Denizen Merchant Reserve 8 Yr


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Dave2522 🇺🇸 | 28 ratings Author

Through another Rum Rater's recommendation for reading material, I'm now engrossed in Martin Cate's Smuggler's Cove tiki cult book.  SO, I had to order a bottle of Cate's collaboratively-blended Denizen Merchant Reserve 8 Yr, his re-creation of the rum originally used by Trader Vic Bergeron in creating the Mai Tai back in 1944, before the original rum became unavailable.  I haven't tasted a Mai Tai since I was a punk sailor on liberty in Honolulu 50 years ago--at Trader Vic's--and my interest has been rekindled.   I still haven't tried it in a Mai Tai but just attempted it neat and couldn't go there, so I added some rocks and a splash of soda to reveal the flavor...it is indeed a funky blend and it's screaming for an added shot of lime juice...it's sweet, bitter, dry and VERY fruity all at the same time...others have mentioned rotten bananas and I pick that up immediately.  I'll have to think this one over...I want to see how it mixes, for me it's not a pleasurable sipper just yet but still it's somehow intriguing.  Rums are the most unregulated spirit of all and this one is certainly unique if you wish to try something very different.  It's a blend of Jamaican and Agricole, not for the faint of heart, and it's truly weird.  I'm not knocking it, just sayin'....