Hi from Eastern Canada (Maritimes)

[Aquadisiac]

Greetings.,

Well, I'm from the east coast of Canada and if anyone has been here they know rum is a popular drink, mostly white rum and cola. I’ve never had a taste for beer and so have been drinking rum since I was legal age (wink wink). It wasn’t until I started to travel that I started to step outside of my “white rum and cola” comfort zone and its been a wonderful journey ever since.

My goal is to know everything about rum; to sample every rum, and to own every rum! Grandiose expectations I know but why not?

Mostly I drink my rum pressed however occasionally I drink it neat.

I have approx 55 different bottles of rum thus far in my collection and I'd have to say my favourites at this moment are El Dorado 15yr old; Barbancourt 15yr and Sea Wynde. I’ve also been sampling some different cachaca lately as well

I live in a small city in a small province so the choice in the local liquor stores is poor but anytime I can get a chance in other cities I'm looking at specialty shops and of course I always bring bottles home when traveling abroad!

On this site I hope to learn lots; meet people, learn of events and add to my ever growing rum collection ! Ive read some posts and people seem to like "Zaya" and "Vizcaya". Ive never ever seen these before so I definitely would love to try them!

Its nice to be among friends !

Cheers

[Patapouf]

Great to see another Maritimer. Welcome to the fo-rum!

Where are you from exactly? I'm from Moncton, NB.

[Aquadisiac]

Thanks Patapouf

Im from Charlottetown. Know of any good liquor stores in Moncton that have a decent imported rum section? Every time I'm over i always pop into one but the selections are not very good!

Cheers
Aqua

[Patapouf]

Thanks Patapouf

Im from Charlottetown. Know of any good liquor stores in Moncton that have a decent imported rum section? Every time I'm over i always pop into one but the selections are not very good!

Cheers
Aqua

As I'm sure you know, liquor is controlled by the crown corporation NBLC, so selection is very similar all over the province. Look for 'Sélection' stores. They have a larger selection (no pun intended), including rarer finds. The store in Dieppe, off Paul St., and the one off Vaugh Harvey Blvd. are Sélection.

I agree that the rum selection could be larger, but we do have a few great name brands such as Appleton, El Dorado, Cruzan, English Harbor, Havana Club, Flor de Cana, Plantation, etc.

Good luck on the rum hunt! I myself was able to pick up a bottle of St. James Hors d'Âge at a Maine Duty Free shop.

[Aquadisiac]

Cool, thanks for the information. Im actually in Moncton this weekend and i will check out those stores, however most of the rum you mentioned i already have but there is no harm in acquiring more of it !

How was the rum you purchased in Maine?

cheers
Aqua

[Patapouf]

most of the rum you mentioned i already have but there is no harm in acquiring more of it !

You must have quite the collection if you have most of the rums in these lineups. Just Appleton and Flor de Cana alone have 4 rums each. Anyways, if you go to Salisbury (the discount store) you'll find a bottles of Trader Vic Gold for 19.99$. No clue if it's any good, but it's the cheapest bottle in NB.

How was the rum you purchased in Maine?

I haven't tried yet, I'm waiting for the weekend to mix it with Appleton 12yo and make an amazing Mai Tai.

Cheers!

[Ben]

As I'm sure you know, liquor is controlled by the crown corporation NBLC, so selection is very similar all over the province.
I agree that the rum selection could be larger

To offer you consolation, the selection in Quebec is even poorer than NB. I've counted at least twenty rums that are available in NB but not in Quebec. My family is from the Gaspe Bay and I try to make a little detour by Edmundston now and then when I visit them.

I recently stopped by and took the opportunity to buy ED15 (which is 14$ cheaper than in Quebec), Plantation Grande Reserve and ED 8 (never seen these two before).

[Edward Hamilton]

A belated welcome to the forums Aquadisiac (http://www.ministryofrum.com/forums/member.php?u=8290). It's good to see more members from the Maritimes. Every time I've been there I've met plenty of rum drinkers. The connection to the Caribbean is much stronger than many would suspect. Fish, timber, textiles and rum made for a lot of trade between the maritimes and the Caribbean.

[Aquadisiac]

Absolutely Edward, there is a long history between this region and the Caribbean. Salt cod sent South and coming back was rum.

For those interested, we have a local distillery that produces a few spirits, including rum. See link below. You can visit the distillery or pick up their product in local liqour stores.

http://www.straitshine.com/

I thought PEI had the worse selection of rums but can it be that Quebec is even worse?

Cheers
Aqua

[Patapouf]

Absolutely Edward, there is a long history between this region and the Caribbean. Salt cod sent South and coming back was rum.

For those interested, we have a local distillery that produces a few spirits, including rum. See link below. You can visit the distillery or pick up their product in local liqour stores.

http://www.straitshine.com/

I thought PEI had the worse selection of rums but can it be that Quebec is even worse?

Cheers
Aqua

Wow! I had no idea the Strait distillery was distilling their own aged rum. That's great news. Unfortunately, I rarely go to PEI, especially that far east (distillery location). Hope to put my hands on it some day.

For all of Québec's lacking in rum selection, their agricole selection is quite impressive, last I checked.

[Ben]

PEI's selection is not that bad, if you consider that there's not even 150,000 people living on the island.

They've got the complete line of Appleton's, including the Master Blender's AND the 30 years old, several ED's, and a few choices we don't have in Quebec: Matusalem, the Screech, Gosling's.

There's almost 8 million people in Quebec, I can't understand that NB has a better rum selection when there's not even a 1 million people there.

It's true we have several agricoles, like St. James, Bally, La Favorite, L'Arbre du Voyageur, but the selection is fading. I used to be able to find the Plantation line, now there's not a single bottle in view, they're out of stock of the ED Single Barrel and the Havana Club Barrel Proof. As for agricoles go, they had two selections each for La Favorite, St. James and l'Arbre du Voyageur, and they dropped one selection for each of these brands.

I think the selection is at its poorest I've seen for quite a while. It's all about the wine. That's what monopoly brings you.

[Aquadisiac]

Patapouf

To my knowledge the straight distillery rum is available at liqour stores across PEI. I can pick up a bottle and drop it off the next time I'm in NB or send it over or something.

Ben,
I guess i never considered PEI's selection to be all that great but after listening to you describe Quebec's choices maybe we are not so bad off.

Id like try some of those Agricoles you mentioned.

You guys have any luck mailing bottles? Perhaps we can do some swaps via the mail sometime

cheers
Aqua

[Patapouf]

To my knowledge the straight distillery rum is available at liqour stores across PEI. I can pick up a bottle and drop it off the next time I'm in NB or send it over or something.


That's a great offer! Sure, let me know when you're heading back in the area.

Sending alcohol by mail, even interprovincially, is 'technically' illegal. I guess we'll have to rely on person-to-person exchanges.

Thanks again!