Which 12 year old Rum should you Buy?

by the end of this video hopefully i will have helped you pick out a really decent rum to drink neat hey run fam welcome back if you're new here i'm steve department and i'm just trying to help you on your rum journey by mainly focusing on rams proper ramps and spice drums but under 50 quid so as i just said i want to focus on sipping rums in this video under 50 pounds because in my head we're having such great fun sort of in our sort of starter journey around the 30 the 40 pound mark why would i start focusing on sipping rums that are 60 75 100 to me there is no point because i haven't even explored the kind of the top end of that sort of 50 pound spectrum yet now look in a lot of these videos i have been focusing on rums that are kind of actually between 20 and maybe 35 pounds but this video was slightly going up a notch most of these rums will be 30 to 40 pounds and i would put all of these in the 12 year old category as well so let me introduce you to the runners and riders in this video so first off weighing in at 33 pounds 75 on master of malt is florida kanye 12 year old from nicaragua next up weighing in at 38 pound 10 on master remote is el dorado 12 year old from guyana then we have appleton 12 year old 40 pounds on master of malt this is from jamaica then we have jamaica's arch nemesis a run from barbados this is dorley's 12 year old front four square this is waning at 43 pounds 90. now for the purposes of this video i really wanted to focus on kind of 12 year old rums that you guys would have seen behind me for the last six months or so i didn't want to acquire any more or bring any more brands to the party as yet i want to focus on what i've got behind me but there are other mainstream rums i could have added if i wanted to and i'm going to take you through them we will be focusing on these ram soon they will be coming to this channel but not quite in the moment let's get through what we've got so far so dictator 12 year old colombia i think no research columbia it's got to be columbia uh 43 pounds could have done that the real mccoy um dolly's big brother big sister whatever you want to call it 12 year old uh 54 pounds so slightly more expensive um could have initially kind of kind of fit in there we got santiago de cuba uh we're on san diego to cuba diago's new kind of acquisition uh 47 um 47 pounds from master remote and then we kind of get on to a kind of more expensive one angestura 1824 not officially a 12 year old rum but loosely classed as a 12 year old rum that would come out at 58 pound 33p master remote and the final one i could find or think of is abuelo from panama again at 38 pound 50. as i say we will be focusing on those very soon now for me i don't have ocd but i kind of like things sort of normal i don't know what the word is for this but i'm kind of thinking four is a bit of a funny number perhaps i should do five rums in this so there is another one i've got coming out to play but there also might be a six one because even now right this minute filming i still haven't decided whether to get the sixth one out and i might talk myself into it in a second but for now i want to bring plantation exo to the party now i'm not sure if this is the right or the wrong thing to do to be honest i would kind of put it class if someone said to me compare that to that i would kind of put it in the same category but rightly or wrongly it may not kind of fit in the 12 year old category but price wise it does sort of is just under the 50 pounds it's just snuck in it's 49 pounds but this is a kind of a blend of different aged rums should we say so we've got as always with plantation they do tropical aging and kind of like um caribbean or tropical ageing and then the french barrel a cognac barrel a kind of age in there so we've got eight to fifteen year old rums tropical aged and then we've got two to ten year old rums in there continental agent as in france now so rightly or wrongly i don't know whether to compare it i'm going to because i can do it's my video but then does this mean i should be including ron kubay 10 year old in this i think i probably will now price wise this is slightly over the 50 pounds but i can forgive 25 p on master of all it's 50 pounds and 25 pence i can kind of forgive that i'm going to break if i'm breaking the rules for that i can forgive myself 25p on there but as a 10 year old i haven't got any other rums 10 year old that i can think of that it's automatically springing to me here the rest of the rums i have are kind of eight year old and under or higher for instance i've got pasta's 15 year old which is kind of going a bit up and then i've got um florida kanye 18 year old so from what i've got in my collection and i've talked about i think i should really kind of rock this out in this tasting now i'm going to do this tasting and comparison slightly different to what i've done comparison videos before because i want to demonstrate a couple of different things for you because when we get to things like this it's not about my palette it's about your palette so i just want to help guide you the best i can without influencing you so at the moment they're in price order cheapest to uh most expensive i'll run you through the prices again because i've got them written down here uh florida kanye 12v this is master of malt logged out in the uk mars florida kind of 12 year old 33 pound 75 el dorado 12 year old 38 pound 10. uh appleton 12 year old 40 pounds dolly's 12 year old 43 pound 90 plantation exo 40 now i've got scroll down 40 49 pounds ron kubay 10 year old 50 pounds and 25 p now i've rearranged the rums in dosage levels now this will be roughly translated in sweetness levels remember you know although some rums can be naturally sweet some rums are made sweeter by the addition of sugar but it doesn't mean to say that a rum with sugar is going to be sweeter than a rum without sugar so there's going to be a difference on your palate but now this is unconfirmed because not many um this theory is actually published at dosage some do some don't so this is all done on hydrometer tests not mine this is picked up from various reviews taking an average b to be fair most of them pretty much as they do the same thing when they do a hydraulic test they're gonna be it's gonna read the same no matter who's doing it so um to categorize these up zero zero dosage no sugar is added to any of these rums so what these uh distilled and aged that is that zero grams of sugar is added to those four rums there but obviously through aging in that and we're going to have some slight variance on sweetness levels but zero sugar is added now we get to these two there's a thing i want to note here with el dorado if you've got the still got the el dorado with the red uh little disc there there's a hefty chance that that is a lot sweeter than what it is now el dorado with the black things on have been reformulated and again um there's no official line on this but hydrometer test tests are suggesting this has come down i forget it was now my head have got 38 grams but i think it may be a lot less than that but he's come down now to roughly i've seen a couple of hydraulic tests coming out at six grams and a couple of coming out at eight grams okay so heavily reduced however plantation a very open and honest plantation actually tell you this this has got 20 grams okay 20 grams of sugar per liter and in all honesty and full disclosure just before we go any further i still haven't cracked that bottle because i've still got a tiny little bit left in that bowl so this rum that i've got there is actually from that bowl now this is where we start to get slightly subjective because now you are putting your faith in my palette and as i say time and time again everyone has got a completely different palette what i taste you might not what you taste i might think you're bonkers everyone is different than this but i can only guide you with what i taste okay now so how i've rearranged this is now on my own personal sweetness levels for these rums now richard seal might hate me for this i'm really really sorry but my oh my oh that's a private joke there my my own personal tasting yes for me that is sweeter but there's a reason why that is sweeter obviously it's got the heftier dosage but i struggle to pick a massive difference between these five okay yes we know that's still got some dosage in it i i hasn't actually been 100 clarified whether they do actually add sugar or they don't i just know they've uh stripped it right back but what is stripping it right back mean i don't know stripping right back could mean they actually don't use any sugar or they might still add a tiny bit i don't know it's not public knowledge for now i'm just going by hydrometer test that other reviewers have done well-respected run reviews have done i struggled to taste the difference so it comes down to a fruitier kind of thing for me so i do kind of loosely put them in this order i think that is the driest less sweet one but we're talking minuscule amounts before we hit these these four i have put them in that order because i think the fruitiness that comes off some rums will make it feel that it's sweeter but there is no doubt in my mind that plantation xo is a lot sweeter um i wouldn't say we look we're not talking spiced rum sweetness here we're not talking out and out really really sweet rums you know we are not nowhere near diplomatico levels dump upper level levels anything like that anything remotely close to that but it is a little bit sweeter than these rums i've just gone through this video and just realized i've not asked you a question yet so in the comments below before we go any further what would be your go-to 12 year old under 50 pound sipping rum rum that you have neat comment below and then while you're down there i would love it please if you could hit that like button because that really helps me put this video in front of more of the ram family and speaking of rum family if you want to connect and chat to more rum fans then i would love you to come and join my membership community openly and honestly there's an outer part of the discord that is completely free of charge but there's an inner vip exclusive area of discord it's set aside for the membership but aside from that you get monthly ebook cocktail uh cocktail ebooks we get um the kind of the sunday night live show after party and there is much more as well exclusive videos that i kind of rock out to my members as well so if that sounds like fun do check out the link in the description below or there'll be a link in the pin to comment underneath this video well then back to the rum tasting and the next way i've kind of rearranged these bottles is uh for me the best way i could describe this is woodiness to fruitiness i think that would be a good way to kind of explain it to you guys and remember i say this is subjective this is my palette okay this what might be true for my palette might not be true for your palette and there may be some people thinking what the hell are you talking about but this is kind of where i am so this end for me is the most woody oaky peppery spiced rum and we come down to what i think is there's still a touch of uh kind of woody oakiness in this but to the fruitiest kind of rum in here and i think i think for me the kind of the barrier the barrier the difference is there i think these two for me are kind of the most whiskey-ish that's a good way instagram these two are the most whiskey-ish kind of rums to there we start to open out into lots of different fruit notes coming through and i don't necessarily get there is a touch of fruit in there but i don't get them as much as these rums so for me going down that scale you kind of got to find where your palate sort of sits and we come back to that you know that's an absolute bargain i think that was 34 pounds something you know it's a really decent rum to get into to sip neat now i think i should give you some tasting notes uh for these ramps and again as i keep saying this will purely be down to me and my palette but let's just go down this end the plantation x o i get as i get i get tropical fruits off that yes there's a little bit of woody notes in there but it is very much sort of tropical fruit i do also get hints of kind of toffee caramel vanilla coming off there but for me the big notes on this are the fruity notes and to narrow those fruity notes down i'm thinking a touch of coconut a bit of kind of pineapple in there but banana probably now moving on to the floor to kanye 12 year old for me nowhere near as fruity as the plantation xo but we have started to get it's a different kind of fruitiness we do start to get the kind of dried fruits this sort of christmas cake in there without it being heavy christmas cake but it is a much lighter style of rum it is a way lighter style of rum but there is those kind of vanilla notes in there the caramel notes and there's a touch uh more kind of woody oaky notes come through there not much spice peppery kind of spice burnt on there you do get a subtle or more kind for me personally more woody oaky notes than you do in the plantation xo now moving up to the appleton 12 year old and i know there's going to be some difference of opinion here i i really do that but for me and i've said this time and time again i'm not a massive fan of those woody oaky notes that kind of the whiskey-ish vibes that i kind of get off some rums and i don't get them off that even though i know some people do it's just weird that i don't i do get woody oaky notes off that for me there's an extra level of the kind of dried fruits the sort of raisin notes the subtanas uh coming off the 12 yard compared to the floor the carnie 12 year old but you still do get that caramel you still do get that toffee you get this subtle sort of jamaican little bit of funky in there not too much at all so a little bit of banana notes in there but i still for me personally comparing that to the doilies which i know a lot of people might put the the other way around is still not as peppery spice but i saw woody notes alcohol oaky notes is what i get off the uh dolly's 12 year old and i'm not sure i mentioned it but the one thing i do get off that it's kind of reminiscent of a very nice uh dark 100 100 chocolate but you know what i mean like like a decent 70 80 percent chocolate and the kind of i do get those in the aftertaste and the finish from the appleton 12 year old again so that takes it away from being really oaky and woody for me personally now moving up to the wrong kubay 10 i'll be open and honest i'm now actually contemplating having revisited this for a couple of minutes and like letting the letting the sort of uh flavours kind of wear around i'm now actually contemplating moving that down to there the finish i don't get the kind of woody notes on the finish it kind of really mellows out into lovely kind of vanilla again it's that lighter sort of column still vibes of course it is you know it's cuban rum column still vibes that i'm getting off the the floyd counter it's a much lighter you've got a bit of fruit but the vanilla kind of notes do kind of on the initial taste do kind of mask the woody oakiness but the finish is really long on that for me and that's where those kind of you know those whiskey-ish vibes do come out for me in that but it's a tough call they're so close but for completely different reasons and i can genuinely see how someone would put kubay down there in the appleton or the appleton up there but i'm just going to put those side by side for completely different reasons you know but i again you know it's subjective it's hard to kind of guide you like that but i still maintain for me personally these two are way up there like going back to the el dorado 12 i'd love to do like the um the old dose or heavily dosed el dorado versus this because i don't seem to remember the el dorado being that um it's a generic term but that kind of woody oaky kind of vibes coming through there i seem to remember getting more kind of fruitcake vibes coming off the el dorado which i really don't get now um it's kind of spicy it's kind of uh kind of vanilla-y kind of you know you've got those sort of toffee notes coming off there as well but for me how this has changed i do get more of the sort of the dark roasted chocolate notes than i do it's sort of evident in the in the appleton but i get it more now in the uh in the dolly's 12 year old but what the finish it now is for me it's kind of like i get kind of it reminds me of a luxurious espresso like that coming off there um that finishes into those wood you can the aging from that you can you can almost get the port moran sort of still coming off that the wood in the uh the wooden pot still the ldl has it's where that comes out for me so i have to i have to put this the new unsweetened or lightly sweetened kind of rum way up here compared to these and then we finish up on the dorlis the 12-year old now i know this is richard seal's expertise and the guys at foursquare is their expertise because this is the weird thing i know this is going to cause um not disagreement shall we say but i know a lot of people will put this down here because initially of this i do get quite nice sort of fruity notes of this i get typical sort of barbadian sort of coconut vibes coming off there i get the dried fruit the kind of christmas cake mummy barman's christmas cake vibes uh coming off there so there is that element of fruit but that this here's a posh word does dissipate uh quite quickly into that kind of oakland for me that is the oakiest rum out of all of those for me personally it kind of sort of finishes off into woody peppery spice so from even though there is that fruit up front as a rounded kind of rum i do have to put that as the least fruitiest of them all because of that finish when that finishes i still get way a shed load of fruit when the appleton finishes i still get quite a bit of fun fruit off there when that finishes all i'm getting is woody oaky peppery bite now if you're a newbie please don't think i'm sort of slating those because i'm not my palette is suited more towards that but if you're a whiskey fan your palette is totally going to be down that end 100 is going to be down this end and you know what i on on a different day i would probably pick out the wrong kubay as my all-star out of these i've just something about the kind of the sort of column still the cuban notes of this that i absolutely adore but sometimes when i've just when they've got that element it's kind of like a time in a month for me i kind of go through the sweet fruity kind of vibes and i'm always kind of coming down this end to the plantation but then sometimes when i'm kind of not in that mood and i just want a rounded kind of nice slipper i do firmly sit at a kubai now look i know this is sacrilege to a lot of the rum family but i'm not going to discount you guys that love a rum and coke and would think nothing of spending 30 40 pounds on a rum for a rum and coke because let's be honest if it's a decent rum it's gonna make a hell of a rum and coke isn't it right let's get that so i've now rearranged these in the order that i personally prefer these as a rum and coke least favorite to favorite now if you've watched any of my previous videos you will know that for years discounting spanish column style of rums i've actually kind of sort of converted i actually do kind of like the column still sort of vibe going on especi because they light a lighter style of rum and especially when it comes to that rum and coke for instance my all-time daiquiri my all-time sort of rum and coke at the moment is the kind of uh the ronko bay carter blanca and uh the carter dorado they just smash it for me as a daiquiri but everyone's got a different palette they have got a different palette so this is me my order um openly and honestly these are two column distilled rums and i just think because they're lighter they just suit my palette to a tea i adore those two as a rum and coke absolutely love them quite happily uh i like my best after the rum coke video that i made are they my favorite ramen cokes i'm not sure because i still do like the sort of darker black rum and cokes if you like but they're pretty damn decent i'll be honest that wrong kubo 10 and the florida current they're pretty good roman coats now to move down to this slot um the plantation xo i it's good it's good i've just got those kind of little bit of fruity vibes going off there uh for me hands down that's a kind of neat sipper i've got daiquiris down here ready to go in a minute as well uh but you know so we'll taste them but as lovely as that is and that for me is more i prefer that to those three and it doesn't kind of touch those and i i personally wouldn't buy that for a rum and coke personally but it's pretty decent these just take a little bit more work they are more whiskey vibes and i'm not that big into whiskey vibes when it comes to kind of rum and they are lovely you're gonna have fans i know it's gonna have fans of course it is um but i'm just trying to guide you not sway you just guy you guide you i am of when it comes to those mixed drinks daiquiris rum and cokes like cooper libras that sort of stuff gingers that sort of stuff i am sort of in the lighter column still kind of vibe at the moment and i can't get away from the fact that those two for me knock spots off those two comment below where would you go i i can i can see i can see the conversations are going to happen where would you go would you go pot still blended or uh kind of column still in for a rum and coke below now i've just rearranged these in daiquiri order oh dear god that's just blown me away now openly i know this i was gonna have another sit there it's calm down bomb and calm down openly and honestly uh when it comes to me uh it comes to i do he said it when it comes to daiquiris uh there's a few of us that my membership community where this widely renowned as uh moody daiquiris moody i don't do moody daiquiris i kind of like my light white rums in a daiquiri i really do uh probably more kind of um going to column still but again you know the plantation three stars i really love but i kind of like that what lighter white rum daiquiris i don't necessarily do kind of aged heavily aged ramps in daiquiris wow that's good whether it whether it blows kubay the carter blanca away from me i'm not sure whether it blows a plantation three stars or what was the one the montagna um colorado rum that was gorgeous as well the plantation exo as a daiquiri is stunning it's the fruity vibes of that mind-blowing it's an expensive run but jesus that is a very good background run um next two i i love these two as well again we've got those that lighter column still kind of rum going on with these two and again i can't fault these uh floyd carney probably just slightly over the kubota but very very close on there in fact now taste them again i'm thinking the kubo might be above the floor to kanye but very very close but again it comes down to this enzyme the dorli's is nice i i i just can't get my headspace into moody daiquiris windy kind of windy in my membership kind of coin that we've all kind of sort of taken on i can't get my head into the moody daiquiri space you know if you're making if someone says oh do you want a daughter's 12 year old daiquiri i potentially would i would turn around you know if you if you're being cheap at a party i would say what white rum have you got if you got havana three-year-old at the very least then i would kind of go with that i would prefer havana three rows of daiquiri over any of those three and that's kind of where my head is they are good if you love your moody daiquiris they are good but they're just not for me personally oh give me this any day so how do i sum this video up look at the start i said i'm not here to kind of influence you i'm just trying to hear to guide you if you like so look all of these openly and honestly when i empty a bottle am i replenishing them yes all six of those all day long i would have as permanent stocks they offer me something different there is not a rum there that i would not confidently tell you to go out and buy i adore all of them they just have very different characteristics and i knew that coming into this video i knew there was not going to be a winner and a loser i just wanted to kind of guide you on a different on path so you can kind of find your own way and hopefully this video has done that for you i adore neat i adore the appleton 12 year old as much as i adore the plantation xo i adore the kuba they just offer completely different diverse things and i think this will be such a fascinating evening for you guys right if you're inviting your friends around that kind of want to get into rum and this would loosely be a follow-up to the kind of the um super getting into superman's video that i did you know you sit your friends down with these six ramps and kind of watch the journey that they go on you're going to have different favorites you are yeah in the group you know there is no right or wrong with this video absolutely stunning if there was one rum that i say i probably wouldn't restock you know what i've just probably edited out 30 45 seconds there because i was going down the line that i thought i could answer and i can't genuinely answer it i don't think there was one run there that i would not buy again i was thinking in my head possibly the el dorado 12 year old and the florida kanye sort of 12 year old i think i could get away without him i don't think i could i think i need them in my collection i need all six of those in my sipping rum collection and hopefully that's where this video sits for you so if you've loved this video smash that like button if you haven't done already i want to hear your feedback as well what rams would you have as your kind of 12 year old 10 10 we have to go 10 10 to 12 year old category and i'm going to add to this with the rams that i did mention earlier in this video to kind of see how they fit in there as well but hopefully if you enjoyed this video if you love this video go and check out that video because i think that will help you just as much as this did

Channel: Steve the Barman

Views: 21,118

Keywords: rum comparison, rum, best rum, rum review, rum tasting, sipping rum reviews, spiced rum, spiced rum review, the best rum, sipping rum, best sipping rum, which sipping rum, 12yo rum, rum comparision, rum tasting review, best rums, rums, doorly's 12, doorly's 12 year old rum, flor de cana 12, plantation xo rum, plantation xo, el dorado 12, el dorado 12 year old rum, rum reviews, appleton 12, appleton 12 year rum review

Id: e02rEQqkLco

Length: 28min 40sec (1720 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 12 2022