My cocktail blog: The Boo Lion

theboolion.wordpress.com/

I’ve started a little blog about spirits, liqueurs, cocktails and other mixed drinks.

I mean to include some Taiwan-specific information about availability of ingredients etc.

Take a look, and please comment/like/follow if you enjoy reading it.

Nice, how’s that Matusalem rum?

I really quite liked the Matusalem. The complaints I’ve heard against it are that it’s ‘too smooth’ and lacks character. But that sort of rum has its place, and actually I quite the taste - it has kind of sweet, caramel, vanilla, chocolate flavours. I haven’t tried mixing much with it yet, but am keen to give it a go in the future. It’s also fine for sipping.

If you want a rum with real character, real balls, get the Neisson’s Rhum Agricole. This is 55%, tastes like it, and has a mighty powerful, fruity, vegetal taste. It needs a little mixing to take the edge off (eg with a little sugar and lime), but then it’s fantastic.

The great thing is that both of these are available at Carrefour. It must be the French connection, but they have some great things sometimes.

I’ll post about these two on my blog soon :slight_smile:

You have a blog. You have joined the ranks of Sinologists. :slight_smile:
Interesting take on gins. Not a cocktail man myself, but sometimes have gin and tonic (or, forgive me, 7-up). It’s hard to taste the extra class in the more expensive bottles.

[quote=“Bu Lai En”]I really quite liked the Matusalem. The complaints I’ve heard against it are that it’s ‘too smooth’ and lacks character. But that sort of rum has its place, and actually I quite the taste - it has kind of sweet, caramel, vanilla, chocolate flavours. I haven’t tried mixing much with it yet, but am keen to give it a go in the future. It’s also fine for sipping.

[/quote]

Thanks, sounds like the kind of rum I like

[quote=“Bu Lai En”]
The great thing is that both of these are available at Carrefour. It must be the French connection, but they have some great things
I’ll post about these two on my blog soon [/quote]
Which Carrefour was that? I’ve never found anything other than Bacardi in their stores. :frowning: Actually, I’d be very interested to know any good rums you can recommend which are available in Taiwan.

[quote=“SlowRain”][quote=“Bu Lai En”]
The great thing is that both of these are available at Carrefour. It must be the French connection, but they have some great things
I’ll post about these two on my blog soon [/quote]
Which Carrefour was that? I’ve never found anything other than Bacardi in their stores. :frowning: Actually, I’d be very interested to know any good rums you can recommend which are available in Taiwan.[/quote]

This was Carrefour in Xindian. I have noticed that there at least two ‘tiers’ of Carrefour. I go to the one in Xindian almost weekly, and the one in Zhonghe from time to time. They have a very simila range. But I went to one in Sanxia, and another elsewhere (I forget) that had a much smaller range (not just booze - like I think no bakery either). I’d be very interested to know if Carrefour has any ‘flagship’ branch(es) with more products than usual.

Carrefour’s definitely worth popping back to. Stuff does go in and out of stock.

At the moment Carrefour Xindian has (in addition to Bacardi):

Martinique Agricole Blanco (a cheap generic/Carrefour brand, which I haven’t tried but might be OK).
Rhum Saint James Ambre Agricole (very nice).
Ron Matusalem Platino (mentioned above).
Neisson’s seems to be out of stock at the moment, but the ‘place’ and price sticker are still there.

Note that Agricole is fairly different from regular rum as it’s made straight from cane juice rather than molasses.

I’d like to do a more complete post about this once I collate some info and name cards I’ve gathered, and I’m no expert on rum, but here’s what I’ve seen elsewhere:

Bacardi, Captain Morgan and Myer’s at many places but probably not worth it if anything else is available.
Havana Club (white and aged) at Breeze - excellent choice.
A range of Angostura rums scattered around various liquor stores - some are recommended by some - I haven’t tried any.
I MAY have seen Appleton at a liquor supply shop (have to find the address) but I neded to check up on that. Appleton is usually highly recommended, but I haven’t tried it myself.
Some terrible-looking generic alcohol brands at Drinks and maybe even Wellcome. AVOID.

That’s about it, in my experience, but I’d love to hear if anyone else knows.

I will be posting on my blog about rum in the next couple of days.

Good stuff. I have signed up to follow yer blog. Which was the original post. I wanted to make the comment about using cucumber slices in gin and tonic but can’t find the right one.

[quote=“Bu Lai En”]

This was Carrefour in Xindian. I have noticed that there at least two ‘tiers’ of Carrefour. I go to the one in Xindian almost weekly, and the one in Zhonghe from time to time. They have a very simila range. But I went to one in Sanxia, and another elsewhere (I forget) that had a much smaller range (not just booze - like I think no bakery either). I’d be very interested to know if Carrefour has any ‘flagship’ branch(es) with more products than usual. [/quote]

The one by Zhishan Station in Tienmu is on the top tier I believe. All those rums for example.

I love Barbancourt from Haiti which is an agricole, and so got the Saint James, but it tastes like paint thinner to me. I’ll have to try the one you mentioned!

Actually in a fit of rum-inspired compulsion, I made a blog post about these rums just now:

theboolion.wordpress.com/2012/02 … -two-rums/

MM, the post about gin and tonic is this one theboolion.wordpress.com/2012/02 … c-tasting/

TG, I’ll have to check out that Carrefour. Pity it’s out in the boonies. Never tried Babancourt, but have heard good things.

Nice post, thanks. Do you dislike the “wuzi ningmeng” limes around the markets these days?

Thanks for reading it. I just dont think the ‘wuzi ningmeng’ are really limes. They’re closer, but they’re not, are they? Or I have I tried the wrong kind?

[quote=“Bu Lai En”]

Thanks for reading it. I just dont think the ‘wuzi ningmeng’ are really limes. They’re closer, but they’re not, are they? Or I have I tried the wrong kind?[/quote]

They seem limey (no offense hehe) enough to me. Thin skin, green flesh, no seeds (hence name,) lime flavor. They work well enough when I make Thai food :idunno:

I’m drinking a 12-year-old Appleton right now, but I don’t really recommend it.

I’ve had Meyer’s, and it’s okay in a pinch. Jason’s has an 8-year-old Bacardi which is good, but about 1,000TWD.

The one I like best is La Tondena Anejo from the Philippines. It’s fairly mild and a good deal at 400TWD. The guy who sells it in Taichung also had a very interesting Guatemalan rum called Ron Zacapa, which was a blend of something like 20 different rums aged over 20 different years (I forget what the process is called), but someone else bought it before I made up my mind to go back and get it. :frowning:

Definitely a “like” for this one!

Hah. I was going to alert you to this.

SR -

One of my favorite rums.

On Jamaica they have a soft drink name TING.

Mix it with Appletons rum and you get a 'vanilla" tasting drink that is excellent.

Many the afternoons drinking these ‘sundowners’ at Ricks in Negril… :sunglasses:

[quote=“Tempo Gain”][quote=“Bu Lai En”]

Thanks for reading it. I just dont think the ‘wuzi ningmeng’ are really limes. They’re closer, but they’re not, are they? Or I have I tried the wrong kind?[/quote]

They seem limey (no offense hehe) enough to me. Thin skin, green flesh, no seeds (hence name,) lime flavor. They work well enough when I make Thai food :idunno:[/quote]

Well, I may just try them again. I’m certainly no expert on fruit :slight_smile:

[quote=“SlowRain”]I’m drinking a 12-year-old Appleton right now, but I don’t really recommend it.

I’ve had Meyer’s, and it’s okay in a pinch. Jason’s has an 8-year-old Bacardi which is good, but about 1,000TWD.

The one I like best is La Tondena Anejo from the Philippines. It’s fairly mild and a good deal at 400TWD. The guy who sells it in Taichung also had a very interesting Guatemalan rum called Ron Zacapa, which was a blend of something like 20 different rums aged over 20 different years (I forget what the process is called), but someone else bought it before I made up my mind to go back and get it. :frowning:[/quote]

Interesting. I’ve been told that the vast majority of Phillipine rum is awful, but there could well be a couple of gems in there. I think I’ve seen Phillipine rums for even less than 400 a bottle, so it’s definitely cheap.

I forgot about the Ron Zacapa. I’ve seen that at Breeze, Super and a couple of liquor stores. It sells for about 1500NT and I really want to get it when the budget allows. Some call it over-rated and mediocre. Others call it the best rum they’ve ever tasted.

I believe it’s not actually a blend of different rums, as such, but of different years. What they do is have like (figuratively speaking) 20 rum barrels lined up from oldest to youngest. They take half the oldest barrel and sell it, then mix in the other half to the next barrel in the line, and add a new barrel to the queue. Something like that anyway, and not ‘half’, but some amount. It means that the final sold product is a mixture of a number of years of different production actually aged together, and still containing an amount of rum that is actually much older than 20 years, as it keeps getting mixed back.

Pricey, but sounds tasty. Cute straw-lined bottle too.