Alongside its Spiced Rum which maybe more widely recognisable, Captain Morgan’s original offering is their dark rum.
The bottle is very similar to the spiced variety. The label looks like a darker version which helps keep continuity in the branding. This version however states it is a “Jamaica Rum.” The rum is matured in charred white oak barrels with a very low angel share of just 2%, a very efficient process indeed.
Similar to the Spiced Rum, the original Dark Rum is designed as a mixing rum. It is an entry to the dark rum world for the general public, at a price which allows pretty much any spirit drinker a taste. It is also very widely stocked throughout the UK in bars and pubs, so you should never be too far from a bottle.
In the bottle and when poured into a glass, the rum is a very dark, rich brown colour. On the nose it is quite powerful with the alcohol at the forefront. It transitions into a very sweet smell. The strength and power of the rum indicates it hasn’t been aged for very long in barrels and that the smell indicates it has added sugar and sweeteners as well as caramel to give the appearance of an older, more mature rum. From what small information I could find, it is aged for up to 7 years, although I feel there is only a very small amount of rum from the latter end of that.
Although this rum is marketed and meant to be a mixing rum, I have decided to try it neat for the purposes of helping figure out which cocktails I think it will work with best. The first taste is quite pungent with alcohol and quite harsh. I get a small hint of aniseed but the strength of the alcohol is really overpowering almost everything else here. The ending has a very harsh burn and it’s quite bitter. I can also taste a small amount of what seems to be Benylin (cough mixture) which I also smelt in Kraken when poured out into a glass. There is definitely a small smoky taste as well to the ending, but in general I cant bring myself to keep trying this neat.
On the website and via their marketing the two main cocktails or mixers they recommend are with Cola and Ginger beer. I have had Captain Morgan with Cola a lot in my younger days as it was my go to choice of drink throughout university. It is sweeter than your average drink though and as I have gotten older I find it too sweet to drink. The sugar in the rum and the sugar in the cola make that pretty obvious. It also still leaves a burn which the cola cannot mask. Not ideal in a cocktail in my opinion.
I feel with ginger beer the rum is a lot more drinkable. The fieriness of the ginger beer does seem to make the burn of the rum, and the powerful Jamaican side of the rum gives it a punch. Its not too sweet and definitely works much better than the cola mixture. However, there is nothing special here. It is drinkable but not really what you want in a cocktail.
The final mixer I tried this with was lemonade. Surprisingly this for me was the best mixer. The sharpness of the lemonade helps to cut through some of the sweetness and also seems to prevent the bulk of the burn from occurring. But again, the flavour of the rum doesn’t really shine through. All I can taste is the power of the alcohol to give it a small kick but none of the rum flavour.
Overall for me I am yet to find something to mix this rum with to really help it shine and flourish. Until then I will be inclined to go for almost any other dark rum in its place when at a bar. I would personally try this with a fruitier cocktail when I am next at a bar just to see how the flavours meld together but I’m not very hopeful. However, if you have found the perfect cocktail or mixer for this, please let us know!
