A poor man's version of Black Tot


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Paul B avatar image
Paul B πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ | 471 ratings Author Posted 10 Mar '22

I ran across this one on a recent trip to Total Wine. On first sip, it reminded me of Black Tot Finest Caribbean 5 Year. That one is bottled at 92.4 proof. This Hog Bay Caribbean Black Rum is bottled at 80 proof. The main three locations for the higher proof one are the usual: Jamaica, Barbados, and Guyana. Well, this Hog Bay version swaps the Jamaican portion out for rum from the Dominican Republic. It only sells for $18 and is actually a much better buy than that higher proof rum. Hogs Bay is actually located in Bermuda, where it says that they love black rums. The bottle appears to be a gimmick, but the rum inside was certainly above average and a pleasant surprise at a bargain price. Check the picture.

Andy avatar image
Andy (PREMIUM) πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ | 143 ratings Replied 14 Mar '22

Have stars on bottles ever actually represented anything? Or basically just thrown in like "might as well have a few stars to look good"?

Paul B avatar image
Paul B πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ | 471 ratings Author Replied 15 Mar '22

Andy:

You must be referring to Plantation 3 Star and Ron Del Barrilito 3 Star. Placing stars on bottles of rum never did anything for me. This bottle has no stars.

KE
Kevin πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ | 78 ratings Replied 25 May '23

Haven't seen it at my TW but I will dissect the entire aisle shortly.

Β 

Jimmy Cliff avatar image
Jimmy Cliff (PREMIUM) πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ | 502 ratings Replied 31 Jul '23

I see the same thing with cigars. Stars and multiple cigar bands some times as many as 4-5. Some are from competitions or medals others are just for presentation.

Mr. Rumantic avatar image
Mr. Rumantic πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺ | 296 ratings Replied 1 Aug '23

This is probably the most ugliest bottle i have ever seen πŸ˜…. But when the rum is good and even cheap. Who cares... πŸ˜‹

The three Stars on the white Plantation are for the three countries the blend is made of.. Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados. But yes... mostly Stars are just Show. Same as fancy words like Premium or Solera. But that is an other topic.

KE
Kevin πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ | 78 ratings Replied 13 Oct '23

Found it at my TW store. I agree with you Paul. It is definitely a good bang for the buck. Although I detected some added sugar, but not much, the blending is spot on. At this price it will be a regular for me at least for the time being. Thanks for this absolutely wonderful recommendation. Arrrgh!

SL
SlandT πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ | 21 ratings Replied 21 Feb '24

My Total Wine has this for $19 with a 3.1/5 star user rating.Β  Plantation Dark is $20 (and 1L is $3 more).

Is Hog Bay THAT good or was it better when it was cheaper?