Summer Special Offers from Waitrose

[Berbician]

Waitrose has reduced the prices of the following 8 rums:

Cockspur 5 star down from £14.00 to £12.00,
Mount Gay Eclipse down from £18.00 to £15.50,
Havana Club 7 year old down from £22.00 to £20.00,
Havana Club Anejo Especial down from £20.00 to £17.00,
Santa Teresa Gran Reserva down from £19.50 to £16.00,
Sailor Jerry down from £20.00 to £17.00,
The Kraken Black Spiced down from £23.00 to £19.50 and
Angostura 1919 down from £26.00 to £22.00.

These offers last till 9th September 2014.

They also have a free small booklet with recipes, and you can enter a competition to win a holiday in Barbados and tickets for this year's Rumfest in London in October.

[thefatrumpirate]

Originally Posted by Berbician

Waitrose has reduced the prices of the following 8 rums:

Cockspur 5 star down from £14.00 to £12.00,
Mount Gay Eclipse down from £18.00 to £15.50,
Havana Club 7 year old down from £22.00 to £20.00,
Havana Club Anejo Especial down from £20.00 to £17.00,
Santa Teresa Gran Reserva down from £19.50 to £16.00,
Sailor Jerry down from £20.00 to £17.00,
The Kraken Black Spiced down from £23.00 to £19.50 and
Angostura 1919 down from £26.00 to £22.00.

These offers last till 9th September 2014.

They also have a free small booklet with recipes, and you can enter a competition to win a holiday in Barbados and tickets for this year's Rumfest in London in October.

Sainsburys did similarly recently with their line up of rums (most of these bar the Santa Teresa).

I always buy a bottle of Cockspur when its on offer. It's the best mixing rum out there for the price. Mount Gay I find to be very forgettable.

When it comes to Supermarket rum I often buy Cockspur and Chairmans Reserve.

I've gone right of the Havana Club's - there is something in there that just tastes a bit odd that I really don't like. Its the same in the Anejo and the 7.

As Spiced rum goes Sailor Jerrys really isn't that bad (worlds apart from Morgans Spiced) but the Kraken is a classic case of the packaging winning out. The actual "rum" is terrible. Cheap synthetic muck.

Angostura is okay if your thinking of trying sipping a smooth rum but it isn't all that big on flavour.

The Old Hopking from Aldi is not bad at all either if you like very sweet molasses rich rums, though the James Cook offerings from Lidl are pretty awful.

Still finding good rum in "physical" shops in the UK is a task. There's the odd wine merchant which stocks a half decent selection but most of my purchases are done online.

[Berbician]

I agree with you about Cockspur - very good mixing rum at a decent price. However, I don't like Angostura 1919 at all - way too much vanilla.

As for finding good rum in "physical" shops in the UK....

I don't know where in the UK you are, but here in London we are quite lucky. There's Gerry's in Old Compton Street, The Vintage House in Old Compton Street, Royal Mile Whiskies in Bloomsbury Street, Soho Wine Supply in Percy Street and Whisky Exchange near Borough Market. The first four of those are all within a stone's throw of each other. So, if you're not too far from London....

If, on the other hand, you are a long way from London, it's an excellent excuse for a day trip to the capital.

Also, areas with large Caribbean diasporas such as Brixton, Tottenham, Shepherd's Bush and West Ealing/Southall tend to have off licences with fairly extensive rum selections.

[thefatrumpirate]

Originally Posted by Berbician

I agree with you about Cockspur - very good mixing rum at a decent price. However, I don't like Angostura 1919 at all - way too much vanilla.

As for finding good rum in "physical" shops in the UK....

I don't know where in the UK you are, but here in London we are quite lucky. There's Gerry's in Old Compton Street, The Vintage House in Old Compton Street, Royal Mile Whiskies in Bloomsbury Street, Soho Wine Supply in Percy Street and Whisky Exchange near Borough Market. The first four of those are all within a stone's throw of each other. So, if you're not too far from London....

If, on the other hand, you are a long way from London, it's an excellent excuse for a day trip to the capital.

Also, areas with large Caribbean diasporas such as Brixton, Tottenham, Shepherd's Bush and West Ealing/Southall tend to have off licences with fairly extensive rum selections.

Up north mate. Sunderland North East England. Luckily all the shops you mention have online presence. I usually use Whisky Exchange/Master Of Malt as they have the best choice. I tend to get six bottles once a month.

Although I've been drinking rum around 4 years almost exclusively its only over the last two I've started getting into the more "expensive" end of the market. I'm still predominantly in the £25-50 bracket.

I was so lost when I initially started buying "other" rums due to the lack of English rum reviews (other than the staple cheap navy rums) that I thought I may as well set up a "English" rum review site. I figured a couldn't be the only mad bastard that liked a "Uncle Albert".