Bacardi Oakheart Spiced Rum and Cola Review

Here is a new pre-mixed drink that recently appeared on the shelves of the local LCBO - spiced rum & cola. I love spiced rum and cola so I definitely had to try this. If I like it, I might just get a bottle of Bacardi's Oakheart and add it to my large Kraken collection.

The drink pours extremely fizzy and keeps on bubbling for a while. The aroma is sweet with hints of vanilla and cinnamon...and cola of course. The taste is a bit off balance and has a very strong rum flavour, however, it is one of the few premixed cola drinks that actually has a decent cola taste. Vanilla notes are present from the start while the cinnamon appears shortly after, but the main spiced character does not show up until well after the finish. The aftertaste has cola-like sourness and gives you the same mouth dryness, but the rum adds way too much sweetness. I can see myself getting sick after a couple of these, but at least the cola taste is one of the better ones I have had the pleasure of trying.

I still may buy Bacardi's Oakheart to try making my own spiced rum and cola drink with it.

Scores:

Cost - $2.70 for a can

Taste - 7/10

ABV - 7%

Overall - 7/10...great cola taste, but needs some balancing

Seagram 2012 Review

I bought this can a few weeks ago only because I could not tell what its contents were, which made me a little curious. The only thing that tipped me of as to what this might taste like was the ingredients list - vodka, rum, whiskey and gin among some other ingredients such as sugar. Well, I love all those things!

The beverage has a copper/amber/iced tea-like color and is just a touch hazy. The aroma is a mix of alcohols with rum being the dominant one, followed by the whiskey. The vodka and gin are almost not noticeable. From the non-alcoholic aromas, some caramel and an acidic note are present - not much there.

The taste is where the vodka appears and takes the lead. Rum starts you off, but within moments a strong vodka taste takes the lead. The taste is way too alcoholic and imbalanced to make this an enjoyable pre-mixed cocktail. The alcohols used clash and don't compliment the non-alcoholic ingredients and flavours...whatever they might be. Caramel, some lemon/lime and a tiny bit of apple were all the flavours I could sense, but they were all overpowered by the alcohol. Yes, this was a very difficult to drink cocktail and I don't think I can recommend it to anyone. Also, the drink is very sweet and you can really start to feel the headache coming towards the end of the can.

Seagram did an excellent job on the can, though. It got my eye and made me spend the $3.

Scores:
Cost - $2.95
Taste - 4/10
ABV - 6%

Overall - 4/10...clashing flavours and too alcoholic

The Kraken Black Spiced Rum Review and Cocktails

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

I added a handful of ice to and measured out 2 oz of the rum. First off, I am not a huge fan of ginger beer, but the drink is pretty damn refreshing. I squeezed a lime wedge in which kicked up a notch and made this drink even better.

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