About a month ago I bought a bottle of The Kraken, one of the very few black rums sold in Ontario. By the end of the day the bottle was gone and so were my hopes of reviewing it. Fortunately, one of the people who enjoyed the rum with me gave me a bottle for my birthday, so here is the review and a couple of cocktails I prepared.
The Rum
For a black rum, it has very deep amber, brown color with a strong rum aroma emanating. A swirl kills the alcoholic smell and brings out its spicy-sweet character. The mouth-feel is watery, but the flavor is there. It starts off sweet with some caramel and quickly changes to a spicy, oaky note. The finish is spicy, a bit earthy with quite a bit of toasted character. Though I am not a huge fan of drinking rum straight, but this one has enough character to justify pouring a couple of fingers.
The Cocktails
I came across the cocktail Dark and Stormy which is a mix of ginger beer and dark rum. I bought a bottle of Reed's Original Ginger Beer to put my spin on the recipe:
- 2 parts The Kraken black rum
- 6 parts ginger beer
- ice
And for the second cocktail, I got myself a bottle of Reed's Spiced Apple Ginger Beer, which I mixed with the rum in the exact same proportions. Now, this is a cocktail. I absolutely loved this twist to the Dark and Stormy. It made the cocktail taste like apple pie which made it very enjoyable to drink. I strongly recommend this cocktail.
Scores:
Cost - $29.95
Taste - rum - 8/10, Dark and Stormy - 8.1/10, Spiced Apple Dark and Stormy - 9/10
ABV - 47%
Overall - up to 9/10...I loved the spiced apple cocktail and strongly recommend it
I'm halfway through a kraken with ice and a little water. unbelievable. it blows EVERY other spiced rum out of the water
ReplyDeleteit's only 22 dollars here in jersey. but that shit is delicious
ReplyDelete22 dollars try 19.59 on a site I found while searching online http://www.drinksology.com/. great rum especially with cointeau and squeeze of lemon or stuff that just out of the bottle as rum was intended
ReplyDeletehey, Anonymous (September 29, 2011) ... that site you cited (www.drinksology.com)is not in dollars... it's in British Pounds. they are in the UK. currently, it's £19.79 which is almost $32 US.
ReplyDeleteI have just noticed the Kraken rum at Sainsburys In the Uk, I think about £20 , It looked interesting, but being pretty expensive in comparison to my normal golden rum at £11 , I didnt buy it. Having read a few good reviews I think I will get some now.
ReplyDeleteGreat Rum! Unfortunate that not many people know about it in Australia. Not surprised though, considering it's 60 bucks over here. :(
ReplyDeleteSubstoker
ReplyDeleteOne of the best rums I've had since leaving the navy.
Runs at $29 in Ontario. Have 1/2 gill at 11.30 every day mixed 1&1 with water.