were years old, the Jamaican style produced rums with many, more congeners (aromas and flavors) than the early Coffey (column) stills. This was so important to them that they actually grade their rums:
Common Cleans (80-150 esters, light and floral), Plummers (150-200 esters, light and fruity), Wedderburns (200+, deep fruity, heavy bodied and pungent) and last Continental Flavored/High Ester (500-1700 esters, by far the most pungent, acetones). Compare to most column stilled rums, estimated at just a puny 40 or 50 esters, just drivel that demands alteration.
These classifications continue until today. We be jammin' now, right da'Rum? What became the Jamaican style was so popular that Jamaican product was the rum of choice for American presidents. Later, perhaps the biggest buyer of especially the very high ester rums was Germany. Shipments of high proof, high ester Jamaican rum packed a lot of punch into each barrel, reduced shipping costs and became the raw material diluted as needed for German products.
And here?
Unlike Europe, American monkeys did not appreciate a real rum, but preferred the light and/or modified drivel of Bacardi, et al. Thus, even as recently as five or so years ago S&C was very hard to find. So hard, that when I finally found a couple at a premium price, we bought one - fell in love - and I quickly drove back to grab the other.
It's truly wonderful that S&C is now much easier to find, and I'm sure we'd all agree that once you've tasted it, it becomes ever harder, if not impossible to go back to the monkeyed up crap.
A word about age...
I'm quite sure that da'Rum and JaRiMi will back me up on this, but most rum drinker have not quite gotten a couple facts. First, that aging in an ever hotter Caribbean is actually quite rapid - I'm sure you've heard the estimates that a year in the tropics is worth perhaps 2 or 3 years in the northern climes. With hot days and cooler nights the barrels breathe more.
Consider too this quote by S&C:
http://www.alpenz.com/images/poftfolio/ ... 114rum.htm
Last, but far from least...
The marketing boyz have taken two tracks: first that NAS rums are just fine, "...trust us actual age doesn't really matter", while simultaneously promoting their super-premiums with amazing and unconfirmable old ages as simply orgasmic. Although logic would tell you they can't have it both ways, the buying public is so anesthesized by the multi-million dollar ad budgets, that they just sit on their red monkey asses, pick fleas off of one another and dutifully gather for their rummy feeding time.
The real truth: age matter quite a bit - but - older is not naturally better, simply different. The Jamaican high esters come out of the still with an incredible amount of esters, and other than a bit of seasoning don't necessarily benefit from long aging. We love younger rums that have not been overpowered by too much wood. The fruity and floral tones are lovely and very much different that the leathered, tarry old ones.
Oops! I've done it again, run off at my bloody mouth. Carry one...
S&C was reviewed quite some time ago in of course, the Jamaican style section. It's fair to say that to me anyway, the early Jamaican distillers took the lead of the first Barbadian producers and took things to quite another level. The use of dunder was a huge and tasty step forward. Jamaicans are proud people and have maintained their quality through the years.
The big deal?
Because of the extremely long fermentation period (weeks and not days), combined with starter from dunder pits (leftover) that were years old, the Jamaican style produced rums with many, more congeners (aromas and flavors) than the early Coffey (column) stills. This was so important to them that they actually grade their rums:
Common Cleans (80-150 esters, light and floral), Plummers (150-200 esters, light and fruity), Wedderburns (200+, deep fruity, heavy bodied and pungent) and last Continental Flavored/High Ester (500-1700 esters, by far the most pungent, acetones). Compare to most column stilled rums, estimated at just a puny 40 or 50 esters, just drivel that demands alteration.
These classifications continue until today. We be jammin' now, right da'Rum? What became the Jamaican style was so popular that Jamaican product was the rum of choice for American presidents. Later, perhaps the biggest buyer of especially the very high ester rums was Germany. Shipments of high proof, high ester Jamaican rum packed a lot of punch into each barrel, reduced shipping costs and became the raw material diluted as needed for German products.
And here?
Unlike Europe, American monkeys did not appreciate a real rum, but preferred the light and/or modified drivel of Bacardi, et al. Thus, even as recently as five or so years ago S&C was very hard to find. So hard, that when I finally found a couple at a premium price, we bought one - fell in love - and I quickly drove back to grab the other.
It's truly wonderful that S&C is now much easier to find, and I'm sure we'd all agree that once you've tasted it, it becomes ever harder, if not impossible to go back to the monkeyed up crap.
A word about age...
I'm quite sure that da'Rum and JaRiMi will back me up on this, but most rum drinker have not quite gotten a couple facts. First, that aging in an ever hotter Caribbean is actually quite rapid - I'm sure you've heard the estimates that a year in the tropics is worth perhaps 2 or 3 years in the northern climes. With hot days and cooler nights the barrels breathe more.
Consider too this quote by S&C:
If you are so inclined, I urge you to read this page to get a real understanding of both the Jamaican heritage and style, and Smith & Cross in particular.Hans Alpenz: "Here we offer a blend of approximately equal parts Wedderburn and Plummer, the former aged for less than a year, and the latter split between 18 months and 3 years on white oak. It is not a style that necessarily benefits from further aging, as the oak can dominate the fruit and spice notes within and in time dampen the aromas. "
http://www.alpenz.com/images/poftfolio/ ... 114rum.htm
Last, but far from least...
The marketing boyz have taken two tracks: first that NAS rums are just fine, "...trust us actual age doesn't really matter", while simultaneously promoting their super-premiums with amazing and unconfirmable old ages as simply orgasmic. Although logic would tell you they can't have it both ways, the buying public is so anesthesized by the multi-million dollar ad budgets, that they just sit on their red monkey asses, pick fleas off of one another and dutifully gather for their rummy feeding time.
The real truth: age matter quite a bit - but - older is not naturally better, simply different. The Jamaican high esters come out of the still with an incredible amount of esters, and other than a bit of seasoning don't necessarily benefit from long aging. We love younger rums that have not been overpowered by too much wood. The fruity and floral tones are lovely and very much different that the leathered, tarry old ones.
Oops! I've done it again, run off at my bloody mouth. Carry one...
