Review: Blackbeard Spiced Rum

Rating: ★★★½☆
www.blackbeardrum.com
Speaking strictly from the perspectives of myth and legend, Blackbeard just might be history’s perfect pirate. He was big, mean, dramatic… he fought like a demon and died like a folk (anti)hero. And what’s more, the man mixed gunpowder in his rum. I mean, seriously – this is the sort of thing that Hollywood makes up and then historians nerdily remind us that, “you know, pirates didn’t actually do this, or do that…” But Blackbeard did. He was the real deal, and this is why now and forever, there should always be a rum or two bearing his name.

Blackbeard Spiced Rum has risen to the challenge of bearing Teach’s title, but does it live up? In the bottle, its classy and striking, with a black lable and stylized artwork of the man himself. The rum inside is a basic brownish amber, and upon opening you’re instantly greeted with a surprisingly robust vanilla aroma.

Blackbeard was never a pirate to pull punches, and this rum is no different. It meets the tongue boldly with a strong tingly sensation, flavors of vanilla and caramel, and just a hint of wood. When warmed in the mouth it thickens and softens with a comforting warmth and hints of maple, but upon swallowing and allowing air to once again hit your tongue a second wave of tingling strikes with an envigorating vengence. This is not a rum of subtlety, it’s a rum to be recognized.

While not a premium spiced rum that I’d typically choose to enjoy on its own, Blackbeard Spiced Rum has a bold strength that should add character for any number of mixed rum drinks, from the basic Rum&Coke (or in this case, a Black&Coke) to any number of more exotic concoctions. Blackbeard Spiced may not contain any actual gunpowder, but it holds its own just the same.

3 thoughts on “Review: Blackbeard Spiced Rum

  1. I was interested in this rum, as my local liqour store placed it next to the cheap rums…….my staple is sailor jerrys, might have to try this now.

  2. Bilge! I was just about to beg you for another rum review, and thus checked in to discover… another rum review. Thanks. As far as Blackbeard and rum marketing departments I’m still trying to figure out whether you’re doing Blackbeard – or this rum pirating his name – whether you’re doing him/it a favor or not.

    Marketing departments just love to coopt history to create a kind of faux-provenance – a technique that I’d hope would fail. In the world of spirits real provenance really does count and ought to – think Mount Gay from 1703, or Appleton/Wray not long after. Or Barbancourt from about 200 years ago.

    But “Blackbeard’s” spiced? Would we react the same way for “Elton John’s Spiced”, lol?

  3. You’ve clearly given this far more thought than I have, Jimbo. You raise some interesting points. But on the other hand, it’s all in good fun, and I don’t think fun marketing necessarily overshadows the rum inside – for good or for ill.

    Elton John’s Spiced? Now THAT would be a fun product to market 🙂

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