Jack Tarr (aka Jack Tar)

[Hurricane Hayward]

A friend who scours every hole-in-the-wall liquor store in Miami for rare rums made an interesting find that I've never heard of before. It was ridiculously cheap, so he bought all they had. A longtime South African importer's website (http://www.esnell.co.za/product/jack-tarr/) says "Jack Tarr" is an 86-proof blend of rums from Jamaica and Guyana, plus a "small proportion of the finest South African light Rum." It appears to have been briefly imported into the U.S. (as "Jack Tar"), and the label mentions only that it's "produced in Jamaica, bottled in South Africa." Perhaps a different blend than the current South African version? It tastes like pure Jamaican to me. In a blind tasting, I rated it above Coruba, as well as Appleton Signature and Reserve. It's big and bold with lots of Jamaican funk. For all we know, it's been gathering dust for more than a decade on that store shelf. My source said the Miami-based distributor went belly-up in 2001, according to state records. I could find only one review online (from 2006). Anyone familiar with this mysterious rum?