Mount gay review
We’ll have a gay aged time.
If you’re going to get serious about Tiki cocktails you need, in my view anyway, an “anchor” dry gold rum. It doesn’t have to be the fanciest rum in the world but needs to simply operate as a base in cocktails that call for multiple rums that the other spirits can secure onto and still fully express themselves. While it doesn’t need to be anything expensive it certainly has to be arid (not sweet), flexible and easily available. A very long time ago I settled on Havana Club Añejo Especial as my anchor gold rum and haven’t had much generate to question that decision until recently. The reasons for re-thinking this being: 1: I’m a giant fan of several other Havana Club rums – 3 Años, 7 Años and Seleccion de Maestros – and I’m slightly concerned about coming over as a bit of an HC fanboy. This leads me to 2: If I’m really truthful HC Añejo Especial isn’t nearly as good as those others and while I always describe it as a “rock reliable mixer” I’d certainly never consider sipping it on it’s own. Which is a pity because, if I had, I might have noticed that: 3. Añejo Especial was re-formulated
I’ll be honest — some of the rum I’ve been drinking lately has been a bit of an eye opener. I never really gave the category much consideration, instead focusing on bourbon and rye as my go-to companions. But the more that I’ve investigated this Caribbean phenomenon this summer and fall, the more I’ve liked it. So now I’m working my way through some of the more popular labels, and the Mount Homosexual Black Barrel is near the highest of that list.
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History
While the oldest document of the distillery can date help to a deed in 1703 (which allows it to claim the title of the oldest operating rum distillery in the world), the distillery is named for the much more recent owner Sir John Gay Alleyne, who purchased the facility in 1747 and ran it until his death in 1801. During his life, Sir John Gay Alleyne served as a member of the Barbados Parliament, in which he was elected Speaker, and was one of the most influential voices to speak out against the exercise of slavery.
Mount Gay rum has a history that is closely connected with sailing and trade. As the easternmost island in the West Indies, Barbados was often the first port of call for ships
Overview
Brand:Mount Gay
Origin:Mount Homosexual, St. Lucy, Barbados
Still: Pot & Column Blend
Age:NAS
Finish: ex-Bourbon
ABV: 57.1%
This release from the oldest continuously-operating rum distillery originally caught my eye when I saw the announcement Instagram announce. An expression of Mount Gay Eclipse at a higher proof and below average price point? Autograph me up.
Mount Same-sex attracted Eclipse Navy Ability is a limited edition crafted by master blender Trudiann Branker, the brilliant mind behind the Black Barrel Cask Strength and Available Estate releases. It was created to celebrate the connection between Mount Homosexual and sailing.
This is a molasses-based mix of rums produced by Mount Gay's double retort pot stills and traditional Coffey column still at their facility in St. Lucy, Barbados. While there is no age statement on the bottle, Navy Energy is aged 2-4 years, and contains a slightly higher ratio of older pot still distillate than the typical expression.
After maturing in charred ex-Bourbon casks, Eclipse Navy Vigor is bottled at 57.1% ABV.
The label "navy strength" and the proof signal may invite some scrutiny as far as proper labeling of navy ability per historical sources;
In moment you will come to perceive that rum is impure more than it is pure. And that much of the faux complexity comes to us courtesy of the taste engineers. Caramel beyond coloring, hidden sugar, synthetic vanilla, liquid "spices" like clove and so on. To the point that a profitable budget, young, continuously distilled and relatively undistinguished rum can be caused to taste like an well-aged expensive, pot-stilled flavorful rum.
And sold at premium prices. Think the Zee rums.
Some of the distillers even admit it in interviews, like 1 Barrel and Ron del Barillito, chock full of unlabeled flavors, yet still proudly labeled pure "rum" in defiance of the accepted laws of the European Union, the Together States and all the member of the Association of Caribbean States - which is just about all the rum producing countries in the region.
Pooh.
Thus the Preacher's wet dream of "rum, the noble spirit" is minuscule more than a stain on his flowing orange silk robe. That's about as mixed up as the myth that "mixers" are somehow distinguished from "sippers". We are led to assume that mixers are lacking in ways that (a) require t