A review from guest author @DangerWill42. |
First off though, I feel I may owe an apology to Lost Spirits Rum. In retrospect, I feel I've made an error in my initial process…I tried to treat their rum the same way you drink Scotch. I don’t drink rum straight, and I’d say most people don’t. My beautiful wife and I took Lost Spirits with us to a local Polynesian BYOB restaurant and they serve a "Hawaiian Tea" that’s basically orange, pineapple, and lime juices mixed with a little brewed tea. Perfect for rum! Lost Spirits still has that…distinct…odor about it, but it went rather well in that mix. So, still it’s on the expensive end for what I can only give an average rating to for rum.
Now then, next up I want to introduce you to my favorite Scotch. Before we go into this I really feel it necessary to explain why I became such a fan of Scotch. In a word: craftsmanship. There are few distilled spirits, in my mind at least, that have as much rich history as Scotch. It requires a technique not only to produce it, but to appreciate it properly. If you are new to Scotch (as I still consider myself to be) I highly recommend watching both parts of this video with the Master Distiller for Whyte & Mackay, Richard Patterson, on the history and techniques for drinking Scotch.
The one thing that I agree with but don’t do that he recommends is ‘cleaning’ the glass and throwing away the Scotch that did the cleaning. Look, I don’t get my Scotch provided to me, Richard, and I’m not wasting any of it.
So, my favorite Scotch is from The Balvenie and it is a single malt called Caribbean Cask. This Scotch was aged in oak for 14 years (think about that for a moment) and then finished in barrels that previously held rum for another 6 months. It gives this drink a marvelous aroma and wonderful taste. I love this dram. I have had many, many different drams in various maturities, and I still come back to this as my favorite. It is very smooth, and most of the time I have this dram straight from the bottle. There is no need to dilute this with distilled water. It does have a sweet finish to it and you can get hints of the molasses smell I associate with rum. I’m thankful that David Stewart, malt master for The Balvenie, gave us this expression to enjoy.
I typically find bottles of this around the $65-$70 range, and for a 14 year old single malt that tastes this good, trust me…it’s an excellent purchase.