Lemon Hart 151

Look, you must know this is not a sipping rum, I use it for many Don the Beachcomber classic tiki mixes. It is meant to stand out amongst the many fruit syrups and juices and is a must have for any self respecting Polynesian mixologist! I sipped it and almost went blind, haha, but I digress, this is a special legendary and useful rum in use to this day at such tiki temples like the Mai Kai in Ft. lauderdale, Aloha!

Lemon Hart 151 yellow label (current) - 75.5% ABV. Review forthcoming. 7+

Lemon Hart 151 red label (previous) - 75.5% ABV. N: Deep caramel and Demerara sugar. Tickles nose, but doesn't smell like alcohol. P: Huge. Explodes with molasses and oak. Semisweet chocolate chips. Rich chocolate chip cookie dough. With water: spice; anise? Pineapple!? Finish: medium-short. 8-

Ah, the venerable Lemon Hart 151. Unmistakable in cocktails. And strangely, while I don't get a chance to use it often, it is one of the few things that I've actually experienced cravings for as a long afternoon at the office draws on. "Oooh, you know what sounds good right now—something with that rich, deep, demerara profile you can only get from a certain kind of rum..." Cobra's Fang, 151 Swizzle, Jet Pilot, Trader Vic's Myrtle Bank Punch, Don the Beachcomber's Zombie... any Guyana 151 will work beautifully these. My favorite is probably Hamilton's, followed closely by the red label (which he had a hand in). The current yellow label is fine, but my least favorite of the bunch. How fortunate are we, now, to have more than one option to choose from, compared to just a few years ago when you would be hard-pressed to find any?

Picked up @TheAustinShaker - sipping at full strength the 75.5% ETOH is a bit overwhelming but the caramel, dry fruit and dark molasses are all there and fantastic.

I have to say I only use this in small doses. It certainly adds a kick a Zombie. Having a rum that makes a fire extinguisher a bar tool can be intimidating. If you are having only one drink and you want it to be a kicker this will do the job. Don't think this makes for a wise choice as a sippe. Dilution is the key in using this one.

We are tough, I told myself and decided to try this on straight up. In the nose it did not betray the overproof, it has a faint smell of toffee. In the mouth, there is first - nothing. Then the heat sets in - in a very pleasant way, though. Once the heat ist gone, you have again toffee, a bit of some wood, even some fruit (apple?).

I still have to try it in mixed drinks - but maybe I'll stick to my custom of drinking my rum straight up even with this overproof. It can be done!

So good...so many categories wrapped up into one bottle, so much flavor! I will miss it, and lament when there is no more left on the planet. Lemon Hart is the classic floater to original tiki drinks, also an unsubstitutable ingredient in other recipes.

When it comes to overproof, funky rums, this is in a class of its own. Fantastic.

Amazing 151 Demerara. Must have for any collection. Unlike any 151 out there.

Enjoyed out of a Glencairn.

One of the more pleasant overproofs. Oaky with demerara and vanilla notes. Not overly sweet. Obviously a powerful drink, but even sipped straight it seems less assertively alcohol-forward than its ABV would belie.

Hefty banana and caramel on the nose. Not too much burn as some other ratings imply. First taste brings sweet notes of apricot and a very toasty oak to the forefront. Very flavourful for a 151. Finishes out with a superb, lingering burn. Tingling all along the tongue. Hardly needs any mix given the flavours compounding throughout. Love it!

This is an overproof rum, so lets not mess about it smells like it will kill you !
On the nose burnt chocolate and dark iak wood .

Drink it and wow it tastes like a thick rum treacle which is truly awesome and has loads of funk flavours . A Demerara delight, the only downside is that it's very rarely available in the UK , I can imagine in a cocktail it's a knockout .

Had a rum tasting on a sunny afternoon, because why not. Lemon Hart 151 Rum bottle and label design looks dull. Super strong glue and a whole lot of alcohol to the nose and palate. Nasty burn at the end, so better skip this one altogether.

My local store finally got this in on my request. It does not disappoint! Aroma of molasses and spice with just a bit of alcohol. On the tongue it's molasses, cooking spice and smoky wood with a powerful but pleasant heat. A bit more of the smoky wood in the aftertaste than I'd like, but this is not a sipper and it's presence in tiki drinks more than makes up for that shortcoming.

Only for mixing, but then, you can buy rums which are good for both, so there is no point. Adding water opens the nose, but the taste is watered down when compared to a good rum.

I get the hints of toffee and molasses, but mostly this is a mixer for my tiki drinks. I also used this as the base for my homemade allspice dram, which made my Three Dots and a Dash my signature tiki drink!

Big and rich, with gunpowder like quality. Essential for many a tiki drink, especially when making the classic (original) Zombie. This is powerful rum, and with great flavor of molasses / toffee. If you desire for your bar to be tiki-style, you need this rum almost by default, lest Mr. Donn Beach turns in his grave when you make a zombie... Spookie :P

One of the ‘must have’ rums to keep on hand. Very similar to Hamilton which is also excellent. Side by side though the Lemon Heart has a bit more depth in it’s complexity.

I have not had this legendary staple to making Tiki drinks for more than 25 years now. I finally found a bottle in Texas this morning. Since I have been spoiled by Plantation OFTD Overproof, I had to compare that one to this new arrival here. I poured about a half ounce each into their own Glencairn glass, which is how I like to test neat for side by side comparisons. The slightly weaker OFTD had so much burn that I had forgotten about that part. ALWAYS add at least one ice cube when comparing overproof rums.

The Lemon Hart 151 is noticeably darker than the Plantation OFTD, but not by much. After the ice cube melted in each, my test began. The OFTD was fruity with no bitter after taste. The Lemon Hart was not nearly as flavorful as the OFTD and had a bitter after taste. The OFTD was the clear winner, which I rated long ago as an 8. This one was lucky to get a 6. I would only buy it again whenever I go back to Texas, which will be no time soon. The Lemon Hart also warns that it is flammable, but the OFTD is not.

So what will I use this bottle of Lemon Hart 151 for? Adding to morning coffee sure beats wasting it as a Tiki Topper that it was designed for. Yes, it makes for an authentic Mai Tai, but why bother ruining an already perfect combination of a drink.

Lemon Hart 151 is the first overproof rum I have ever tasted. I acquired this bottle in Nova Scotia (as it is not available in my area) based on the high ratings it gathers on rumratings.com. While I was encouraged to add water before sipping on this rum I had to try it neat first to get the full experience of this rum. The colour of this rum is a dark almost reddish tone which by itself puts it in a select company. On the nose this rum smells fruity and the alcohol does not overtake the rum as one might expect. First sip, WOW, you can feel the higher percentage of alcohol but in a good way and I compare it to a nice Tawny Port on steroids. This will not be my go to rum but I certainly will enjoy it every now and then. I can now appreciate and agree with the ratings this rum has been getting. Well done. 👍

This is the last word, as far as I’m concerned, on commercially available 151s. Don’t fuck with it.

The tiki legacy of this rum seems to continue despite multiple distribution issues. This rum has heat and a delicious flavor that is true to it's demerara roots. While too strong to drink neat for any of us mortals, this rum can really turn it up to 11 in most cocktails. If you want to give this rum a shot, try it out in several of don the beachcombers old recipes.