English Harbor 1981, Clement 1952

[erickaye]

I'm currently in Antigua, and have come across two bottles I know nothing about. Both expensive as all hell...

Has anyone tried the English Harbor 1981 or the Clement 1952? The EH 1981 is about $250 and the Clement 1952 is $500...

They also have some El Dorado 25 here at $410 a bottle. (Ouch.)

[Ben]

Has anyone tried the English Harbor 1981 or the Clement 1952? The EH 1981 is about $250 and the Clement 1952 is $500...

They also have some El Dorado 25 here at $410 a bottle. (Ouch.)

Don't bother with ED 25 at $410. Shoppers Vineyard is selling it for $259.99.

Hi-Time is selling EH 1981 for $299.99, so I guess $250 is not a bad price...

Could not find info on Clement 1952 in the States, but the Whisky Exchange is selling it for 799 pounds ! while they are selling EH 1981 for 150 pounds.

[erickaye]

Yes, I was able to find most of that info online as well. I'm just wondering if anyone has actually tried one of these rums. Also, according to the photos online, the Clement 1952 comes in a wood case, and the one I saw here was in a cardboard case. Leads me to believe it might not be a real bottle. Especially since they had about 4-5 of them...
I didn't get the name of the liquor store, but it was one of the ones near the cruise ship docks. I'll have to do some more island research down here...

[Jason]

I just paid $190CAD for the 1981 a couple days ago. I haven't tried it yet. I LOVE the 5yr, and the 10yr is pretty darn good as well.

[Matusalem]

A friend has the Clement 1952. His assessment is it's very good but I'd also point I believe there is a bias and the year itself having some special / personal significance to him.

As I understand it, he picked up the bottle going some years back. So my guess is you are looking at something that's been resting (bottled).

[erickaye]

Yeah, both rums seem to be a relatively good deal, but we're talking almost $750 for two bottles of rum here. It's hard to spend that kind of money for drinking pleasure. I think you buy the $500 1952 for either a collection, or for bragging rights. I'd rather take the $500 and have collection of Mt Gay 1703, Zacapa XO, Appletons 21, English Harbor 10, and El Dorado 21 for the same $500... Now that's a hell of a starter kit.

[Edward Hamilton]

The Clement 1952 is a good rhum agricole and you could probably sell it for more than $500 at some point in the future. I would check to see if it is a 70cl bottle or a 75cl bottle in which case it wasn't bottled for the French market and has been bottled recently which would drop the price considerably.

If you're looking for something to drink you can do better in the US.

The two shops on the cruise ship quay are the best on the island, both of those owners have other shops but those have the best selection.