Review by: The Auditor
Review #1288; Rum #593
Here we have something a little different and new to me. Rum et al is a product from Robyn Smith, who runs This Blogs Neat and is also a chemical engineer and former research chemist for a distillery. In collaboration with Dead of Night Distillery they set out to make some experimental rum.
This rum is called baseline as it is a baseline for all of their other rums to be compared to. This rum was fermented from 100% baking grade molasses for 16-22 days using the distillers yeast saccharomyces cerevisiae. It is then double pot distilled to a strength of 75% and only yielded 12.5 gallons of rum. This bottling had a bit of water added to it to bring it down to 49%. This rum clocks in with a total congener concentration of 309 g/hlpa.
Here are some links to Robyn’s stuff:
https://www.rumetaliae.com/all-our-rums/baseline
https://www.thisblogsneat.com/
Distillery: Dead of Night Distillery
Bottler: Rum Et Al
Region: USA
Still: Pot
ABV: 49%
Nose: Touch of banana, Vanilla, touch of lemon, minerality
Palate: Medium mouthfeel, banana, vanilla, touch of lemon, minerality, and raisin
Finish: Medium length finish, minerality, lemon, banana, raisin
Conclusion: You know, this is a baseline rum that I expected to be merely okay. But, color me impressed, this is pretty good. This is nice to drink neat, which you really can’t say about most any unaged craft molasses rum in the US. It has good flavor, heat is well balanced, and it doesn’t have any of the rough edges that some other rums like this has.
Final Score: 85
Scoring Legend:
- 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
- 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
- 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
- 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
- 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
- 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
- 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
- 50-59: Save it for mixing.
- 0-49: Blech.
Malt Runners 