Bayou Satsuma

Sugar: estimated at 80 gpl.
This is not rum, and the label is honest about that as it does state that it's an orange rum liqueur. The rum part is smooth enough and it has a very nice aroma of oranges, but drinking this will put you into a sugar coma. I tried it on the rocks, with club soda, and in a Hurricane, but it failed. I suppose that with some effort you could come up with a decent orange flavored rum drink. There is some potential but with so many good rums on the market I think it's a waste of rum time.

Everything I've had from Bayou has been fantastic and this is no different. This rum has a sweet satsuma flavor with minimal bite, I enjoyed it most just on the rocks as a nice sipping rum in the heat of the summer. I tried a variety of sodas and mixers but none of them really caught my fancy. It was interesting mixed with regular Mountain Dew, might also work in Mountain Dew Live Wire. I would have liked to have found a really good mixer. This is one of those rums that's great to break out at a rum tasting, great to have on hand.

Finally a rum my wife will drink. Great straight on rocks. But I love it with Coke Zero.

This is actually labeled Bayou Satsuma Rum Liqueur and comes in at 30% ABV rather than the normal 40% or higher ABV for rum. Also it's not for everyone considering it's quite sweet with the Satsuma flavor. With that said I like it. To me it's as if someone used a good, smooth rum in a 16oz bottle of Diet Sunkist orange soda (or Diet Orange Nehi, or Diet Orange Crush...you get the picture). That's not necessarily a bad thing but unique enough where many just won't care for it. It isn't all that bad straight either once you get used to its sweetness and citrus flavor. This would be an interesting rum in various mixed drinks...maybe a "Satsuma Hurricane"?

A bit sweet for my tastes, and while the orange flavor was unique, it was not really to my liking. I tried to mix it into a cocktail, but I still couldn't find the right combo to make it work.

Wonderful orange flavor. Reminds me of the orange push up pops I ate as a kid. The low alcohol content makes this easier to drink neat than the stronger rums. Not my favorite but I would not turn down a bottle as a gift.

Sweet fruity, like aperativ, sip slowly, apricot aroma

It is late autumn in southeast Louisiana, which means that satsumas are in season. At 80 gpl of added sugar, I have been long hesitant in buying a bottle of this. However, after stuffing a duck with satsumas for Thanksgiving, I told myself WTF and bought a bottle of this for only $15 more than a week later.

Somehow, this distiller does indeed capture the flavor of satsumas, which is a close relative to the mandarin. Both are naturally sweet. This distiller does not lie and states on the label that it is only a 30% ABV rum liqueur.

I cannot see myself sipping this one neat, but when drinks such as the Mai Tai or Goombay Smash call for an orange flavored liqueur, this one should work quite well. Since Clement Creole Shrubb is somewhat hard to find where I live and this one is always on my grocer's shelf, this makes a great substitute. However, no matter what quantity of this stuff that I use, it ruins a perfectly good Margarita.

Update 19 days later: This rum liqueur has great flavor, but is so disgustingly sweet that it cannot be consumed any way. For a Mai Tai, I would rather use orange juice instead of this syrup. I now drop my rating from a 6 to a 4. (Notice that I never use the word "cloying" to describe excessive sweetness. No one has ever accused me of being a gentleman, since I have always been brutally honest.)

Very nice from the bottle to the finish. Excellent flavor, ya it’s not your typical rum but take it for what it is and you will enjoy it. I like it neat or you can float a shot to your current rum and coke and kick it up a notch. Great price at 15$. Good stuff.