Heeeeeee shoots and scores!!!!!! :)

edgarallanpoe · Post by **edgarallanpoe** » Thu Oct 22, 2015 8:25 pm

can't get this in Pa so I had to make a rum run across the border into West Virginia. Luckily I live in Pittsburgh so WV is only about 30-45 minutes away. Got a great price on these as well. $54.00 each.

In case the pic doesn't show, I scored 3 bottles of Revelation rum. Review will follow this weekend at the latest.

Post by **Capn Jimbo** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 2:27 pm

Thanks very much for this colorful post...

An interesting find, not available here in South Florida, nice. It'll be very interesting to get your impressions of this.

Natch, most of us are always interested in small distillery products, in this case a rum (labelled "1990") and a bourbon ("Contradiction"). Unfortunately most small distillers face the same HUGE dilemma - trying to sell new make and stay in business with the problem of how much and how long to set spirit aside for aging.

All before knowing what will result five or seven years later.

This distiller - "Smooth Ambler" of West Virgina - owns a pricey copper Vendome (a single copper column with copper boiler) with the idea that they can produce both white column spirits, and highly refluxed, column rectified young brown spirits. Thus their product line includes vodka, gin and a young bourbon (2 years), all made with this good still - plus - a group of aged ryes and bourbons (7 to 10 years) that they attempt to market as their own, but are really just bulk purchases from LDL (a HUGE distiller of column distilled bulk spirits for the trade). This is straight from the ADI (American Distillers "Institute") playbook.

Nor is the rum theirs, but is also a bulk product, this time sourced from Jamaica. Like all NDP's (non-distiller producers) Smooth Ambler goes to great lengths to create romantic localized stories about spirits that are not theirs - but are somehow "rare and special finds", but mostly meant as a stop gap. These bulk spirits can be quite good but again - Smooth Ambler does little more than bottle and label them and thence to charge "craft" prices.

The basis: show the lovely small Vendome still, make a few young or white products, but then also buy and sell the juice from large producers to pay the bills.

Specifically

The "Contradiction" is well named, and is a mix of their own young and raw bourbon (not well reviewed at all), with some 7 or 9 year quality bulk product. The consensus seems to be that SA (Smooth Ambler) is not happy with their own young and brash product, so like the Scotch blenders of old, figure they can add some to better (sourced) spirits to get rid of it - while they pray that their own aging stocks may pay off. A big bet. Most feel that the sourced bourbon component is good, but that the mix is not worth more than $40, if that.

The rum: again sourced, this time from Jamaica. Other than an assumed date of production (1990) - emphasis assumed - we learn absolutely nothing about this rum. Nothing about the Jamaican distiller, the process, the date of production, the aging, the components, the bottling or the age. Nada. All of the quality independent buyers do provide this information, as they should. All we know for sure is that it's Jamaican.

Keep in mind that quality bourbons and Jamaican rums are commonplace and available under $30. The usual tactic is to sell a localized, crafty story, bottle the bulk (which is not bad) and sell for an additional $30 (the Contradiction opened at around $60).

Flat Ass Bottom Line

Interestingly the aged, rye forward bulk bourbon made by the mammoth LDL is probably a good one, and it's also fair to assume that anything from Jamaica is reasonable. At the least we know that the aged component of the Contradiction is from LDL and is about 8 years old. What effect adding their own young and harsh wheater is unknown. Sadly, we know nothing about the Jamaican, so it may be young, and/or with average esters, or not - a mystery.

I'd be very interested in whether you think the premium paid - at $54 each - for bulk products of unknown age being delivered in SA's bottle was worth the "craft" pricing?

http://theplaidparty.com/smooth-ambler- ... um-review/
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... diana.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/bourbon/commen ... _thoughts/
http://smoothambler.com/?ar=set

Some Quotes

All that SA will say about their "Revelation Rum" is this:

"As with Old Scout Whiskey, we’re excited to bring rare spirits to market when they cross our paths and impress our palates. Revelation is a fine “ron anejo” from the Caribbean, having made the long journey from near the Blue Mountains of Jamaica to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia. It’s smooth, delicious and makes us want to travel someplace warm. Even if it’s just to the back porch"

Another interesting quote, confirming their scheme:

"I reached out to John Foster at Smooth Ambler for some background on the product. His initial quick reply was, “What we do to make it our own is essentially the same advanced, innovative method we use for Old Scout: we think it’s really good as is and we don’t screw it up!” I’ll update this post if I receive any further details.

The bottle reviewed is Batch #3."

In other words, it's straight from bulk to bottle (so what is the "Batch #3" claim?). Their claim to fame is that they have somehow managed to find a "rare spirit" from the Caribbean, period/stop. This is insufficient and typical marketing blather. Not surprisingly they tell you very little more about the "Contradiction". either.

bearmark · Post by **bearmark** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 6:05 pm

I just got a bottle of Revelation Rum, but I've only had a brief taste in a store so I can't really speak to it except to say that my first impression was good enough for me to buy some.

As for the bourbon and rye, I can tell you that they somehow end up with some real "honey" barrels from MGP (LDI is the old name). I find their single barrel selections of 7-10 year old bourbon and 7-8 year old rye to be exceptionally good. Out of about 10+ different barrels, I've only had one that was only good instead of ranging from very good to exceptional. Right now, their bourbon is one of the real values out there at about $35 for the 7 year on up to $50 for the 10 year. Their rye is out of production for the time being because their source of good barrels has dried up. I grab every single barrel selection of theirs that I can find and have never been disappointed.

I should also note that their Old Scout line is sourced whiskey (no hiding this fact on their part), while those sold under the Smooth Ambler name are their own juice. This doesn't seem to be the case with their rum.

edgarallanpoe · Post by **edgarallanpoe** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 7:49 pm

Well...I will be posting my own note and more detailed opinions on this rum soon. I will say this in the meantime...

Mamajuana pretty much nailed it with this one. Huge ripe fruit, spices galore. Beautiful complexity...more and more flavors with every sip.

I'm waiting until I get deeper into the bottle as per the good captains suggestion for a more thorough and accurate review.

Also, like mamajuana, I was told that it was a blend of a 1990 Appleton and an older, less famous rum. The person I was speaking to didn't remember the other rum but his info jived with what mama was told.

Obviously, there is good reason to be skeptical. Lord knows that there is enough nonsense in the rum world to give us pause for thought. But I'm leaning toward this being legit.

edgarallanpoe · Post by **edgarallanpoe** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 8:52 pm

Oh, and the Contradiction was only $40. I am not enough of a whiskey drinker to justify a $60 bottle. At that price I would go with a multitude of other choices in that range that are tried and true killer bottles.

Post by **Capn Jimbo** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 9:04 am

For those wishing more detail about the sourced "Revelation", this product is more fully revealed in it's own thread:

http://rumproject.com/rumforum//viewtopic.php?t=1719