For the record, I’m relatively new to alcohol. I drink Smirnoff Ice, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, and other relatively mundane things. My 21st birthday was a vodka-fueled disaster and I’ve been putting off the whole drinking thing for several years now on account of that. That being said, I’ve recently had reason to take up social drinking (the glass with dinner at a friend’s house sort of drinking, not “I just drank 6 beers and now I’m gonna play beer pong!” drinking), and I figured I’d share my thoughts here. We promise to also discuss amateur radio, but we figure that any person should be well-rounded enough in their endeavors to be confident in all domains. That being said, my reviews will probably not fit any sort of useful rubric so much as a “I liked it” or “I hated it” classification and a brief discussion.

I was introduced to this rum by the courtesy of a store clerk when I wandered into the local liquor store and proclaimed my ignorance, then asked for assistance with picking out a bottle that was owed to a friend. The clerk pointed me to Pyrat Rum XO Reserve, arguably one of the more expensive bottles on the shelf, I thanked her for her assistance, paid for my purchase and left. Gift delivered, I thought nothing of it until another friend chided me for my relative boringness and proclaimed that I needed to live a little. So, I bought another bottle, this time for my own personal enjoyment.

Warm, I am not a fan, straight or mixed. As mentioned on The Drunk Pirate, it tastes a little like gargling a pine tree if you drink it straight. Not that I have any direct experience, but it’s the closest I could come to describing it. We gave up after most of a warm rum and coke (aka Cuba Libre), and decided to stick the bottle in the freezer. I’m a firm believer in chilled alcohol, as warm alcohol tastes/smells like paint thinner to me. Not sure why, but it’s the truth.

Just finished a rum and coke with cold Pyrat (and cold Coke), and let me tell you, good stuff. Gives a slight hint of vanilla to the drink, but not enough to be overpowering, and goes down pretty smoothly. Definitely worth the $30 for the bottle. Not sure what other potential is out there (although I am sure there is an app for that), so we’ll come back to this as we figure out more.