I blind tasted 12 spiced rums and survived (how to make a Cable Car cocktail)

welcome back friends it's Anders today we are tasting 12 different bottles of spiced rum I'm excited and and mildly nervous because Spiced Rum is something I've been avoiding for years when I was in college I enjoyed spiced rum and I had my fill so I I decided this would be fun let's uh gather up all the bottles of Spiced Rum I could find I went to three different liquor stores and this is what I came up with I stopped at 12 because I couldn't find any more and I figured if it's a case that's enough it's a dangerous Venture already so let's try to keep it at that let's put a cap on it at 12. you might remember Greg over at how to drink did a similar video where he reviewed bottles of Spiced Rum that was a fun episode go check it out if you haven't already what I'm going to be doing is blind taste testing all of these we're gonna do this tournament style set it up in Brackets and we are going to come up with one winner that we are going to use in a cocktail the goal here is to find a bottle of rum that tastes good on its own Works in a cocktail doesn't make me gag so stick around let's get started we've got a lot of ground to cover if you are new to the channel hit that subscribe button for more sips tips and recipes and let's go crack open some spiced rum to the bar before we get started I want to point out that I am not sponsored or affiliated with any of these Brands so real quick what we are working with in random order we've got Captain Morgan Kraken black Spiced Rum Brinley gold shipwreck Admiral Nelson's cruising nine Spiced Rum Sailor Jerry cane Rock koloa Kawaii spice Bacardi Spiced Rum Chairman's Reserve spiced original and Blackheart premium Spiced Rum so here's how it's going to go down we're gonna break these bottles up into four groups of three I'm going to pick a winner from each group of three so we have four bottles those will go off into two brackets two against two and the winner of the winners of those will be our semi-finalists no our finalists God then we'll have a taste off between those two and we'll have one winner it makes sense in my head and it should make sense when I do it now what am I looking for when I taste these rums number one I'm gonna focus on the bad I don't want something sickly sweet I don't want uh obvious artificial flavorings I don't want it to be too chemically tasty too astringent what I do want is some interesting spice notes maybe some baking spices maybe black pepper something fun like that to kind of keep it Lively I do want a little heat so that it it holds up in a cocktail I'm gonna have Oz organize these into glasses for me so I have no idea what's in the glass she'll know and you'll know because we'll show you and I will taste it based off of nothing but flavor so let's dig in let's do this all right okay so we've got our first set of three here thank you Oz let's Dive Right In I'm going to start with my left your right this is number a [Music] um doesn't have a doesn't have a very strong smell at all cheers I don't hate it I'm not familiar with this taste it's like a dried fruit element vanilla and not a whole lot of spice okay next B sweeter smell coconut e [Music] H I don't like that one it's kind of oily it has better texture than the first one but it's soft it's it's a lower proof I don't I don't know that that will do much in a cocktail C hmm hmm that's got on the nose this is my favorite it has kind of like brown sugary [Music] vanilla sweet there is some pepper on the end maybe a touch of Ginger that one's not terrible that one's not bad this third one the C is what I think of in spiced rum I'm gonna pick C next bracket that first round I didn't get a whole lot of spice thank you Oz round two D let's go [Music] no no uh I get a sharpness on the end it's sweetness up front like artificial sweetness I think a lot of sugar is added to this one okay it's like they took a cheap rum added some sugar maybe some caramel coloring and uh maybe some some various flavorings that's this I don't I don't I don't care for that one on the on the plus side it is very round it's uh it's oily it's kind of viscousy I think this is kind of something I'm learning about spiced rums is because they're a little bit sweeter there's a little bit more weight to them onto what's this one e onto e foreign [Music] no I think I like the first one better it triggered something in me I don't get any spice I'm getting that same vanilla Bland sweetness that I'm getting with some of the other ones that I don't particularly care for I like the nose not at all third one this is f this one is a little bit better I get brown sugar on the end cinnamon up front vanilla in the middle and something fun on the end it's it's brown sugar this one stands Out Among the three the first two are very similar I'm picking F round three got a darker one here here we go g whoa that one smells different than everything else I've tasted actually that's bubble gum it smells like bubble gum [Music] there's a spice what it is I don't know Ginger maybe this is not like any Spiced Rum I've ever had it's a it tastes like bubble gum I think that this is going to take my cocktail in a different direction I don't want that that is weird I'm gonna move on to the next one on to H a happier nose it smells like almonds almost all right here we go [Music] oh I want to like that what's off about that something in it makes my mouth do this and I don't I don't I don't care for that I don't want a rum that makes me go like this oh no bummer well this is looking good for I here we go okay this one actually smells like rum [Music] oh that one is higher proof it's very heavy on the brown sugar more brown sugar than I would say other spices this round G is out it tastes two bubble gum coconut kind of fruity which isn't bad but not what I'm wanting in spiced rum H tastes like almonds it I don't get a whole lot of spice I get more almond it's just an almondy rum I taste like rum it's got some heat there's not a whole lot of spice really I'm reluctantly picking I how are you feeling honors I'm feeling like maybe we should have gone with six bottles as opposed to 12 but this is how we learn round four we've got uh J K and L so number one J foreign [Music] there's a lot of flavor but I don't think any of it's real it has a real artificial vanilla and it's got an overwhelming sweetness that is too much it's a little too much the body is really thin pass on that one moving on 2K I like the nose on this one there's a floral quality to it I don't know if it's honey or probably coconut foreign [Music] hey that's pretty good K is okay that one is a bit lighter but it certainly has flavor like just looking at it it's a very pale color I expected a lighter flavor and I got a boatload of flavor like green coconut almost the usual vanilla I'm not sure that this is gonna hold up well in a cocktail but on its own it's very delicate I think there's a lot of a lot of nuances to this one I I would say this one is is probably the most interesting to me watch this is Captain Morgan we've got uh a lot to live up to L Cheers I know this smell it's it's I've been saying it for so many of them but it's a vanilla smell I think it's meant to be pleasant but it's not quite Pleasant this is what I think of in spiced rum but not in a good way it's hard to put your finger on it but it's it's this layers of flavor that mask the rum and I want to taste the rum it's certainly not the worst that I've tasted today but I'm not picking it here I'm going to go with is that K I'm gonna go with K I thought Captain Morgan is it it's not no it's not it's Voodoo it is voodoo on to the semi-finalists Okay C versus F I'm gonna start with C cheers they're all certain just seem like the same thing though [Music] soft sweet butterscotch f neither of them is really punching me in the face with spice oh boy I'm gonna pick f whoa now we have I against k k is very light and I is very dark uh I will start with k yeah I like that one actually I really do it's interesting I almost get as much coconut as I do vanilla and everything else I feel has been this vanilla overload and I do get a little bit of spice I [Music] oh yeah I remember that one rummy strong robust completely different one is delicate nuanced and very interesting the other one is robust and bold higher proof but if I'm going off of my gut and my personal favorite I am going to pick K the lighter of the two now on to the finalist finally the finalist who is the best in show thank you Oz well I'm gonna have a little taste of cracker here really dries out your mouth so we have got F versus K let's see what you got I've tasted this three times now tastes like vanilla it's rather soft it's pretty straightforward blase spiced rum to me okay just on the nose this is this is prettier the more I taste this one the more I like it I think it's a clear winner okay so we have a winner it is K the only uh slight concern I have is because it's so light I am curious how it's going to hold up in a cocktail however on its own I think that it is interesting fun it doesn't make my stomach turn Oz what am I drinking uh oh really oh did you do that intentional K is for kaloa no oh okay K is for kaloa F is for fipwreck shipwreck oh huh friendly gold okay great so now we have a winner let's see how this holds up in a cocktail I'm gonna be making the cable car created by Tony Abu ganim in 1996 in San Francisco this is considered a modern classic and I'm gonna use his original specs because I didn't know what Roma is going to be working with and I just want to see how this holds up in the drink so hey I can't say now the booze this is the booze now let's get ready what was the final four Bacardi really that is hilarious this has been an eye-opening experiment this here is cinnamon and sugar the ratio that I like four parts sugar to one part cinnamon we're gonna shake this cocktail it's gonna be served up so first before we even do this cut your lemon in half take your lemon and run it around the edge of the glass gently place your glass on top of the cinnamon and sugar you don't have to press it in there just let it sit on top get this back in the freezer we want this chilled so now let's start with the kaloa Kawaii spice one and a half ounces of Spiced Rum three quarters of an ounce of orange Curacao one ounce of lemon juice and half an ounce of simple syrup I wasn't gonna say anything but I'm gonna say a Tony actually made a lemon sour which was two parts lemon juice to one part one-to-one simple syrup I happen to be using my semi-rich simple syrup which is one and a half Parts sugar to one part water I'm really throwing a lot of numbers at you and now that just made it confusing we'll probably edit this out so if you have a one-to-one simple syrup that's gonna be fine we can add ice and Shake 10 to 15 seconds they'll strain into your cocktail glass for garnish I am going to express some orange oil across the top I'm going to discard this because I think the cinnamon and sugar Grim is pretty enough and there we have the cable car cheers ah please be good [Music] hey that's really tasty sure beats drinking Spiced Rum straight the brightness from the lemon is really nice certainly get the orange getting the cinnamon and sugar up front brings out the spice in the room um Oz could I offer you sip I I need some help drinking okay okay what do you think that's all right it's pretty good isn't it I I should say a sidecar is one of my all-time favorites and this is a riff on that I hope you enjoyed this video I enjoyed it to a point I need something to eat I need a nap and I need a ride home get your merch thank you for watching I will see you next time cheers uh as a rule I like to bartend sober today is an exception add ice and Shake [Music]

Channel: Anders Erickson

Views: 194,836

Keywords: spiced tasted rums blind, rum taste off spiced, finding best spiced rum, spiced rum, blind test rum, picking spiced rum, finding spiced rum, taste rum what good, taste rum, spiced rum good is, drink rum, what is spice rum, spice rum video, flavored rum video, this rum taste spiced, spiced what is rum, cable car drink, cable car recipe, all the rum drink, taste rum you dont, find rum spiced love, taste college like rum, waited years drink rum, spice rum, Best spiced rum

Id: iUGkl-AVgbI

Length: 13min 58sec (838 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 03 2023