Legitimate spirits awards
Legitimate spirits awards
It's become pretty obvious over the last few years that "rum awards" are a joke and the judging panels associated with them are lacking real expertise in the field. The Rum XP group seems to be nothing more than a drinking club organized by the Burr family and only has a few legitimate members. So, my question to the group is what, if any, spirits awards are meaningful?
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Capn Jimbo
- Rum Evangelisti and Compleat Idiot
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As far as reviewers go...
Most here are familiar with the Reviewer's Reviews which are "stickied" at the top of this section. Awards is another matter. I hate to say it but for all practical purposes there are none of value. Unlike single malts, there really isn't that much new and worthwhile insofar as rogue rum is concerned. It's also interesting to me that some of the truly great reviewers simply review and rate, but don't give "awards". OTOH the judges at rum "competitions/fests" are mostly "in the biz" and may include a few faux reviewers as a reward for their softball reviews.
It's really a circle jerk. The spirits load up the reviewer's conveyor belt with freebies, which allow the poor sap to get lots of free booze required to run a "review site". In return, the reviewer provides softball reviews that are weighted to the higher scores and invents all manner of "categories" and multiple colors of "awards" so that damn near everyone wins something. A vicious cycle.
Now reviewer F. Paul Pacult does an annual list, which I believe is now the "Top 120 Spirits of 2014" which are drawn from all the thousands of spirits he has reviewed. There is indeed something to be said for this list. Pacult is also one of the principal's in the Ultimate Spirits Challenge which may - may - have value (although I have not studied it to date).
But as far as any of the Rum Fests? No fackin way.
Most here are familiar with the Reviewer's Reviews which are "stickied" at the top of this section. Awards is another matter. I hate to say it but for all practical purposes there are none of value. Unlike single malts, there really isn't that much new and worthwhile insofar as rogue rum is concerned. It's also interesting to me that some of the truly great reviewers simply review and rate, but don't give "awards". OTOH the judges at rum "competitions/fests" are mostly "in the biz" and may include a few faux reviewers as a reward for their softball reviews.
It's really a circle jerk. The spirits load up the reviewer's conveyor belt with freebies, which allow the poor sap to get lots of free booze required to run a "review site". In return, the reviewer provides softball reviews that are weighted to the higher scores and invents all manner of "categories" and multiple colors of "awards" so that damn near everyone wins something. A vicious cycle.
Now reviewer F. Paul Pacult does an annual list, which I believe is now the "Top 120 Spirits of 2014" which are drawn from all the thousands of spirits he has reviewed. There is indeed something to be said for this list. Pacult is also one of the principal's in the Ultimate Spirits Challenge which may - may - have value (although I have not studied it to date).
But as far as any of the Rum Fests? No fackin way.
Kind of what I thought. I talked with several of the Rum XP guys two years ago at The rum festival in Miami (they had a booth marked "ask a rum expert"). I was shocked at how little they actually knew about rum and how drunk and obnoxious they were. I asked how they all became members of the "Rum Expert Panel" and two of them replied that they got in because they were friends of Robert Burr, the group/festival organizer. Not the credentials I expected.