Puerto Rico Vacation

[RT]

Just got back from a week in sunny, warm, breezy Puerto Rico, staying with friends in Rincon, a surfing town on the west coast. I had a great time, played some golf, and learned a few things about rum in Puerto Rico.

1. The liquor stores that I visited in Rincon, Mayaguez, and Ponce tended not to have a very extensive rum selections. Mostly saw Don Q, RonRico, Barrilito, and Bacardi. Very few high end or "imported" rums.

2. Bacardi is apparently not the market leader in Puerto Rico. Shopkeepers I talked to implied it is only third or fourth popular brand there, and they don't really consider it to be a Puerto Rican rum.

3. As for advertising in bars and beach clubs, Don Q was most common, followed by Bacardi.

I spent the week mostly sipping Barrilito 3 star on the rocks. Its very easy to forgive a little added coloring and flavoring when you're sitting on a beach, and it was only $16 a bottle (under $5 a day!).

I also toured the Serralles (Don Q family estate) museum in Ponce. The building and grounds were beautiful, and an informative movie on the history of the brand was shown at the beginning of the tour. A bar in the basement coffee shop provided samples of the entire line (excluding their wonderful Grand Anejo, an oversight which I implored them to correct!)

Since we flew via the Aguadilla (BQN) airport, I never got close enough to San Juan to visit the new Bacardi tourist facility. Maybe next time.

The duty free at BQN was mostly disappointing, it had all the usual Puerto Rico rums, Bacardis, lots of flavored crap (since when was Malibu in the Caribbean?), a couple Diageo concoctions, and not much else. I must admit I purchased bottles of Botran Solera Reserva and Zacapa XO, as I had not tried either of them yet (the research continues; now where have I heard that before?). The Botran cracks tomorrow for V-day, and the XO will be saved for some other special occasion. Hopefully it is closer to the 15 than the 23.

Anyway, those purchases put me over the 100 mark, for rums acquired for research purposes. I now feel like an expert

[Capn Jimbo]

Good stuff...


I'm jealous, would love to do the "rich port", ie Puerto Rico. My family had much connection to the island, way before the US backed mega-corporations decided to turn it into a continuing colonial possession. Just like the Taino Indians (orginally from South America) were turned into forced laborers by dear, sweet Columbus as a Spanish Colony.

Thanks to RT for noting that Bacardi is not the preferred rum in the Rich Port, nor do they consider it a Puerto Rican product. Indeed, it is fair to say that Bacardi's debatable "Puerto Rican Rum" labeling is actually a curse, as it sets a very low standard and expectation for other, real Puerto Rican rums.

A shame. RT and others, we'd all love to see some reader's review of the real Rich Port offerings...