10 March 2023
Discover the Best Rums of February 2023 | Monthly Review
What were the hottest new rum releases in the past month? Which rums received the highest scores from our community? And where did most of the tasting take place? We are back with our Monthly Recap and will give you the key stats on what happened in the RumX world in February 2023.
Side note: In case you are interested in seeing the full list for February, please open the RumX app, open the Explore tab, navigate to the Hot right now section and click on Explore - you’ll find the extended monthly lists as well as all the historical rankings over there.
Monthly charts
In February 2023, the RumX community shared 7,471 tasting notes (a slight increase from January’s 7,018 tastings) and added 6,592 bottles to their collections (January: 8,211). Moreover, with the help of the community, 268 new rums (January: 416) were added to the database.
So while tasting notes are rising still, the number of bottles bought as well as the number of rums added as new entries decline - we do not track global rum releases by their market launch date, but the number of rums added to the database at least serves as an approximate indicator of how many new rums appear in the market. Following the notion that we saw less new bottles, it also makes sense that less bottles were bought.
Out of curiosity we took a look at two rum auctioning platforms to see if this trend is mirrored there as well. Rum Auctioneer had 1,451 items for sale in December, 921 items in January and “only” 872 in February. RumTrades had 101 lots for sale in their “Xmas Auction“ and 117 in February - they did not have a January auction though. So while the Rum Auctioneer numbers also show a slight decrease of market activity, considering them as an indicator of a general decline in market demand would be a rather far-fetched statement still - not to forget that February has 3 days less to release, buy and taste rum. Before we become too philosophical, let’s dive right into the February stats of our RumX community!
Most tasted rums of February 2023
For the second month in a row, the most tasted rum comes from Haiti - and was bottled by Velier. Following the Vieux Sajous 2017 aged in Ex-Caroni casks, this time the 3 year old Providence from 2019 took the pole position. The January leader also ranked high and ended up on the third place, only topped by the Chairman’s Reserve Master’s Selection bottling for Kirsch Whisky from Saint Lucia Distillers. The top five are completed by Spirit of Rum’s latest release, a 13 year old Fiji rum from 2009, and the modern Jamaican evergreen, Velier’s Cambridge STCE 2010 which could be found in the top five most tasted rums for four consecutive years now.
These results showcase some old and new favorites of our community: First and foremost, any new Velier release typically receives quite some attention within the rum scene. Not a really big surprise, we spoke about their legend-status quite some time already (also check out our epic Caroni Tasting of the Century) and also newer bottlings manage to surprise us positively still. Also Spirit of Rum is becoming a trusted source for exciting new spirits, especially given the broad range of rum countries, styles and marques that were bottled in the past years. Last not least we notice a growing popularity of Saint Lucia Distiller’s Chairman’s Reserve Selection-series. By now, we feature a total of 57 different releases in the Master’s Selection series for various bottlers, shops and importers that barely ever disappoint. Well, guess why there are two bottlings by ourselves in that series as well (RX7134, RX11670)? Exactly.
All in all, the top five list of February did not really bring too many surprises - as mentioned initially, we did not see a crazy lot of new rums hitting the market. For the RumX Community, February mostly turned into a reencounter with some of the hot bottles that hit the market in the past months. The number of total tasting notes per rum thus also range from 23 (Spirit of Rum’s Edition 33 from Fiji) to 86 for the Cambridge STCE 2010. The best rated rum in our February top 10 finished in ninth place - one of the latest additions to the Habitation Velier series, the Hampden DOK from 2017, landed an average score of 87 points out of the 38 reviews added. Three rums follow closely with an average of 86 points: The Chairman’s selection for Kirsch, Cambridge 2010 STCE and the Hampden Great House Edition 2022.
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Curious which other rums ended up in our Top 10 in February or simply look for more details on the rums mentioned? Just head over to our app and check out the monthly recap history in the “Explore” section!
Are we bold enough for some forecasting again? Well, let’s put it like that: We feel there is a good chance to find at least one rum from Haiti again in the March top list. And when looking at the next category (we’ll talk about it in a second), it seems that also Foursquare might have a comeback in our most tasted rums. Lastly, we feel that given the number of bottles added, we should also see some more tasting notes of the Habitation Velier Long Pong STCE 2019. But who knows, maybe we’ll see some surprises in March…?
Would you like to actively participate in the March Top List? We are currently running our tasting lottery where you can win an exclusive sample set from Jack Tar. All you have to do is share some tasting impressions in the app - find out more here:
Join the lottery nowMost added to the collection in February 2023
But before gazing into our crystal ball, let’s first go back to the hard facts and turn to the most added bottles in the past months. The most added bottle already ranked high in our previous top list - after taking the second rank in January, Foursquare jumped to the very top with its 21st release in the Exceptional Cask Selection series, the 2010 vintage bottling. By now, a total of 110 bottles are stored in our community members’ bars, cellars and drink cabinets. 11,8% of bottles are open, four of them were even emptied already. Hold your horses, ladies and gentlemen - the year is just getting started! We have to admit though that this latest addition definitely belongs to the smoother expressions in the series and thus can definitely be considered an easy sipper. To be fair, “smooth” and “easy” may sound a bit counterintuitive for a bottling with 60% - you better check it out yourself instead of blindly trusting us. Power to the people!
Over to rank 2 - which was our rank 1 in January. Hampden’s Great House 2022 Edition had to make room for the Foursquare 2010 this time - when looking at the full stats Hampden still clearly takes the lead though: a total of 237 bottles were added by our community with an open rate of 9,7%. On top, it is still on the wishlist for almost 30 members. A true crowd-pleaser.
The top 5 are completed by the most tasted rum of the month, Velier’s Providence 2019 release, followed by the Habitation Velier Hampden 2017 DOK and the Long Pond 2019 out of the same series by Velier. In total, 6 out of the 10 most added bottles come from Velier - same as in January and December. You needed another proof of how Velier is able to keep the rum scene entertained? Here you go.
Two rather “exotic” bottlings ended up in our list as well: Longueteau represents Guadeloupe with its unaged Constellation 2022 bottling (rank 7) and thanks to Plantation a rum from Venezuela entered the top 10 list of most added bottles for the first time: The Plantation Venezuela One-Time 2010 claimed the tenth spot of our list.
If you feel you missed out on any of the rums, maybe you want to check our forum - here the RumX community shares exciting finds every day. And don’t forget to check out our new Buyer's Guide in the app.
Most popular tasting locations in February 2023
Last not least, as you know it, we’ll have a look at the top tasting locations of our community in February.
We again welcome a newcomer on the top spot: Herzogenaurach in Germany is no longer only the sports equipment epicenter of Germany but also the capital of rum tasting in February! Kudos to our Franconian rum lovers over there, keep the tasting notes coming!
Our Danish community was also pretty active in the past 28 days, ranks two and three go to the north of Europe, specifically Vejle and Esbjerg bring Scandinavia back to the rum map.
We continue with our top spot of January, Paris, as well as Oldenburg in Germany that landed on rank 5.
With the Old Fashioned Bar in Heilbronn we also welcome another bar among our top locations - those of you who attended the legendary German Rum Festival After Parties at Lebensstern Bar in Berlin might have had the pleasure to enjoy some of the original concoctions by head bartender Stefan. If not: Maybe you want to consider a trip to Heilbronn to get some rock-solid Old Fashioned or some other top-notch drinks? They might have some rum there, too…
Comments
Not too many surprises this time. Are we caught in a rum limbo right now, drinking the same stuff over and over again? Or will we see some fancy new stuff coming in March? What do you think?