How has this pandemic affected your rum purchases?

Well, it's a good question. I'm still quite new in the rum world so it's difficult to separate the pandemic effect from the effect of my development. I quit buying at offline shops, that's for sure, but I think that both my consumption and purchase rate was not affected by the pandemic.

My number is 0% therefore, but the your's, Paul, let me think. You tell us much about your tastings over the last year, I can guess you buy around 2x more than before the pandemic. Even though you don't have to drink much more, I guess you spend more money as you exceeded the limits you imposed in the past. 

Paul,

No the pandemic hasn't affected my rum purchases especially, cause my rum bar were more or less already built up before the pandemic when talking about aged rum. So during the pandemic I've mostly made repurchases, but also increased the bar with some unaged rum.

I won't post any numbers either. Can tell you that much: The lockdown (boredown)was one of the main reasons why I made drinking my new hobby. The other reason: I became 40 recently and I thought it would be nice to have some alternatives to spend my free time.

Rum is a pandemic hobby for me.  Before the pandemic I maybe bought a bottle of Bacardi or something similar every other year for the occasional rum and Coke.  So I will say a 50x increase in bottle purchases.  Let's not get into costs!

Edit: I haven't actually finished any of the bottles I have purchased in the last 18 months, and many of them are unopened.  Don't want to leave the impression that I'm killing a bottle per week.

Before the pandemic, I might have had three different bottles of rum on my liquor table and nothing else. As I began reading more about rum during the last year my collection has significantly increased WELL beyond those three bottles. I'll sheepishly admit to having a shelf in my man cave closet for all of my unopened bottles, as I've run out of room on the table. 

I can understand why folks are hesitant to provide actual numbers on their pandemic increase. For me, my rum purchase increase after the pandemic began in March of 2020 was 21%. Not many have detailed data like I do. And yes, I still have a sizable collection. I now have 14 opened bottles and 27 closed. My style is to try a little of this and a little of that, but not every day.

Part of the reason for my increase was moving up to some very expensive bottles. My previous limit per bottle was $100. I have since tried a bottle for $231 and one for $190. Neither one got my rating of 8 or higher. For this reason, my new limit is now $150. My $138 bottle is certainly a keeper.

As a matter of fact Paul, the pandemic has slowed the distribution of rums and our local (Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) suppliers have led to a drastic reduction of "decent" rums. Sourcing good rums up here often results in paying a lot more than the original pricing in order to acquire quality rums and the fact that the Canada/US border has been closed for so long eliminates the possibility of driving to the New England area for a few good rums. It looks, however, like the border will soon open thus giving us the opportunity to find a few gems, normally unavailable in Canada.

Jagsroy:

I was fortunate enough to have been fully vaccinated and able to drive to central Florida to pick up rums that cannot be found where I live. Now that I only go for repeat purchases, 25 miles is my new limit for driving to get more rums. None can be found in my area, so I have to drive away. At least our supply chain has not been affected.

You are lucky to have a decent supply within 25 miles, no such luck in Canada but you know, many Canadians are in the same boat. Used to be a snowbird and spend my winters in the Bradenton area, lots of choice down there. Will return, that's for sure.

I'm here in AZ. Lucky enough to get rum via delivery. Local liquor purveyor is Greta, but upwards of 10 to 15 % higher than delivery from Flaviar or hitimewines.net. I appreciate online purveyor shippers, but wonder how this supply chain disaster will affect them.

Paul B, 

i joined this rum community during the pandemic. However, pre-pandemic I had a collection of 80 bottles. Fast forward five years later to the present, now only have two bottles left . The pandemic changed my perspective on having a collection of rum. Life is so short and I can’t take any of this rum with me. So I decided to enjoy my collection and only purchase something that I haven’t had before. The only one I keep in stock in Appleton 21. My next two purchases will be E. Leon Jimenes rum and Parce 12 year.

I'm in Virginia so my access from the state store has limited my journey...a lot. We've had, and continue to experience shortages of many of my staples. One brand I enjoyed pre-Covid became my staple. If I could find it, I'd buy 2-3 bottles, and that's the Bruegel 1888. Can't figure it out entirely, but the structure, the slight woodiness (is that a word?) just checked off all my boxes. I'm still drinking it, but moving away as supply (slightly) opens up. Good discussion btw. 

Bruegal 1888 has a mild sherry cask finish. If that one is hard to come by, then check out reviews for rums that can easily be purchased to see which ones have a mild sherry cask finish. Bumbu XO in the black bottle is a good substitute and they seem to be everywhere. By the way, that is the only one from that company that I have tried and liked.

Before the pandemic I bought maybe 3 or 4 bottles of spirits per year. I never bought rum; there was the occasional gift from a colleague with a wife in Cuba, once a year or so, that I enjoyed a lot. My wife and me drank mostly wine but there were no more tastings in the area (where we purchased the bulk of our wine consumption) so there was time to pick up something new. Because of that occasional Cuban rum in the house I just gave rum a shot and it took just a few samples to get hooked.

So all in all an increase in percentage cannot be given; I went from never buying rum to a few hundred € per month at first. Then it went up (curiosity comes at a price...) but lately I buy a little less; I am well stocked and don't jump at every rum I like anymore. But rum is here to stay and though I do drink other spirits every now and then rum is likely to stay #1 overhere.

While I can't quantify exactly how much my rum cabinet has grown during the pandemic, let's just say I haven't exactly "flattened the curve" with respect to my purchases. lol📈

Before covid- 0 bottles of Rum owned

After Covid - 51 bottles of Rum owned

I'd say that's a fair increase !

latest addition- 2 bottles of Zafra master reserve 30

You can never have enough rum! So the curve should always point upwards with or without pandemic ;-)

And yes, Paul, the more time passes the more you are willing to pay higher prices, no idea, but somehow it goes to everyone, sooner or later.

In my "bar" are 96 bottles , 44 of them open (about 12 of them to mix and cook).

6 years ago there were 33 bottles and 19 open (8 for mixing)

Rene:

I have never had 96 bottles of rum in my cabinet. I now keep 14 bottles opened and 17 still closed today. The unsugared rums last a LOT longer than the sugar bombs. Four years ago, I started my collection with mostly sugar bombs. Then after two months, none of them tasted the same. What a waste of money that was. I then put a $50 US limit on each new bottle that I bought. This limit has slowly creeped up to $150 US, which is where it will remain. I spent more than that on two of them. One was very disappointing and the other was not worth the big bucks.

It's been tough going with Covid and the rum supply in Ontario Canada.  Not many new rums and several of the high end rums have disappeared from the shelves or have been delisted. Good thing that I had a decent supply to get me through this dry spell.    

Earl:

It is always great to hear from you and sorry about the supply chain. Lucky me lives near a major port city of New Orleans, so we have no shortage of anything. I am so lucky to still have access to any rum that I want. Still holding off on my COVID-19 booster shot and being lucky to still be alive.

I have decided that I am using rum as my booster shot.  I had a bad reaction to my second shot.