The LASH Spiced Rum???

[flavorguy]

I enjoyed reading the reviews and there is no good or bad in regard to taste - only preference. Some will pick up the cloves, other the cinnamon, while others will pick up on a different spice but overall, what a novelty - a Spiced Rum that actual tastes like a Spiced Rum! We wanted to be different and make a spiced rum that had a boatload of spices in it and I guess from reading the reviews that we succeeded in that aspect. I am sure it will be enjoyed by some and not enjoyed by others but that is the world we live in.

As for the Vanilla flavors of most spiced rums - there is a reason for this.

1. Rum & Coke goes well together and does anyone want to guess which flavor of Coke they sell the most of?? Well, Vanilla Coke! Vanilla & Coke go really well together so it is only fitting that Spiced Rums be loaded with Vanilla.

2. Vanilla (whether it be Vanilla Extract, Vanilla Flavors or the use of Vanillin, Ethyl Vanillin, Maltol or Ethyl Maltol) are used by product development personnel (in addition to sugar) to "smooth" out the alcohol and make mediocre alcohol taste better than it really is. The more vanilla you use, the better the alcohol will appear.

As for Diplomatico - the base rum we used had the characteristics of Diplomatico (prior to us adding spices to it) and that was the "base" we wanted to start with. We did not desire to make a Spiced Rum taste like Diplomatico (although that would have been a nice trick) and we still (my partner & I) choose Diplomatico as our favorite sipping rum (hope others agree).

As for The Lash - it was meant to be different than other spiced rums and we are happy to see that you also think so. Not just with the spices we use (and the amount we used), but also in the quality of the Rum we used (a 4-Year Oak Aged West Indies Rum) which we know may get over powered by the spices but we were making a Spiced Rum! Hope you all enjoy it!

[Michael]

Originally Posted by flavorguy

...
As for Diplomatico - the base rum we used had the characteristics of Diplomatico (prior to us adding spices to it) and that was the "base" we wanted to start with. We did not desire to make a Spiced Rum taste like Diplomatico (although that would have been a nice trick) and we still (my partner & I) choose Diplomatico as our favorite sipping rum (hope others agree).
...

You stated that the base rum from Trinidad & Tobago (presumably from Angostura, like The Kraken, also untried), "had the characteristics of Diplomatico" before spices were added. No offense intended, but to those of us familiar with several rums from Angostura and three aged rums from Diplomatico, that claim with respect to the base rum calls either your taste perceptions or your credibility into question.

The name of this offering might not be in the best of taste either, unless it was intended to indicate that the beverage within "lashes" the taste buds of the drinker.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to broaden one's horizons beyond the Captain Morgans of the world before designing a "spiced" rum. Have you ever tried Foursquare? It isn't too hard to come by. Would it have been too much trouble to take a trip to the islands to check out the ubiquitous local varieties of spiced rum/rhum before deciding what was missing from the already existing fare?

[Arctic Wolf]

I found this entire thread very enjoyable.

Kudos to you Flavourguy for popping by and being so forward with everyone regarding the rum. This kind of interaction is rare and I thank you for your efforts!

If the rum makes it my way I will give it a review on my website as I am genuinely intrigued!!

[flavorguy]

Michael,

I have worked with many of the distilleries in the Caribbean and have samples from most of them. I take the "bell curve" theory on life. 98% of products will fall into the "bell" portion and the remainder will be at the extremes. I have tasted many spiced rums (more than I care to mention) although most are in 200ml flasks for evaluation purposes only and most have never made it to the market but of the ones I tasted on the market, the vast majority are caramel or vanilla flavors. I have not tasted foursquare and cannot comment on it. I am sure it is good as are most spiced rums - remember what I said previously - no good or bad, only what is an individuals preference.

As for the name The Lash - again the bell curve theory - most are nautical/pirate themed so we wanted to stay in that base but not go to the pirate end. We stumbled upon a Winston Churchill saying that went something like this: if you joined the Royal Navy you got Rum, Sodomy or The Lash. That is where the name came from.

Regardless, there are plenty of good distilleries out there making nice Rum's not just in the Caribbean but in Central & South America as well. The Lash is, in my view, a new twist on the Spiced Rum category and I hope that people enjoy it.

[Michael]

flavorguy,

It is impossible for me to credit your rum tasting expertise in the light of your statements with respect to the Angostura and Diplomatico products. You are asking us to "trust" your experience, without any specific citations, and engage in vagaries and homilies instead of providing much in the way of concrete information to support your contention that your rum betters the competition.

Originally Posted by flavorguy

...
I have not tasted foursquare and cannot comment on it. I am sure it is good as are most spiced rums - remember what I said previously - no good or bad, only what is an individuals preference.
...

Why comment on the quality of an untasted product (as you did by implication above)? All you accomplish is to undermine your already thin credibility.

The questionable taste displayed in naming this product is enough to prevent me from purchasing any (niche marketing perhaps). Offering salesmanship instead of responsive replies does nothing to discourage the impression given by the naming.

BTW Wolfie has "interesting" tastes in rum; he might love your product, especially if it mixes well with HFCS Coke.

[Mistahunter]

Think we need to have a "Rum Summit"...

[Arctic Wolf]

There is a wonderful feature in the User Control panel of this forum which I have occasionally has cause to engage. It is the Ignore List. If there happens to be certain users whose comments almost never serve to enlighten, but rather they only serve to annoy due to incessant pettiness or to annoy by lording some kind of self imagined superiority over others which I suppose make them feel better about themselves but makes the forum a worse place overall, then The Ignore List is like a breathe of fresh air. I am editing my ignore list now.

The air just got that much less stuffy in here.

[Gray]

Just wanted to add that I've been slowly working my way through this bottle since I got it and, though I expect to maybe pick up on different flavors on different days, I've been pleasantly surprised by the different tastes that I've thought I picked up on. One day heavy clove, the next heavy cinnamon, and yesterday for some reason it kept making me think of cherries.

Also, I took this down to my local bar and got good reviews from it there too. The bartender said it's his new favorite spiced rum and he had a lot of fun making cocktails with it. I know it's recommending neat or with ice, but we just couldn't help ourselves.

[cycloneX]

Originally Posted by Michael

flavorguy,

It is impossible for me to credit your rum tasting expertise in the light of your statements with respect to the Angostura and Diplomatico products. You are asking us to "trust" your experience, without any specific citations, and engage in vagaries and homilies instead of providing much in the way of concrete information to support your contention that your rum betters the competition.



Why comment on the quality of an untasted product (as you did by implication above)? All you accomplish is to undermine your already thin credibility.

The questionable taste displayed in naming this product is enough to prevent me from purchasing any (niche marketing perhaps). Offering salesmanship instead of responsive replies does nothing to discourage the impression given by the naming.

BTW Wolfie has "interesting" tastes in rum; he might love your product, especially if it mixes well with HFCS Coke.

WOW!! Mike.... have you even read this thread?? There are a ton of responsive replies. He said he CANT comment on an untasted product and DIDN'T.
As for the name of this Rum.....come on man.... dont get your panties in a bunch! Good GOD!
Thats WHY we drink Rum!!

[flavorguy]

To those on here who got the impression that I am a "rum" expert, I apologize to for I am not. I am just a person who enjoys the flavor and complexities of Aged Rum (Versus plain white rum) and who, after spending so many years in product development and formulating, has concluded that there is neither bad or good, just an individuals preference. The biggest selling liqueur is Jagermeister in the US and I still cringe whenever I try it and there are millions of people who love it.

My specialty is "liqueurs" and I have given speeches on how they are produced and some of the tricks that can be used to get a lower standard effective tax rate. If anyone is interested in reading a PDF of a speech I gave to the LCBO a few years ago, contact me with your email and I shall get it to you.

As for Rum, I am not nearly as knowledgeable as most people on this forum (more than some, less than most) but I do enjoy a good quality rum and I still like Diplomatico the best (in regard to straight aged rums) and The Lash is merely my twist on the spiced rum category that I hope others enjoy.

That being said - I do enjoy chatting about the industry and the State of the industry as well.