Rum in the Dominican Republic is about more than just Brugal. Besides the omnipresent giant there are a host of other producers, including Barcelo, Bermudez, Don Rhon, Macorix and Siboney. You just have to look a little harder to find their products. In this tasting I focus on aged offerings from producers other than Brugal.

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Today I finally made it to the Brugal Rum Distillery.  Heading into Puerto Plata from the direction of Sosua (or the Puerto Plata airport) the hard-to-miss facility lies on your right, sitting on the outskirts of town and between the main road and the sea.

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Yesterday was supposed to see me head from Sosua to Puerto Plata to tour the Brugal Distillery.  Unfortunately a hurricane blowing across the island messed up my plans.  The heavens opened during breakfast, and leaving the hotel suddenly seemed a very bad idea.  Even leaving the restaurant was going to mean getting very wet. The Brugal tour would have to wait until Monday.

The weather settled a little in the afternoon, and I took advantage of the break in the rain to hop in a shared taxi to Caberete, a smaller settlement several kilometers down the road.  I had heard a rumor that beside the Caberete petrol station was a shop stocking Siglo de Oro and selling it at non-extortionate prices.

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I first tasted Brugal rum in Shanghai, when Austrian mixologist Markus Bernthaler (formerly of Taras) all too briefly had a bottle of the Extra Viejo stashed on his top shelf. The Brugal Extra Viejo proved amazingly smooth and cognacy.  It was a rum unlike anything I had tasted before. I dropped back a couple of times with friends so they could have a taste too, and before long the bottle was gone. (more…)

The theme for this Mixology Monday (hosted at Save the Drinkers) is Local Flavor.  The idea is to make a drink featuring local ingredients.  I will treat New Zealand as my locality.   During my temporary sojourn in the Dominican Republic I have no bar besides a couple of bottles of rum.  I think I should blog on a drink I invented a few years ago and had the foresight to photograph.

Sensitive readers should be aware that this drink contains vodka.

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I dropped by Sofitel in Santo Domingo a few days ago trying to track down Brugal Siglo de Oro.  I did not find the Siglo de Oro, but I did see they were offering interesting rum flights.  I went back last night for their ‘Rums of the Caribbean’ flight, comprising Zacapa 23 Anos, Karukera 1995, and J.M. Martin.  I have no idea why Ron Zacapa, a Guatemalan rum produced near the Pacific, is included in a Caribbean rum flight.  Maybe someone in the Caribbean is feeling jealous?

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This month’s Mixology Monday sees me without ready access to a bar to mix a drink.  On well, I’m going to go ahead and post something anyway.  The theme this month is New Orleans cocktails, so I thought I could post a couple of tips related to making drinks containing egg white, with particular reference to that venerable old New Orleans drink - the Ramos Gin Fizz. (more…)

My Tales of the Cocktail swag bag contained a miniature bottle of G’vine gin from France.  Time for a mini tasting. . .

I am sitting in a hotel room in the Caribbean with nothing besides the rest of my Tales of the Cocktail swag bag mini-bar, a maxi-bottle of Beefeater that came with the Tales of the Cocktail goodies, and some little bottles of Dominican Republic rum.  OK, and I also have my computer, clothes, toothbrush, etc.  What I was really getting at, in my typically convoluted manner, is that this post is not going to contain the words “double strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with three drops of orange bitters and a lemon twist”.  I don’t even have ice handy.  I’ll drink the gin straight, then with tonic water.  No lemons or limes will be hurt in this tasting. (more…)

I am now in the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo to be precise.  Santo Domingo is a rough-around-the-edges sort of a place.  The initial impression was lousy.  Who appreciates arriving near midnight after delayed flights with no hotel booked, getting dumped by a taxi driver in a run-down area of town with no street lighting, discovering nobody speaks English and your Spanish teachers were a pack of lousy scam artists, and finally ending up in a roach-infested doss house called ‘El Refugio de Pirata’?  No, really.  That’s what it was called.  I couldn’t make this stuff up. (more…)

Last night I headed to another of the monthly whiskey tastings put on by Glengarry’s. The focus was Bruichladdich, an Islay distillery I am not too familiar with.

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