Rum et al. baseline batch 1.24

Review #1288; Rum #593

Here we have something a little different and new to me. Rum et al is a product from Robyn Smith, who runs This Blogs Neat and is also a chemical engineer and former research chemist for a distillery. In collaboration with Dead of Night Distillery they set out to make some experimental rum.

This rum is called baseline as it is a baseline for all of their other rums to be compared to. This rum was fermented from 100% baking grade molasses for 16-22 days using the distillers yeast saccharomyces cerevisiae. It is then double pot distilled to a strength of 75% and only yielded 12.5 gallons of rum. This bottling had a bit of water added to it to bring it down to 49%. This rum clocks in with a total congener concentration of 309 g/hlpa.

Here are some links to Robyn’s stuff:

https://www.rumetaliae.com/all-our-rums/baseline

https://www.thisblogsneat.com/

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Distillery: Dead of Night Distillery

Bottler: Rum Et Al

Region: USA

Still: Pot

ABV: 49%

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Nose: Touch of banana, Vanilla, touch of lemon, minerality

Palate: Medium mouthfeel, banana, vanilla, touch of lemon, minerality, and raisin

Finish:  Medium length finish, minerality, lemon, banana, raisin

Rating: 6/10

You know, this is a baseline rum that I expected to be merely okay. But, color me impressed, this is pretty good. This is nice to drink neat, which you really can’t say about most any unaged craft molasses rum in the US. It has good flavor, heat is well balanced, and it doesn’t have any of the rough edges that some other rums like this has.

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1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out.

2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice.

3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.

4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but better exists.

5 | Good | Good, just fine.

6 | Very Good | A cut above.

7 | Great | Well above average

8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional.

9 | Incredible | An all time favorite

10 | Perfect | Perfect