Refined Vices

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Ron Matusalem 23

Ron Matusalem has introduced new top shelf rums to the U.S. and European markets to answer the growing demands of the consumers who have targeted the high end market of rums.

The company's rum range previously consisted of the Matusalem Platino, Clasico, Matusalem Solera 7, Matusalem Clasico 10 and their current top shelf offering available globally, Gran Reserva Solera 15.

The new additions to the Matusalem rum range are Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva 18, which is currently only available in the U.S. market and Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva 23, which is available in select European markets in Spain, Italy, Sweden, Czech Republic, France, Netherlands and Austria.

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Golden Rum Barrel Awards 2010The winners of the first ever Golden Rum Barrel Awards were finally announced at the dinner that took place on Saturday evening on the 16th of October with some brands grabbing double awards in different categories.

The competition took place at an undisclosed location a couple of days prior the worlds biggest Rum Festival with some pretty exclusive rums available for tasting such as Appleton 30 Year Old and Black Tot Last Consignment.

The tasting panel consisted of several International Rum Experts, each who had previously nominated their top picks for the categories. These were then compiled and narrowed down to the top 5 rums in each category.

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Maui Reserve Gold Rum

Maui Reserve Gold Rum is the last of the four Maui rums and it has been aged for over a year in American Oak Casks (Jim Beam) as it says on the black label in gold lettering.

There is also a smaller label near the bottom of the bottle that has hand written cask and bottle numbers and the signature of the Master Distiller and this is something I always appreciate to see in any spirits bottles.

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Oliver & Oliver

Recently, a document from Oliver & Oliver got into my hands. It contains some interesting company information and I am looking forward to share this knowledge with you. Thanks to Orlando, Maria and Kierstin for translation and correction help.

Enjoy.

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Maui Dark

I first tried Maui Dark Rum at the UK RumFest 2008 at a tasting seminar by Paul Artrip and as I recall it had a plethora of rich aromas and flavours that I immediately wanted to experience again. I even managed to grab a bottle of the stuff for later tasting, cheers Paul!

This particular bottle spent a lot of time on the shelf before I decided to crack it open for this review.

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Rum Barrels

Everything started when i discovered the Vizcaya rum about a month ago. I contacted the company right away and asked if there is a possibility of visiting their rum facility. Nancy de Blanck, the sales and export manager of the company without any hesitation agreed to my proposal. 10 emails, 2 phone calls and two weeks later I was there...

I decided to go there with Ramon the bartender from Hilton bar "Sol y sombra" who has a good knowledge about spirits, Kierstin our official DRA group photographer (good job) and Maria the beginning rum enthusiast.

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Maui Gold Rum

All Maui Rums, as explained in the previous Maui rum review, begin with the same fermented molasses base distilled into high proof spirit, used in all Haleakala Distillers rum products and aged in Jim Beam barrels for less than a year with the exception of the Maui Gold Reserve rum.

Exactly how long each individual rum spends in the barrel is not revealed, nor are any other techniques that might have been used to create a slightly different kind of rum.

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Maui Platinum

Maui, the second largest island in Hawaii measuring 1883.5 square kilometres, has a variety of landscapes ranging from the arid volcanic terrain to lush jungles and has equally diverse climatic conditions.

Maui also happens to be the largest sugarcane producer in Hawaii, and of course we all know what that means – RUM!

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Shackleton Whisky

Experts believe they have uncovered a secret drinker on Sir Ernest Shackleton's polar expedition after opening a crate of whisky buried under Antarctic ice for 100 years. The whisky, bottled for the renowned British explorer's 1907 expedition, was excavated from beneath his Antarctic hut earlier this year and taken to Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, New Zealand.

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