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Posted
over 6 years ago
Sipped - neat
Jamaican and Martinique rums, 8 YO
Nose - medium
In mouth - bold aged gold rum with grassy linger
Mouth linger - slightly sweet, very pleasant
Blended for a one rum Mai Tai, and am anxious to mix one shortly.
OK, here's the mixed Mai Tai cocktail (30% ABV before ice shaking). Added Whaler's for the woody funk. Smooth and easy drinking,,,
2 Denizen 8 YO (Jamaican-Martinique 86 proof)
½ Whaler's (Kentucky 80 proof)
¾ Pierre Ferrand orange curacao (France 80 proof)
¾ lime juice
½ Giffard's orgeat (France)
Lime wedge squeeze
Posted
over 6 years ago
This comes close to my favorite rum combination for a mai tai, if somewhat flatter. I have yet to find a better combination than 1:1 Appleton 12-year and Ron del Barrilito 3-Star. This has that same combination of refined column still flavors (toasted oak, vanilla, etc.) plus raw Jamaican pot still funk. However, while the initial taste of the Denizen is a good match, it lacks the delicious, lingering finish of the above combination.
While it's formulated with the help of Martin Cate specifically for the Smuggler's Cove Mai Tai, do take note that you'll want to bump up the amount of orgeat in the standard recipe to balance out the lack of finish. I personally use 2 oz rum, 1/2 oz orgeat (up from 1/4 in Martin's recipe), a heavy pour of 1/4 oz mai tai syrup (basically demerara syrup + vanilla extract); 1/2 oz orange curacao; and 3/4 oz lime juice. You can use a bit more of the syrup if you prefer a sweeter & more vanilla-y mai tai, but I wouldn't go over 1 oz of lime juice as it overpowers the rest of the flavors.
You can't really beat the price of this bottle at about $30. However, if you're willing to shell out a bit more, you can get Ron del Barrilito 3-Star for about $35 and Appleton 12-year for about $40; that means the average price for your Mai Tai is about $37/bottle, so only $7 more than a bottle of the Denizen. (As a bonus these 2 bottles form a really great base for a ton of tiki drinks - Zombies, Jet Pilots, Coronado Luau Special, and on an on.....)
Having said that, if you're looking for an all-around good mixing rum with a good bit of Jamaican funk plus some of the more refined flavors you find from Spanish-style column stills, you can't go wrong with this. It's not much more than your average bottle of random "gold" rum, and it has a ton more character.
I've only ever made Mai Tai's with this rum, since that is what it was specifically made for.
Posted
7 years ago
This is a rum I continue to revisit. The mix of Jamaican and agricole is finely tuned if unspecific in both categories. Vanilla bean and just a hint of mint and parilla. Lovely stuff.
Posted
7 years ago
I've completely revised my opinion of this rum after learning it's pedigree. For strict traditionalists, nothing will ever replace the 17 yr old J. Wray and Nephew rum used by Vic Bergeron for the original Mai Tai. After exhausting supplies of 17 and later 15 yr old, Vic experimented blending his own rums to approximate the flavor of the original rum. He settled on a blend of Jamaican and Martinique rums. One word of correction to some reviews here. The Martinique rum Vic used was not the strict AOC Agricole, but an aged molasses based rum. Denizen sought to recreate this blend, and has done so admirably. This is the closest you will get to the original Mai Tai flavor.
Posted
over 7 years ago
It really smells like bananas. Also it has a pleasant finish ! Very recomendable
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I have postponed buying a bottle of this for months. Now that I have my most perfect rum combination for a Mai Tai, it was time to break down and get this all-in-one rum made for Mai Tai's. The comparisons to the long gone W&N 17 Year old also piqued my interest.
So I made a 50/50 combination of Smith & Cross Traditional Jamaican along with Depaz Blue Cane Rhum Agricole and poured that into one Glencairn glass neat. Then I poured the same amount of this Denizen Merchants Reserve into another Glencairn glass , also neat. No need to make Mai Tai's at this point because it is all about the rum that goes into making this drink. Both were swirled around and allowed to breathe for about 10 minutes. The information on the bottle told me not much other than what has been already posted on here. My combination was pale yellow. This Denizen was orange.
This Denizen has a smoother taste on the palate than my combination, albeit with much less hogo funk. However, the after taste of this Denizen ruins it, making it seem like a cheap industrial column still rum made for the masses. If this is what that old W&N 17 Year was like, I am so glad that it is now extinct. This only proves that rums have come a long way from those Kill Devil days. I will stick with my combination, but this bottle won't go to waste.
And yes, I am well aware that the Martinquan rum for the original Mai Tai was not a rhum agricole, but made from molasses. There is a reason that most of those dark molasses based rums from that island are now extinct save for the awful Negrita Dark.
Update February 26, 2019: This rum is worthless as a neat sipper, worthless on the rocks, and worthless as a mixer. So why did I not lower my rating from a 6? Because there are also a lot more rums worse than this! This was created for a certain California tiki bar to save time and money in making Mai Tai's. However, this one only creates a fake Mai Tai and Trader Vic would be rolling around in his grave if he knew of this travesty! For those that order Mai Tai's from this trendy bar, they do not give a rat's ass that those Mai Tai's are fake, but only like to brag to their friends that they drank Mai Tai's at such and such trendy bar. I know of at least one tiki bar that would never stoop to such levels. I have had this rum for almost two months and it is finally gone, thank goodness. Never again!!!