You know what's sad? Simply put, (a) that there are so very few rum review sites and (b) that most of those are commercially influenced. The nice part about the real noble spirits - wine and whisky - is that in comparison, there are literally hundreds of websites, led by a number of well known, credible and honest expert reviewers. Think Michael Jackson, Dave Broom, Jim Murray, F. Paul Pacult and Rober Parker. As for rum?
Crickets.
Chris Carlsson joins this small group with yet another marginal reviewing site. Surprisingly a few distillers actually cite Chris, along with some of the faux "awards" given by some of the fee-fie-faux-flim-flam rum "competitions". Let's see why...
Like the Artic Wolfboy and most of the others, Carlsson's reviews are almost exclusively weighted toward the top scores. In his 10 point system, "5" is considered average. Of the 47 rums "reviewed" only one - yes one - rum is considered "average", with just one other lone rum as "below average".
To be credible, most of the reviews should be average, bracketed by ever fewer lesser or greater rums. Not here.
His actual average score is an "8" - the equivalent of 4 stars, "highly recommended", in the usual 5-star system. That only two of forty six rums are average or less is simply not credible. Carlsson's reviews are softballs and obviously designed to garner free product. Although he claims he's not influenced by freebies, the analysis tells a different story.
He simply loves to hand out "8's", even to the few truly world class rums he's reviewed. And just like his cohorts who wouldn't know an altered rum if they fell into the vat, he has the typical sweet bias - with the syrupy sweet Diplomatico's garnering from "9" to "10". And like them too, he exhibits the usual age and price bias (favoring older/more expensive).
This, my fellow idiots, is not reviewing; rather, it is pandering. It's fun! You get free product, you hand out "8's", you get quoted, you get free product. It's not all bad. He nails a few rums - including Prichards, Mount Gay, Don Q Gran Anejo and the Appletons - but they still earn his usual "8".
And so it goes.
Score (ten is best): 4 - for a few accurate descriptions.
