chookooloonks life list update: number 80, taste 50 types of rum (sailor jerry & pyrat)

So, while in California, my friends Maggie and Laura were kind enough to make sure that there were a couple of rums on hand, so that I could do a little life-listing.

Women who go out of their way to buy you alcohol, to help you meet a life goal?  Those are true friends, people.

The first rum I tried was Sailor Jerry, shown above.  Now, before I give my opinion on this rum, let me issue the following disclaimer:  I am not a fan of spiced rums.  In general I find them a bit cloying, and to be honest, I normally wouldn't drink a spiced rum any sooner than I'd drink an apple-flavoured wine.  But that's just me.

That said, Sailor Jerry was surprisingly tasty.  Again, I probably wouldn't buy it as a sipping rum, but used as an ingredient in holiday eggnog, or say, Trinidadian ponche de creme?  Oh yeah.  With that rich caramel flavour, I imagine Sailor Jerry would go down real well.

Plus it has that awesome hula girl on the label. 

So using my unscientific scale of 1 being rotgut and 10 being sweet, sweet rummy ambrosia, I'd give Sailor Jerry a solid 7.5. 

Eight, if it's the holidays.

On the next evening, I tried the second rum, Pyrat.  Now: these rum makers are clearly proud of their rum -- the bottle was tiny.  And it was fancy, all done-up with a jaunty little bow.  I have to tell you, I had high expectations for this rum based on the packaging alone.  I eagerly poured myself a shot.

I have to admit, I was slightly disappointed.  In my experience, a really good rum should taste like a fine brandy:  slightly sweet, with just the right around of burn.  While the flavour of this rum was very, very good, I found the burn a bit overwhelming: it felt more like a scotch than a brandy.  Maggie's husband, Bryan, being a scotch drinker, liked it a lot; Maggie and Laura flat couldn't drink it.

Me?  Oh, I definitely drank it.  But it wasn't my favourite.  I'd give it tentative 7.  Perhaps even a 6.5, if I was in a bad mood.

So!  That's rums 12 and 13 down -- only 37 more to go.  But I think I'm going to take a little break ...

... 'cause man, after all that wine and rum, I need to dry out.

Images:  Photographed with my Nikon D300, 50mm lens.

Song:  Don't stop by Shurwayne Winchester.  Because Chookooloonks was long overdue for a little Trini soca-chutney flavour.