Rating: 
Rogue Spirits Dark Rum
www.roguespirits.com
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from Internet Wines and Spirits
It’s a pet peeve of mine when people compare good rum to fine cognac. This is because it seems like everyone wants to somehow apologize for rum, or justify their enjoyment of it. “It’s not like rum, it’s more like a fine cognac” and so forth. These people can take a long walk off a short plank, for all I care. I love rum, and I don’t need to compare it to cognac to feel better about my enjoyment of a beverage that’s essentially born of industrial waste.
All that said – and I apologize for the irony – Rogue Spirit’s Dark Rum is more like a fine cognac.
There, I said it. However, let me explain – Rogue’s Dark indeed carries qualities that to me are more reminiscent of cognac than rum. To the nose it’s cool and fruity, with the grapey, brandy sensations I remember from those few glasses of cognac I’ve tried over the years. It has a sharpness about it, which is common to both rum and cognac alike, but the actual scents seem far more in line with cognac than rum.
In the mouth, Blackbeard’s is rather aloof (isn’t that also a cognac quality) and subtle. Very smooth, and just a hint fruity. It doesn’t embrace your entire mouth the way many dark rums do, but instead stands apart – the flavors aren’t overwhelming, but present nontheless. It has hints of sugar and leather, but is mostly just a cool, sweet senation.
All told, Rogue Spirit’s Dark Rum isn’t terribly exciting. For being a dark rum, it’s really more of a medium amber, and it’s flavors are as subdued as its color. It does make a decent change from my usual fare of truly dark, bold rums now and then, but a single glass is more than enough to leave me pining for something more substantive.
A note on the bottle: Rogue Spirits has taken the very fun step of etching Blackbeard onto their dark rum bottles. Rogue offers a white rum as well, which in turn features an etching of Jean Lafitte. It’s a great idea, and I almost hope Rogue expands their rum line just so I can collect more pirate bottles.