Rating: 
Sea Wynde
www.castlebrandsinc.com
Click to buy!
from Internet Wines and Spirits
If for nothing else, Sea Wynde rum distinguishes itself with one of the cleverest ways of making a boring, basic wine-type bottle interesting. The metal label is just awsome – like a piece of medieval armor for some sort of dark-ages pirate. But happily, this is hardly the only thing distinctive about this rum.
Sea Wynde is actually quite deceptive – it’s soft amber color give the appearance of a gentle spirit (hey, a double meaning!), but one pop of the cork and a quick sniff later clearly conveys this rum to be anything but. It smells of a stark contrast to itself, almost like a dual personality. On the one hand, the overt sweetness of liquour-like rums is present (such as is common amongst east indian rums, or Ron Zacapa), while there is also a strong sense of pepper. Pepperiness and Sweetness are both common amongst rums, but I generally consider them to be opposite ends of the spectrum, and rarely have I encountered them so overtly present in the same bottle.
The smell of Sea Wynde is an accurate representation of its taste, being at once syrupy sweet yet brutally peppered. Certainly an odd combination, but an intriguing one. For all that it burns across the tongue, it carries little heat down the throat – instead lending a light coolness in the upper chest. As to subtleties, any that may be present are buried beneath the stark complexity of the primary dual personalities in this rum.
A fine and fascinating rum – and even if you find you don’t like it, the bottle will surely be an eye-catcher amongst any rum collection!
Well, I guess after only 2 nights/tastes of the stuff, I shouldn’t pronounce judgement, but I’ve got to say at this point it rates a big Yawn…slapped down the plastic at BevMo expecting great things, but no, not so much.
For my $, Zaya has yet to be beat.
Saludos.
I really didn’t want to post this, but the comparison to Zaya (a rum well liked by both the Bilgemeister and Sue Sea and I) is simply unfair.
Zaya Trinidad is really a seriously flavored rum – thick sweet and hot and a super experience. Sea Wynde is not flavored at all and furthermore is a Navy/Jamaican style rum.
Sea Wynde is not polite, not for pussies. It is for real men and women of the sea. It exhibits the pleasing brutality, dunder and the deep fruity, spicy, peppery and chestwarming heat that Navy rums are known for.
This actually raises an important issue in the world of rum where rums are compared by color and age. A few are honest and admit alteration with flavorings; most don’t. Actually rums should be compared by style, eg. Barbadian, Jamaican, Cuban, Cane Juice and Demeraran.
Navy and Flavored are additional subsets. Believe me, Zaya and Sea Wynde should not even be in the same room, much less review…
For our review (and 120 more):
http://rumproject.com/rumforum/viewtopic.php?t=186&highlight=sea+wynde
Aye Aye! Sea Wynde not at all be fer th’ thin stomach nor lily livered, nay fer Sea Wynde be a man’s drink o’ rums it be!
Sadly however, as of last October th’ fine makers have chosen t’ stop bottl’n this fine rum 🙁
While thar still be a few bottle t’ be found here ‘n there, it has now gone t’ Davey Jones it has…(save fer th’ 5 bottle I have buried away fer th’ most special o’ occasions) – I even know o’ one place that has but 3 bottle left; they be sell’n it fer $70 EACH!! (I paid but a mere $33 coin each…pays t’ have contacts 😉
Ye all can keep yer sweet ‘n syrupy swallow o’ Pyrate ‘n Zaya fer once me last bottle o’ Sea Wynde goes th’ way o’ tall ship then it will not but Pusser’s ‘n Appleton fer me grog!
To each his own. I do not care for Zaya. If I have a sweet tooth I will go for Zacapa, but Zaya has to much of an after dinner aspect.
When I want to really enjoy a winter’s storm coming off the sea I go for the Sea Wynde. I call it the “whiskey of the rums” because it lacks the insipid sweetness of so many of the other rums.
It depends on your mood, your taste buds and what kind of experience you are looking for. Sea Wynde rates very high in my book.
I fell for Sea Wynde when I saw the lable. Years later when I bought a cruising sailboat my wife insisted on naming it SeaWynde.
I like Sea Wynde the same way I like my single malt scotches, straight up with a splash of water (a very small splash).
It was never meant for the weak at heart or stomach. I am sad to hear that it’s gone by the way side. It never sold very fast so there might be some left out tere on dusty shelves. The hunt is on.