There are some neat things in the scores and different ways to look at them. It is a “preference” scoring and not a qualitative scoring. It is a reflection of time, place, journet, spirit, soul, loch, stock and barrel.
So Legendario and Black Strap tied for #1. While Legendario has a higher average score per person scoring, more people voted for Black Strap. Maybe people were talking about Blackstrap more. The preference scale is strange the Cruzan Single Barrel is a good example. It scored 35th with only 7 people sampling while in 2010 It was 22nd out of 43. It’s a great rum. Another example of Chaos are the Brugals… Uncle Ron’s first night in 2003 Brugal was #1. Sometimes they finish high and sometimes low. I think a lot depends on people talking and things like how it is lined up, easy to reach, what they just sampled, ate, had a bad hair day or whatever.
First timer Brugal 1888 finished very well (top 10) in between Goslings, Family Reserve and Ron Zacapa 23. When looking at the measurement of how empty the bottles were 1888 was 9th (see Uncle Ron's Academy' Facebook Page). There are some inconsistencies in this measure as well. The Cuban white rum Galeon was in the empty “flight” of rum but only 7 people sampled it. It’s empty because people were using it for Mojito mix (proper thing). It did score high (13th out of 37). It is a good rum but I would guess the high average score is partly due to biased as a few people knew what it was and they love Cuba (rightfully so) Another example of how "empty the bottle was" as being a good indicator (but with flaws) is Negrita Rhum’s empty bottle placing of 11th. It is only 2 spots from 1888 and ahead of wonderful rums like PYRAT and R.L. Seales. But it scored 25th. I would guess that the reason for it’s emptiness is people taking “hey try that one”. They do this for shock ( both rum they loved or did not). Negrita is not what one would call a sipping rhum…. So they don’t even score it they just pour it. Uncle Ron want's to have some again.
It is a fun and funny night. For instance some people scored the same rum twice and always with a different score. "What if" questions could be asked as well if more people had of voted for Millonario 3 or Zafra (say the same number of votes as sampled the Black Strap) who knows how the placings would have turned out. I have no doubt some people were sampling the Black Strap repeatedly and not scoring… proper thing! The fun of the night is people talking it up and suggesting rums and having fun.
This could be said for any Rum specially one like Zafra or Sailor Jerry and Cruzan 9. When I sampled Zafra I had no doubt Uncle Ron needed it for the “Night” and I thought it would have done better.
What about Pyrat? Why did it finish so low? It was only sampled by 8 people? Why was that? It has been top 5 a few times.
Bottom of the keg: It is a great night of laughing, sipping, sampling… nothing is ever the same .. it changes like Rum in the Barrel and we’ll do it again and again and again….
Heads up on Uncle Ron’s Night 2013. We are going to have a champion of champion’s night. We will only feature the top rums (we’ll go to a 2nd place rum from a year where a rum repeated for #1 ) from the last 9 years. It will be a great night. We’ll have other rums but they won’t be part of the tasting, maybe we’ll get a “mixoligist” in to do some creations. I think the Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Tawwassen, Wallace, St. Andrew's, Santo Domingo, Dusseldorf campus' should have a night as well....
We’ll also do it as a fund raiser for Cuban Hurricane Relief efforts. For information on how to contribute to the rebuilding efforts in Cuba go to the
Nova Scotia Cuba Association's Blog.
(The rums that will be featured in Uncle Ron’s Night 2013 are:
2003: Anejo Ron Superior Brugal
2004: El Dorado 12
2005: We have lost this year’s scores but I think it was Ron Zacapa Centenario 23 anos production
2006: Gosling’s Black Seal
2007: Cruzan Black Strap
2008: Goslings Family Reserve (Cruzan Black Strap was #1 so we will default to #2)
2009: ZAYA 12 year old Gran Reserva
2010: Legendario Elixir de Cuba 7
2011 Punta Cana Ron Muy Veijo (from the DR and will be difficult to source.)
2012: Millonario Solera 15 YO Peru (Cruzan Black and Legendario tied for #1 but are previous winners)
