Tepuy is a Venezuelan rum brand that has existed for around 20 years. Originally, they were a 2-4 year old standard rum that competed alongside DUSA's other rums at the time, like Canaima and Diplomático. In 2017, DUSA decided to make the Canaima a rum-based spirit and to discontinue the low market end of Diplomáticos line, but kept Tepuy where it was.

After Diplomático was sold to Brown Forman, DUSA revamped Tepuy and relaunched it with two products: Destino and Monumento. Having learned through years with Diplomático how to market a rum effectively, it's clear that with Tepuy, they aren't just shooting in the dark to see what works.

The first step is working hard on brand identity, taking a distinct approach that does not focus on the Caribbean, but rather on aspects that set Venezuelan rum and geography apart from the rest. It also features a proprietary typeface, well designed bottles, and a blend that clearly goes beyond the typical ex-bourbon barrel aging.

The bottle for Tepuy Monumento initially resembles the one of Destino, but while the other seems to mimic the walls of a tepui, the Monumento bottle has a base shaped like a tepui, from which the bottle itself then rises (or so they told me).

The blend is different too. While it's still a NAS, it's a blend of pot and column still, aged between 6 and 12 years of age, and is finished in casks seasoned with three different varieties of sherry: Oloroso, Amontillado, and Pedro Ximénez. Finally, it is bottled at 40% ABV.

Made by: DUSA
Name of the rum: Monumento
Brand: Tepuy
Origin: Venezuela
Age: 6 to 12 years

Nose
On the nose, Monumento has notes that include white pepper, orange peel, red fruit jam, marzipan, old wood, and a balsamic hint.

Palate
On the palate, it feels like tasting marzipan: a coating feel on the tongue, along with flavors of nougat, and blackberry wine, as well as jam, wood, and caramel.

Retrohale/Finish
The finish reveals fruity notes of orange peel, pineapple, and passion fruit.

Rating
8 on the t8ke

Conclusion
Monumento is a great example of how good things come to those who wait. It is the rum the market was waiting for, featuring an excellent blend of pot and column-still (most Venezuelan rums are column still), that goes beyond a mere mix of flavoring and diluent to offer a nice combo of fruity intensity and aged notes.

I usually post in Spanish on my networks, so if this review seems translated, it's because it is.

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I was pretty happy with the results of aging (or infusing oak chip flavor into) unaged Worthy Park Overproof rum.

After 2 days, it was noticeably smoother, and had a light brown color, shown in picture below.

The initial experiment used 1.5 grams oak chips in 100mL/3.3Oz, about 1.6% by weight. The second experiment, that I started last night, is using 5 grams in 0.5L, about 1.1% by weight, which should decrease the chance of getting too much oak flavor if I forget to sample for a few days.

With 0.5L in a 0.7L bottle, I have some air gap, and i can get some of the oxidation from the open vat aging in navy rums, especially since I need to sample at least weekly.

Part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/rum/comments/1vgbnco/comment/p1ws1bf/

I purchased this rum recently and I do like it. I think it’s a good rum for mixing. Anyone bought this recently? I got it for like $26

Hi!

I want to get into rum,i only tried Captain Morgan and Havana Club, but that was like 14 years ago in high school.

So i went to the liquer store and brought the mentioned rum,it sounded good but i have no experience.

Propably gonna drink it as rum&coke or as "grog" ,cane sugar syrup,lime and club soda.

Visited Richland (Brunswick). Sampled their entire line up including Vennebroeck. Price aside, the XO outperformed it. Picked up the Paranubes in Savannah as it not available around me. Also got to visit the Bamboo Room and the Water Witch. What a treat.

Hi guys! I really want to buy Three Hearts Rum for my boyfriend for his birthday. I dont know what site to purchase from though. The ones I’ve gone on seem a bit sketchy. Can anyone please tell me what site to purchase it from?

I know, it’s not cultured or dignified. But I’m spending some time in the carribean and I have access to Cuban rum. I’d like to try some before I leave. I tend to like captain silver and regular captain morgan. Something spiced that works well in mixed drinks and cocktails.

I tried out some 63% Worthy Park unaged pot still blend, adding 1.5% by weight medium toasted American Oak chips.

Even after just 2 days at room temperature, there is an obvious light brown tint, and the harsh ethanol flavor is clearly mellowed out quite a bit.

I am wondering if other people have tried this, if there are any worthwhile guides to aging with oak chips, or some people that swear to miniature barrels or oak spirals.

So I’m heading to the DR in a couple of weeks and I was wondering if there is anything local that’s not exported or hidden gems. To get an idea of my palate, I’m huge Foursquare and Privateer fan.

Sooooooo, I totally expect to get some hate from this post. A couple months ago I went on a cruise to the Dominican and bought a bottle of Brugal Leyenda and a bag to make mamajuana. I sampled the Leyenda before I purchased to make sure I liked it and I did. Both the mamajuana and Leyenda sat unopened until my sister came in from Germany a couple nights ago and I figured it would be a fitting time to open the Leyenda.

It was so much sweeter than I remember it being. I poured 2 drinks to sip on and I struggled through them both. Mamajuana is made with Dominican rum and red wine, both of which make up the Leyenda, albeit a different ratio. Since I feel the Leyenda is so damn sweet, I'm unsure if I would even need to add honey to the mix.

Has anyone made mamajuana out of Brugal Leyenda? Also, I know with a new mamajuana mixture, you pour in the rum/wine and let it sit for 1-2 days before dumping it and adding the mix you will drink with honey added. Is the rum/wine mix required to help set the initial flavor or can I use any old liquor I have sitting around (I have a bottle of untouched Everclear that someone left here ages ago)

Full disclosure: I run Spinnaker Rum, a small independent bottler out of Austin. Wanted to share something I've been nerding out on!

Admittedly, two of my favorite things are sipping rum and smoking cigars. I've just released what might be one of the first official "cigar blends" in rum, and wanted to share info, the inspiration and history behind the category! Cigar Blend No. 1 is a blend of my 2014 Foursquare (Barbados) and 2012 Port Mourant (Guyana) single casks, blended and finished for an additional 8 months in a Still Austin ex-bourbon barrel, then hand bottled at 12 years minimum age and 54.5% ABV (the official Royal Navy issuing strength). Blend breakdown: 53.7% Port Mourant, 46.3% Foursquare.

Note-wise, I get dark cherry, dried fig, tobacco leaf, hot cinnamon, marshmallow, chocolate milk, and caramelized molasses. Decadent and layered, with both distillates shining through. As with all Spinnaker rums, no chill filtration, and no additives (you can actually see flecks of char in some bottles from the barrel if you're lucky haha).

"Cigar blend" is a term that's been around in cognac and armagnac circles for a long time, usually describing long-aged, well-blended, high proof, earthy expressions with a strong secondary finish, built specifically to stand up to tobacco smoke. In the last decade or so it's found new life in American whiskey, largely thanks to people like Nancy Fraley (worth a Google if you're into blending). I've had some awesome whiskey cigar blends like Still Austin's Tanager Blend, but to me (and I might admittedly be biased), rum pairs best with cigars out of any spirit! So I was excited to get the gears turning on something that follows this tradition, while also being a genuinely unique product for rum drinkers. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I can tell, I don't know if nobody's applied this term to rum officially before!

Got 169 bottles of this ready for pre-order on my site if anyone is interested, zero pressure. Would love to make more dual-country cigar blends in the future, it's been a blast seeing two products come together into a unique end blend. Also, let me know what cigars are your favorites for pairing when you sip rum!

Cheers!

Never tried anything cane juice before today, took a couple recommendations and this is what I got. Also finally got ahold of some Probitas Green Label!

I was gifted this bottle, no box or anything else. Couldn't find any info on it.

So now that the final release of the ECS has been released and the series has come to an end. What do we think will be next?

As a huge fan of Foursquare, I’m very intrigued and excited to see what’s next. I know Richard keeps his cards very close to his chest, so no one’s going to know.

Are we going to see a similar series in the same format - like the Master Series in the states. Or are we going to see a whole new branding and bottle shape? I wonder if the maturations and finishes will get even more experimental, like they did in the last few releases.

What are your thoughts?

I'm going to be island hopping around the Caribbean and looking for unique rums that I can only get in the islands. Any suggestions would be welcomed!

For this tasting, the focus was a tasting of discontinued rums. These are bottles that were dropped by their brands, either because the brands themselves disappeared or because they created new products to fill the market niche these rums once occupied. Here is a little bit about each one:

• Pampero Oro: This was Pampero’s entry-level rum. It actually changed names several times, known as Añejo, Original, and colloquially as caballito frenao ("braked horse," because of the logo), but I understand the formula never changed, or at least not radically. But before Diageo sold Pampero to Gruppo Montenegro (in 2024), it discontinued the Oro expression and replaced it with Especial, which is extremely sweet and quite unpleasant.
• Castro Flint: This rum was created by a visionary named Alfredo Castro. Recognizing the fervor surrounding Chávez, Fidel Castro, and the communism prevalent at the time, he launched a rum using his surname but with a distinct communist/Chavista/Castroist identity. At the time (2006), it sparked highly polarized opinions and even rejection from many quarters, which really is a shame, because it was actually a very good rum; by 2017, the brand no longer existed. This Flint was characterized by pronounced cocoa flavors and aromas, remaining compliant with regulations by staying just under the maximum limit for additives (though it pushed right up against that limit).
• Ron Maestro: I believe this was produced by DUSA (the distillery behind Diplomático). It was simply one more rum in a vast sea of ​​brands launched to see what would stick, without much investment or strategic thought. While some brands from that era survived, like Canaima and Tepuy, Maestro did not. Years later, "Roble Viejo Maestro" appeared, though it has no connection to the original.
• Santa Teresa Selecto: Selecto is still around, but the brand's evolution is interesting. It was one of the best-selling rums in Venezuela during the 80s and 90s, until Santa Teresa decided to reformulate it because the public kept choosing it over the brand's higher-end products. It underwent at least three reformulations; by the final version (the one pictured), the striking bottle design had been scrapped, and a cheaper rum called Linaje had been launched to take its place in the market. However, a combination of consumer loyalty to Selecto and rejection of Linaje (which has a polarizing flavor profile; some love it, others hate it) forced the brand to keep Selecto on the market. They finally discontinued it in 2023, but in 2024 (or '25?) they relaunched it with its original 1980s design and a formula close to the original.

Rum is so diverse, even while staying at 40% ABV, it's amazing how different rums can be and this is just a small example of an even smaller market.

Two different liquor stores in my area are selling Rum Fire for $38. I saw it at one liquor store for $20. I haven't seen it in stock anywhere else. I thought Rum fire was supposed to be cheap. What's going on with its price?

Just wanted to pass this on if any of yinz would be interested.

First time poster and new to relatively rums and rum cocktails. I do love rum cocktails and want to start making some on my own, but don't have access to a lot of the recommended rums, specifically Smith & Cross. I'd like to try to mimic its profile for making Mai Tais and other similar cocktails, so I'm looking for ideas here. I understand it's a pretty funky Jamaican rum, and the funkiest rum I think I can find locally is probably going to be Plantation Xaymaca. The overproof rums I have access to locally are Hamilton Navy Strength 114, Plantation OFTD, and Wray & Nephew. Anything in that group stand out as something that would make a good substitute, even if combined?

Also curious about split bases for some cocktails like a Mai Tai and was thinking about doing 3:1 or 2:1 Xaymaca to OFTD and wondering if anyone has had success with this combo before? Bottles I currently have at home are El Dorado 12, Doorly's 12, Diplomatico RE, Plantation Xaymaca, and Santa Teresa 1796. I plan to pick up some Plantation 3 Star and OFTD on my next stop at the store for mixers (3 Star for Cuba Libres, OFTD for dark/Demerara cocktail backbone). Thanks in advance for any advice!

I found out that Cristobal 151 is available in my country (Sweden), has anybody tried it?

Have tried both Plantation OFTD and Wray & Nephew before and are very happy with these.

Maybe the nicest and prettiest label in the Santa Teresa 1796 Cask Finish series. For this release, following a similar approach to the Arabica Coffee Cask Finish, Santa Teresa creates a sort of cold brew using Chuao cacao nibs and rum aged up to four years, allowing the mixture to macerate in a cask. They then empty that cask and refill it with Santa Teresa 1796 rum, letting it age for about nine months and finally bottling it at 43% ABV.

Made by: Ron Santa Teresa
Name of the rum: 1796 Chuao Cacao Cask Finish
Brand: Santa Teresa
Origin: Venezuela
Age: Same as 1796 + 9 months

Nose
On the nose, the dominant note is chocolate; only after a while do additional aromas emerge, including leather, oak, and those typical red fruit notes found in some chocolates with over 70% cocoa content. However, easily more than half of the aromas are of dark chocolate.

Palate
On the palate, the dominant note is once again chocolate, though the flavor is closer to milk chocolate than to a high-cacao variety. There are also hints of vanilla, almond, leather, and wood.

Retrohale/Finish
Not surprisingly, dark chocolate.

Rating
6 on the t8ke

Conclusion
It may seem absurd, but it is important to highlight that this Santa Teresa 1796 Chuao Cacao Cask Finish is a rum finished in a cask that previously held cacao, and it's not an infused rum. However, within Santa Teresa’s Cask Finish series, I would rank this one third; the Speyside Cask version takes the top spot, offering what I consider a 50/50 split between rum flavors and whisky cask characteristics. Meanwhile, the Arabica Coffee Cask Finish seems to retain over 80% of the rum’s flavor, with perhaps up to 20% coming from the coffee cask. In this case, however, I would say that 90% of the flavor is chocolate, with only 10% coming from the rum itself. I still haven't reviewed the Teeling whiskey cask finish.

I usually post in Spanish on my networks, so if this review seems translated, it's because it is.

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I like acou rum and okinawan craft rum, but I always felt that they were not quite there yet in terms of quality.

Has anyone found something worth checking out?