Mount Gay – The Lone Caner

Contents:

• MOUNT GAY RUM
• REVIEW: MOUNT GAY RUM 1703 OLD CASK SELECTN
• 9 MOUNT GAY RUM COCKTAILS TO MAKE AT HOME
• REVIEW: MOUNT GAY XO RUM – THE PEAT SMOKE EXPRSN
• RUM REVIEW: MOUNT GAY 1703
• ULTIMATE MOUNT GAY TASTG REVIEW
• DRK REVIEW: MOUNT GAY ECLIPSE RUM
• MOUNT GAY 1703 RUM IS AS COMPLEX AND ENJOYABLE AS YOUR FAVORE WHISKEYS
• REVIEW: MOUNT GAY MASTER BLENR SELECTN – ANAN OAK CASKS
• MOUNT GAY MAIRA CASK VS PORT CASK RUM REVIEW
• MOUNT GAY RUM MASTER BLENR COLLECTN: THE PORT CASK EXPRSN
• MOUNT GAY 1703 XO RERVE CASK RUM
• MOUNT GAY BLACK BARREL REVIEW

MOUNT GAY RUM

I did a quick search through the archiv of Malt and realized the one and only review of Mount Gay m was by Mark, last year.

We’ve reviewed most of the Mount Gay lp, but have fally gotten our mts on the top of the le: Mount Gay 1703 Old Cask Selectn. Here at Thirsty, beg told we drk like pirat is a total pliment, pecially when we are dulgg wh Mount Gay Rum.

REVIEW: MOUNT GAY RUM 1703 OLD CASK SELECTN

The swashbucklg spir is produced Barbados, the easternmost island of the Wt Indi; the olst survivg ed for the pany is om 1703, makg Mount Gay Rum the world’s olst mercial m distillery. So while we n’t exactly island explore or sail the high seas durg a global panmic, we round up 9 Mount Gay Rum cktail recip to brg the spir of Barbados to your home bar.

This cktail ptur the sence of the famo beach featurg Mount Gay Eclipse, which boasts not of vanilla and banana wh unrlyg not of ramel, summer u, and spice.

Mixed wh lime, grenade, and fun othy egg whe, the drk is based wh Mount Gay Black Barrel, which boasts not of wood and butter balanced wh dried u and spic.

9 MOUNT GAY RUM COCKTAILS TO MAKE AT HOME

Inspired by the tradnal Barbadian punch, this cktail b the robt and bold Mount Gay Black Barrel wh zgy flavors like grapeu, gger, and green mt tea. A new take on Barbadian punch, this unique quencher b the aromatic Mount Gay Black Barrel Rum wh spicy Falernum and h grapeu juice.

Mount Gay’s take on the classic b s light and oaky Eclipse Rum wh sugar syp, lime juice, and water. Drk like a lol and mix yourself this warm yet sour Mount Gay Black Barrel-based libatn boastg vanilla, almond, and lime flavors.

So let’s get started wh the first of the four, the Mount Gay, which uld equally well be lled the Last Last Last Ward.

REVIEW: MOUNT GAY XO RUM – THE PEAT SMOKE EXPRSN

They all have that sense of displayg a sort of qualy whout effort, like was hardly even tryg, and are que different om the normal n of Mount Gay ms which are more wily available, and more affordable. I passed over ments like the alhol beg too high or the profile not beg their thg (those are personal opns, and each has their own which won’t necsarily align wh me), but one thg mt be nced: there are other Barbadian ms out there — some even om Mount Gay — which are almost or equally good, and which st ls.

RUM REVIEW: MOUNT GAY 1703

Though the selectns were all que imprsive, one m om the tr was really que a tch jt on s specs, I thought: a year 2000 21 YO Barbados pot still m om Mount Gay. We’ve been fortunate enough to try pot still ms om Barbados before, of urse: Habatn Velier’s Foursquare and Last Ward releas rema two of the bt known – but another one is always wele, pecially om Mount Gay, which is more noted for s blends than this kd of thg (one wonrs how Dirk snapped up the barrel, and why nobody else did, but never md).

ULTIMATE MOUNT GAY TASTG REVIEW

Habatn Velier’s send edn of the distillate rived om Mount Gay, known as the Last Ward — a nod to the Ward fay who ran Mount Gay for over a hundred years — retas much of what mak s 2007 siblg so special, but is a distct and wonrful m s own right, if not entirely supersedg s precsor. It sells at a price that won’t break the bank and giv a bang-to-buck rat that enhanc s accsibily to the general dience out there who have always loved Mount Gay’s ms. Back early 2018, when I wrote about the Mount Gay Black Barrel m, Ivar Laat, one of the m chums Toronto, gmbled “I wish Mount Gay would be a ltle bolr.

Though Mount Gay remas a major producer of qualy Bajan ms and has a brand awarens quotient that’s pretty damned high (I named the standard XO one of the Key Rums of the World, remember), you get the sense that wh the ey of the m world beg dragged nstantly to regard only Foursquare, ’s slippg stat. And of urse the ma sellg pot, the 63% ABV, Mount Gay’s first ser foray to the strong and dangero m currents. The assertive attack of the nose was a clear ditor that Mount Gay wanted to produce somethg to appeal to those who sired precisely that: was hot and had a certa kd of fierce yet mky aroma redolent of a stable – dry, dty hay, and leather.

The Mount Gay XO Cask Strength is a perfectly serviceable m, solid, sober, strong, tradnal, tasty, totally le wh s forebears – ’s may be buyg at least once, even at the price, jt for that, pecially if one is to the Bajan non. Some time ago I lled Mount Gay XO one of the Key Rums of the World, and observed that longevy, cency and general all-purpose efulns created a shadow which all subsequently issued Bajan ms to some extent had to live. Tim moved on and other profil started to take precence the miverse, but Mount Gay, however lquent movg to the limed edn or sk strength landspe so effectively lonized by Foursquare, did not entirely rt on s lrels, and did try to experiment here and there to see what else they uld pull out of their troers (their recent foray to flavoured tegori like the Mby is a se pot).

DRK REVIEW: MOUNT GAY ECLIPSE RUM

The Mount Gay Black Barrel, then, was well ma and nicely assembled – but origaly was not exactly s forte. What meant to me when I was sortg out my thkg, was that was mostly another m to round out the overall portfol of the Mount Gay le than anythg so origal that would supplant the XO the opn of s adherents. It is a summg up of all thgs Mount Gay that matter if you’re tune wh , jt a really good m if you’re not, and is one to savour and appreciate and enjoy no matter what your state of md or preference m.

It speaks to the Ward fay who ran Mount Gay for over a century (Aubrey Ward acquired the early 1900s) and still appear to have volvement wh the pany which was officially existence sce 1703 (unofficially much before that) and acquired 1989 by Remy Cotre. Frank Ward started producg a brand lled Mount Gilboa 2007, namg after the origal plantatn and distillery before had been renamed 1801 after Sir John Gay Alleyne, whom John Sober had veigled to manage the new pany when he had bought 1747. Mount Gay has now started producg s sk strength seri of the XO (63%) which I thought was very good, a German die lled Rendsburger ma a 1986 Rockley Still 18 year old m I que liked, and we’ve been tryg var WIRD ms for years now — the monstrated wh emphasis and aplomb what uld be done even if you didn’t hail om Foursquare…and this m is as good as almost all of them.

For s Mount Gay was nsired the premium m of Barbados, and rted s claim to fame, among other thgs, on beg the olst m distillery the Caribbean (there are papers statg s antecents gog back to the mid 1600s). Back when I started wrg this was an ongog suatn, and while many extolled the virtu of Doorly’s or Cockspur, Mount Gay was firmly the driver’s seat as related to fg the Barbados m brand.

MOUNT GAY 1703 RUM IS AS COMPLEX AND ENJOYABLE AS YOUR FAVORE WHISKEYS

The Mount Gay XO not only ticks each of those box but has somethg else that has never really lost s ltre all the years – a reputatn for nsistent qualy and worldwi brand awarens.

If wasn’t so pricey and hard to lay paws on (3000 bottl issued), I would have said the Mount Gay Cask Strength 63% should have dibs on this entry.

That asi, here we have another Barbados m my short seri about Bajan juice issued by the pennts – this one is another Mount Gay sk strength beefke, wh an outturn of 215 bottl and a hefty 61. So while ’s a cent limed edn Barbados m om Mount Gay, ’s not entirely one I would remend unls you were ep to the Bajan non and wanted an example of every possible variatn, jt to see how they uld be nvoluted and twisted and rema to somethg that was certaly tertg, but not an unqualified succs. Although the bottle do not specifilly state that this is a Mount Gay m, the pany webse do ed mentn as origatg om there.

REVIEW: MOUNT GAY MASTER BLENR SELECTN – ANAN OAK CASKS

Some time back he shipped me some Bajan fullproofs – beg amed, perhaps, at my earlier work on Mount Gay’s XO, and feelg I should see what others did wh their juice, both now and the past.

MOUNT GAY MAIRA CASK VS PORT CASK RUM REVIEW

I’ve had enough Foursquare ms, ma by both them and the pennts, to believe that Mar was rrect when he wrote that he doubted this m was om them, but stead hailed om Mount Gay – much more than Doorly’s or Rum66 or the more recent FS work, shared pots of siary wh the Canhead’s BMMG sk strength as well as the 1703 om Mount Gay self. Here, to some extent the oppose was te: was d and medium-sweet, floral and uy and had not been for that bla of medice the middle, I would have rated que a cent Bajan m, a cred to Mount Gay (if not entirely rivallg the 1703).

Mount Gay out of Barbados is somewhat the background of Bajan m-makg the days, maybe feelg like Huzur Satyaj Ray’s 1958 classic “The Mic Room”. And that’s a shame bee there are some tertg die bottlgs out there om the island, as well as Mount Gay’s own recent sk strength work which I’ll get to one of the days. As is ual wh Canhead, there’s no on what the four letters mean, but sce we’re all smart fellows here (anyone who brav my nvoluted parenthetil phraseology almost has to be), I thk we n hazard a gus that the “B” is for Barbados, the “MG” is for Mount Gay, which only leav the mystery letter of the send “M” – and I’m gog to suggt “Massive” as a reasonable intifier, bee 66.

MOUNT GAY RUM MASTER BLENR COLLECTN: THE PORT CASK EXPRSN

In that sense, to me, is better than the m many e as their Bajan basele, the Mount Gay XO, and for sure I enjoyed more than the Cockspur 12. So when I stared at the shelv of Willow Park the other day, rolvg to get myself somethg ls pricey, my eye fell on the Mount Gay Eclipse Black 100 proof, which lled to md fond memori of the Cabot Tower 100 proof: and while the Mount Gay was nowhere as dark, 50% is 50% and I snapped up.

And while I’m all for tradn, I adm to beg que attached to Mount Gay’s new sleek bottle sign: flatter, taller, simpler. Mount Gay and other Bajan ms are noted for their banana hts on the nose; this one was no different.

Mount Gay is known as the olst m distillery the world – while the pany was formally created 1703 (hence the date on the “1703” m and each and every bottle), m productn has been rerd there at least fifty years prr to that. Owners of Mount Gay over the centuri also had associatn wh the St Nicholas Abbey tate, whose products I have enthiastilly wrten about before. Overall, I’d have to say ’s a ltle too spicy: both the Favell’s and the Cabot Tower (the only other 100 proof ms currently rince on my shelf) have that power, yet neher tried to stab me que as brazenly: their makers muted the ial stg and subsequent harshns by some subtle alchemy the Mount Gay lacked or never bothered to try workg on.

MOUNT GAY 1703 XO RERVE CASK RUM

Yet the Mount Gay Eclipse Black 100 proof is a solid acplishment by any standard, and prov that before Mudlanrs pla too much about the Bajans, the flagships of Demerara Distillers and Banks DIH uld perhaps seek to make a few high-standard overproofs 1 as well. A damned worthy entry at the top-end, showg Mount Gay is still a force to be reckoned wh the premium l. The ial nose is of cnamon, nutmeg and a soft whiff of bananas (the Mount Gay signature), but when has sat the glass for another few mut, opens up like my wife’s arms when I e back om a long trip abroad, and I get that warm fortg whiff of ramel, burnt sugar and toffee ilg around subtle us and spic.

Mount Gay has been officially makg ms sce 1703, and lost a ltle ground the premium market over the last s, but appears their long tradn of ms for the gnoscenti is no danger of disappearg anytime soon.

MOUNT GAY BLACK BARREL REVIEW

However, after havg ntacted Mount Gay’s ctomer service ( France, bee Rémy Cotre has owned the brand sce 1989), I n now tell you that both blends are exactly the same – a batn of 8-15 year old ms – and the bottle on the right is merely a newer, more “premium” sign, which is le wh my observatn that ms are now movg upsle both blendg and sign (see the Elements 8 review if you doubt me). Mount Gay is the m om Barbados that sentially – after tourism, I gus – mak the island’s name.

Nicholas Abbey, and though Cockspur is pretty faiar to any Wt Indian (’s had sniggerg rights for s) ’s not so well known outsi the Islands: but you’d be hard prsed to fd someone who hasn’t at least heard of Mount Gay. The olst ntuoly operatg mercial distillery the wtern hemisphere is not Stland, ’s not the Amerin ntents – is this one, and has the papers to prove : fact, legend has that Mount Gay was distillg m sce the mid 1600s, which would brg a sha behd Bhls, Ireland (so look up). The signature of their l is banana and almond, the way cs is for Appleton, and the premium offerg is the Mount Gay 1703 Old Cask: what we had for the July 2010 selectn was a few ngs lower – the Extra Old, a mixture of ms eight to fifteen years old (a note here: the kd of the bottle I review is the picture on he left: this is gradually beg replaced wh the sleeker new sign on the right).