Cruzan! What the @#$%&*?

[The Sheriff]

Seems like Cruzan is working very hard to lose me as a customer. First they dicontinue the Single Barrel, then the Estate Diamond and now my long time favorite Clipper 120. If they dump the Blackstrap it will be down to the (now less than 2 Y.O.) light and dark and all the flavored stuff.

Don't get me wrong I like some of the flavored stuff, but where are all the fine aged products that drew me to Cruzan in the first place?

[Rum Runner]

To my knowledge the Single Barrel is still part of the line-up. The Estate Diamond and Clipper were discontinued. The Dark is still a two year old. The aged 151 is pretty good stuff in my opinion and they have added a new rum cream recently. I'll be heading over to St. Croix in the next few weeks for a look around.

[srnadel]

Yeah...I didn't hear anything about the SB being discontinued, but it could have been. Cruzan has been trying to find it's position in the industry for years. They keep going after Bacardi, which is a tough thing to do. I wouldn't be surprised if they are discontinuing certain lines and concentrating on what they consider their core brands.

[RonJames]

I totally agree with srnadel, cruzan tries to take on Bacardi and it never really catches on. The young club sceen is always gonna order "Bacardi limon and sprite!" rather than the cruzan flavors. Wish they'd stick to the Single Barrel (which they just redid the packaging for, so I doubt they'd can it), the 5yr diamond, blackstrap, 2yr white and gold. Actually I heard that they were having Kenny Chesney market cruzan or that he was coming out with his own cruzan rum. An excellent marketing idea might be to make it the "true American Rum". You've got the country singer, rum made in a part of the US, and I think some of the blackstrap proceeds go to a US Navy charity. Throw an American flag on the bottle and you've got a great merchandising idea. Just don't throw the American flag on the new capt. morgan made there, I wouldn't want to insult the flag like that.

[The Sheriff]

I see that they have the single barrel still listed on their website. But, it has been discountiued in Oregon. We have always carried all the Cruzan products available. I wonder if it is a distributor issue or if it has indeed been discountiued? Anyway, the loss of my beloved Clipper 120 still has me pretty steamed. Not to mention the Esate diamond. Both were staples in my liquor cabinet for many years.

[srnadel]

Your distributor could have just decided to dump it. It happens all the time. Maybe another distributor will pick it up. Keep the faith.

I think Jim Beam Global handles this rum. Depending on how far you want to take it, you can always call them.

[Edward Hamilton]

Both the Clipper and Estate Diamond have been discontinued for now. Hopefully they will return but I'm not going to hold my breath until it happens.

The good news is that in Oregon you can now get almost the full line of El Dorado rums through the state stores.

[rusty]

AND Cruzan Single Barrel goes on sale in Oregon for $19.99 staring 1 April. Not all stores have it though. I know which ones and will start a thread about it.

[Bluehammer]

I get the feeling Cruzan is trying to become the bar "well" brand. As many have mentioned Bacardi has this area wrapped up. I hope that Cruzan can take their bar penetration and push themselves up the shelf. I really enjoy that it is becoming more common in bars. I just would prefer they don't push themselves to the bottom shelf.

Also, what is up with Blackstrap? Seems like they have raised up the price a few bucks than just a year or two ago. Not sure if this is just regional.

[rusty]

Cruzan mostly makes 'well grade' booze. At home the silver in in my well for Daiquiris & Mojitos.

I'm quite looking fwd to trying the Single Barrel this weekend.