Ron Matusalem Platino

[Arctic Wolf]

In the vein of pkazimir's post on Barcelo Gran Platinum (http://www.ministryofrum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3272), I sat down with some friends and tried one of these Vodka substitutes, Ron Matusalem Platino. The results were a little surprising. I actually enjoyed this Vodka substitute far more than would be implied by my response in the Barcelo Gran Platinum post would imply.

I recorded my first impressions in my Rumhowler blog

First Impressions: Ron Matusalem Platino (http://therumhowlerblog.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/first-impressions-ron-matusalem-platino/)

Any one else with impressions of the Platino from Matusalem.

[Michael]

Please excuse my ignorance, but why do you assume that Ron Matusalem Platino was made as a vodka substitute? I had thought that it was a Cuban style white rum made in the DR. It is a standby in our house for a Cuba Libre and has often subbed in cocktail use for the unobtainable Cuban whites. glass.gif

[Arctic Wolf]

Please excuse my ignorance, but why do you assume that Ron Matusalem Platino was made as a vodka substitute? I had thought that it was a Cuban style white rum made in the DR. It is a standby in our house for a Cuba Libre and has often subbed in cocktail use for the unobtainable Cuban whites. glass.gif

It is not an assumption.

To quote from the Ron Matusalem Website (http://www.matusalem.com/platino.html):

"Platino is a discerning trade up for standard rum drinkers and a sophisticated alternative to premium vodka drinkers. Enjoy Platino mixed in your favorite cocktails."

I guess you never followed the link to the article on my blog where the Ron Matusalem Platino link was provided. Although to be fair the website suggests they are attempting to provide an alternative to premium vodka and not a substitute for run of the mill vodkas as I may have implied. So your comment was fair.

[Michael]

No offense, but I don't have the time to pull you up short tonight. Enjoy your Matusalem. glass.gif

[RonJames]

Im glad this topic came up. Last night I think I made my 1st good daiquiri which leads us to a good discussion. What rum to use for a daiquiri? I would think a white, light, crisp (vodka like) rum would be preferable to say a heavier white rum. I might just have to give matusalem white a try, as I haven't seen Havana club around since the beetles 1st hit the scene.;)

[Arctic Wolf]

No offense, but I don't have the time to pull you up short tonight. Enjoy your Matusalem. glass.gif

Don't worry, I'm not offended. I just like to give props to my new blog and try to coerce people into reading it. Like I said earlier I thought your comment was fair, based upon the poor wording I chose in the initial post.

[Dood]

I think that what you're seeing with Matusalem's wording is more of a rum trying to find elbow room in a market dominated by neutral spirits like vodka and Bacardi Silver.

Obviously they can't compare themselves to Bacardi and give people the notion of "Why don't I just buy the bat?" so they have to compare themselves to something like the V word to get people interested.

Or at least that's how they see it. Personally, I'd prefer it if rums would work to pull the vodka market away from vodka, rather than trying to move towards it.

Focus on what makes you different from vodka - like the existence of flavor.

[Edward Hamilton]

About 8 years ago I was in NY where the Matusalem manager from Skyy told me that Matusalem was three-times distilled in the DR.
My first response was, you must have come from the vodka industry. Which he confirmed.
After spending many months in the DR, I had never seen a three column still in that country so I asked who distilled Matusalem. I've yet to get an answer but they are clearly trying to play the light x-times distilled vodka angle, which just doesn't work in the rum industry.
Matusalem Platino is a fine spirit if you're a vodka drinker looking to move to rum, at a better price. For me, I prefer more rum flavor.

[TheRumelier]

Having attended Bacardi conferences and having regular meetings with their reps they see vodka as their main competition to Bacardi Superior. This was a good reason to buy Grey Goose and attempt to buy Absolut. They also introduced their flavoured rums to compete against the influx of flavoured vodkas. I guess it's who can sell the most liquor for the cocktail market. In fairness Bacardi Superior has not been promoted as a sipping rum but always as the main ingredient in a good cocktail. I personally do not drink a great deal of white rum, but both Matusalem and Bacardi have a prominent position on my bar for when I fancy a rum and coke with a twist of lime. That actually sounds pretty good right now!!gzzg
P.S. The Reserva Limitada is now my Bacardi of choice!!

[Edward Hamilton]

In the distribution end of the business, store owners across the US have told me about salespeople requiring them to have x number of Bacardi facings (bottles) in the rum section of the store if they want to get a good price on Grey Goose or in order to even get the amount of Grey Goose that they have ordered.
Certainly Bacardi sees Grey Goose as competition to their Superior, but someone seems to be playing this for all its worth in the distribution tier of the business.
The bottom line is that no liquor store can afford to tell the salesperson that they aren't going to be bullied and no order Grey Goose or Bacardi from a distributor that also carries other products that they need to have in stock in order to remain in business.

[Joe Riley]

Having attended Bacardi conferences and having regular meetings with their reps they see vodka as their main competition to Bacardi Superior. This was a good reason to buy Grey Goose and attempt to buy Absolut. They also introduced their flavoured rums to compete against the influx of flavoured vodkas. I guess it's who can sell the most liquor for the cocktail market. In fairness Bacardi Superior has not been promoted as a sipping rum but always as the main ingredient in a good cocktail. I personally do not drink a great deal of white rum, but both Matusalem and Bacardi have a prominent position on my bar for when I fancy a rum and coke with a twist of lime. That actually sounds pretty good right now!!gzzg
P.S. The Reserva Limitada is now my Bacardi of choice!!
Hey Rumelier - did Bacardi "Xtreme" ever make it to where you live? That was the "dry" rum that was supposed to appeal to vodka drinkers. A horrible "lead balloon" for Bacardi. Of course, that was years ago, before they bought Grey Goose.

[Joe Riley]

In the distribution end of the business, store owners across the US have told me about salespeople requiring them to have x number of Bacardi facings (bottles) in the rum section of the store if they want to get a good price on Grey Goose or in order to even get the amount of Grey Goose that they have ordered.
Certainly Bacardi sees Grey Goose as competition to their Superior, but someone seems to be playing this for all its worth in the distribution tier of the business.
The bottom line is that no liquor store can afford to tell the salesperson that they aren't going to be bullied and no order Grey Goose or Bacardi from a distributor that also carries other products that they need to have in stock in order to remain in business.
Wow, Ed, that's scary. I thought that those old-fashioned "strong arm" tactics were a thing of the past. Sorry to hear that they are both alive and well.

[TheRumelier]

No it didn't. Sounds like I did not miss much though!!

[Dood]

Wow, Ed, that's scary. I thought that those old-fashioned "strong arm" tactics were a thing of the past. Sorry to hear that they are both alive and well.

This blatant, and borderline if not outright illegal, form of extortion is all too common in the liquor business from what I'm told. It happens in liquor stores, bars, restaurants...

"We hear Brand X is selling really well and you have it prominently featured. We'd like you to move us into that space, and as a reward for being such a great customer, we'd like to discount your next 20 cases of one of the most popular spirits on the market by 50%."

And we wonder why some of the most popular spirits stay that way.

[Arctic Wolf]

Hi Dood

Forgot to mention in a previous thread that you never need apologize. You have been a consistent booster of my threads and comments so the occasional bark from you doesn't bother me. I just bark back and expect that two old wolves like us remain friends.

On your comment about sneaky tactics, they are well known everywhere. A Diageo rep recently implied to me that although they bought the rights to market Pampero Brand outside of Venezuela, they have no plans to do so in my locale. The Reason: Why give Captain Morgan competition?

Now maybe this rep was drinking to much at the show and didn't know his ass from his face.... But I sure haven't seen any of the newer Pampero labels in the stores. (I have heard that Diageo used a similar strategy in the Scotch Whiskey industry, basically buying smaller boutique distilleries just to mothball them so that only their major brands would survive.)

[Craig_Hochscheid]

In the distribution end of the business, store owners across the US have told me about salespeople requiring them to have x number of Bacardi facings (bottles) in the rum section of the store if they want to get a good price on Grey Goose or in order to even get the amount of Grey Goose that they have ordered.
Certainly Bacardi sees Grey Goose as competition to their Superior, but someone seems to be playing this for all its worth in the distribution tier of the business.
The bottom line is that no liquor store can afford to tell the salesperson that they aren't going to be bullied and no order Grey Goose or Bacardi from a distributor that also carries other products that they need to have in stock in order to remain in business.

Ed, I see this everyday out in the trade, and the strong arming is only being exacerbated by the pace of supplier and wholesaler consolidation. Frankly, the Justice Department should enforced the anti-trust provisions of American law and take action to break up monopolies like Southern Wine & Spirits & AB-Inbev. These two corporations in particular are single handedly controlling huge swaths of the industry. This is completely unacceptable.

OK, that was my "you kids get off of my lawn!" moment for this week.

[Dood]

Hi Dood

Forgot to mention in a previous thread that you never need apologize. You have been a consistent booster of my threads and comments so the occasional bark from you doesn't bother me. I just bark back and expect that two old wolves like us remain friends.

On your comment about sneaky tactics, they are well known everywhere. A Diageo rep recently implied to me that although they bought the rights to market Pampero Brand outside of Venezuela, they have no plans to do so in my locale. The Reason: Why give Captain Morgan competition?

Now maybe this rep was drinking to much at the show and didn't know his ass from his face.... But I sure haven't seen any of the newer Pampero labels in the stores. (I have heard that Diageo used a similar strategy in the Scotch Whiskey industry, basically buying smaller boutique distilleries just to mothball them so that only their major brands would survive.)

Diageo does seem interested in some of the higher-end rum brands they've acquired - specifically Oronoco and Zacapa. I've seen a lot more effort from Diageo with those two brands than with Pampero (which is to say that I've seen effort, period).

I think that Diageo may be coming around to the idea that they can have other rums without competing directly with Captain because Zacapa/Oronoco/Pampero appeal to a completely different market segment. It's possible that where you are, they don't see that segment as being big enough to risk "confusing" the consumer with choice.

[Matusalem]

Aside from being able to confirm that the described tactics remain very much a part of business today, and it isn't limited to Diageo or rums - I have some other thoughts but wouldn't want to give Diageo and 'bright ideas' as I'm sure they have people that can read somewhere in the personnel tree.g()fy

This may just be my own personal slant and perhaps a penchant to prefer old stuff or what I'm used to but I thought Zacapa slid the minute Diageo's name was mentioned. Then Zaya got nixed (the Guatemalan production - which I'm sure was no coincidence), and from what I heard Montecristo got the axe too.

I liked the original bottles of Oronoco I had most. Pampero, as much as it is raved about and I still think it is damn good rum, but I enjoyed the taste of Pampero much more going maybe 5-6+ years back. Just a few examples but the truth is I've grown skeptical every time Diageo's name is mentioned in conjunction with some rum merger or acquisition or distribution change etc.