My Scurvy Waters Rum

[ScurvyWaters]

Hola from Costa Rica.

I've been distilling for several years, but I had never tried my hand at making rum. Mainly because we can get great quality sipping rum here for good prices. However, I decided to give it go just to see if I could produce a quality rum.

Thanks to many of you and your posting efforts, I was able to come up with what I decided would be my best first attempt.

Flor de Caña from Nicaragua and Centenario from Costa Rica are the most popular here. I know Flor de Caña is popular and easily found in the States, but if you haven't tried Centenario 25 (and you're a rum sipper aficionado) you should seek it out, though it's hard to find there. (I'm told Zafra Master Reserva 30 year is the bomb, but I've yet to try it.)

My goal was to achieve something close to Zacapa 23--which is our overall favorite to date.

After aging for nearly 7 months, I couldn't stand it any longer, and we had friends over for taste-testing. I had blind testing against Zacapa 23.
Everyone said they were both excellent, but so far, to the person, they all chose mine as edging out over Zacapa.
I don't want to sound immodest; it's just that I'm so excited, and this group is the only place I know where people would understand that thrill and excitement.

Thanks again to all of you for your stories, recipes, insights, and suggestions. They were the key to my success.