Newbie

Marios: Don't feel bad, since being new to rum can be quite mind blowing. Most beginners go with the urge to pick among the most popular rums. Unfortunately, these are all sugar bombs. I have some of the recommended sugar bombs if you want to start out that sweet, but I recommend that you start out with Semi-Dry and Sweet. My list below is well chosen for you and prices range from $20 US to $52 US. I don't know the conversion rate for Cyprus or how many of these are actually available to you. So here they are: Semi-Dry 10-19 gpl of added sugar -------------------------------------------------------- El Dorado 8 Plantation Original Dark Double Aged El Pasador de Oro XO Ron Barcelo Imperial Sweet 20-29 gpl of added sugar --------------------------------------------------- Plantation XO 20th Anniversary Vizcaya VXOP 21 Sugar Bombs 30-49 gpl of added sugar -------------------------------------------------------------- Dos Maderas 5+5 Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva El Dorado 12

Hi Marios, Congratulations on choosing to start a journey in the great world of rum. It's a bit difficult to advise you as I don’t know in which price range you want to start, but I choose to stay below or around 50 €. Your taste preferences indicates that you should start with Latin/Spanish styled rum or some other sweet rum. You could of course begin with Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva or Zacapa 23, but that’s not my advice. Instead I think you should start with for example: - Zafra 21 or Malecon Rare Proof 13 from Panama. - El Dorado 12 or 15 from Guyana. - Santa Teresa 1796 from Venezuela. - Plantation XO from Barbados/France. Good Luck !

Stefan: I almost added Zafra 21 to my list, but I only found one bottle in 3 years. Definitely worth grabbing if it can be found. Santa Teresa 1796 had always been a personal favorite dry rum (minimal added sugar). However, my last bottle from a week ago smelled like furniture polish and tasted like furniture polish, so never again for that one. It went down the drain.

Dear Stefan thanks for the reply and suggestions. From your list I found this one in Cyprus Plantation XO 20th Anniversary (70cl, 40%)

Paul. Thanks for your reply. Ill try searching for the rums you guys have suggested

https://whiskyonlinecy.com/product-category/rum/ Any good ones?

Marios: The Plantation gift set of six small bottles is an excellent way to start without spending too much. I also saw some very expensive ones from El Dorado and ones that are not quite as expensive from Diplomatico. When starting out, I recommend keeping it between $50 and $100. And whatever you do, stay away from Plantation Xaymaca because Jamaican hogo funk does not blend well with the final aging in ex-cognac casks. The Plantation XO Guatemala is superb, but needs to be saved for advance tasting due it being aged in the very unique Amburana wood. I cannot even find that rum any more, nor can I have it shipped to where I live.

Marios, Checked the mentioned webshop. They had the El Eldorado’s and the Plantation XO. Others they had, that you might like: - Plantation Barbados Grande Reserve which is very good value for money. - Six Saints, Scottish brand distilled at Clarke’s Court in Grenada. - The Dictators, which I haven’t tasted but I know that Paul can give you advice about them.

Stefan: That website only showed me three main brands, Plantation, El Dorado, and Diplomatico. Maybe because it senses that I was viewing from the USA, it only showed 3 brands. I did not see Dictador, but their 12 year is an affordable start with that dry brand that does not taste like whisky. I also had the Six Saints from Grenada at one point, and that should be reserved for advanced tastes. I did not care for it, but that one probably falls into the love it or hate it category. I do have that one classified as an agricole, and very unique at that..

Paul, Click on rum one more time and there’s a lot more, for example Dictator 12, 20 & 25.

Paul, The Six Saint is molasses based and normally quite alike Clarke’s Court Old Grog, but the available one was the one with Madeira finish.

Hi guys many thanks for your support and suggestions i just ordered the Plantation XO 20th Anniversary Gif Set (70cl, 40%) 🤞

Stefan: I just checked my review of Six Saints whereby I gave it my final rating of 6. I specifically state that nowhere on the label does it say that it is an agricole, but other reviews before mine had stated that it was an agricole. I also tasted no molasses at all. Having spent only one day in Grenada 28 years ago, no telling what this Spice island put into this rum. It is totally UNIQUE!!! I did not love it nor did I hate it. It just left me scratching my head. I would also have to drive 200 miles to get another bottle. As for checking the Dictadors on the website link, the final weekend of the regular season of the NFL is about to get underway. My beloved New Orleans Saints are already in the playoffs, but the results of three simultaneous games this afternoon will determine the seeding as 1, 2 , or 3. To complicate matters, all of our Running Backs are out due to COVID-19. We HAVE to get that first seed today!!! I will check the Dictadors late this evening when all of the seedings have been determined. No rum drinking today!

Greetings, pal! Welcome and enjoy your stay. Hmmm, if you like "sweet and not heavy" rums, then you might have a taste for "sugarbombs", that is. Or maybe the tricky spiced "subgenre". It's all about personal taste and apetite development, really. I don't like sugarbombs myself, but if that is your thing, then by all means, go for it! In this category, i liked El Dorado 15, Plantation 20 XO, Plantation Pineapple Stiggins (found it more balanced than their XO). From spiced and sweet, you might also like St. Lucia Spiced, Bayou Spiced and Sadler's Peaky Blinder Black Spiced, the latter is ideal to make Cubata, or Cuba Libre with dark rum variation. If you need exquisite quality without additive and artificial sweetness, i recently found Appleton 21 to be way superior and have a natural sweet aftertaste, lingering in your mouth. Be careful with its price though, because vendors abuse it a great deal (in the same city, i found it 87 where i bought it and 136 in other shops). If you end up pro purism and unadultered rum, then Foursquare range and most Barbadian (Bajan) rums will be your best friends. My advice is to try a little bit from everything though and develop your taste on the go, while exploring. Agricole, molases, blends, singles, spiced, cask/navy strength, overproof, premium, aged, vintage, special editions... There are great finds and large variety, in each and every tag! My most favorite ever, is a complex blend from St. Lucia. Some books might help you a great deal, if you wish to start drinking rum as a serious hobby (which you should, because rum = history, rum = philosophy, rum = culture and rum = love).

Start with some countries like Panama (Origines 8), Guatemala, Barbados (Doorlys 8). After you know some flavor profiles try Demerara and Jamaica rums.

Stefan and Marios: As promised, I checked the link to the website provided again. Instead of clicking on one of their three most popular brands, I simply clicked on "Rum". Wow! What a selection they offer! Everything from very expensive to rot gut with lots of different sizes to choose from many. It can be mind boggling to a newcomer and one can waste lots of money experimenting. So, if one of these rums appeals to you, first read ALL of the reviews on this site for that rum. Eventually, you will be able to tell which ones meet your tastes and are worth spending money on. With all that I have spent on rum in the last three years, I could have bought a luxury car instead. However, I would not trade all of my rum experiences for another damn car or Harley. Well, my beloved NFL team routed the fourth worst team in the conference without our starters. That's the good news. The bad news is that we did not get first seed, but kept the second seed. This means that we need to play and win two playoff games at home in the next two weeks and then have to travel to the frozen tundra to play in Lambeau Field in Green Bay. If it snows enough to white out the field on that day, then our quest for another trip to the Super Bowl will end there. Where I live, it snows about once every five years and the whole area shuts down all of the roads and bridges.

Marios: Very wise decision to get the gift set with the collectible glasses! Plantation will slowly change it's name over the next couple of years to be more politically correct. This rum is also the best bang for the buck for those starting out. Let us know how you like it and looking forward to your first review.

Marios, Good choice to start with. It will be interesting to read your first review. From this one you can go further to test something more sweetened or as I advise you something less sweetened.

Everyone is qualified, this is a community site. Just do it. This rum has a sweet Foursquare flavor profile, but with some coconut aroma.

@Pirate many thanks you guys rock!!( ευχαριστω πολυ πατριδα!!!)

@Marios Anytime, don't mention it, you 're mostly welcome! (παρεπιπτόντως το ήξερες ότι ο πρόγονος του ρούμι, υπήρχε στην Ινδία, από την εποχή του μεγάλου Αλεξάνδρου ακόμη; στο βιβλίο the Rum Manual του Dave Broom, έχει απίστευτα ιστορικά στοιχεία και υπόβαθρο... να έχεις μια υπέροχη νέα χρονιά, αδερφέ μου!)