Best Rums July 2023

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 July 2023.

Side note: In case you are interested in seeing the full rankings for July or any of the previous months, please jump to the RumX app, open the Explore tab, navigate to the “Hot right now” section and click on “Discover latest charts” - you’ll find the extended monthly lists as well as all the historical rankings over there.

Monthly charts

In July 2023, our RumX enthusiasts penned down 5,298 tasting notes, marking a slight incline from June's 5,102 notes. Meanwhile, 4,080 bottles found their way to collections, witnessing a sequential drop since April's peak at 7154. The decline continued through May and June, tallying 5,598 and 4,540 respectively. When it comes to new rums, 191 new database entries made their debut – mirroring May's stats.

A possible boost in tastings might owe its credits to the German Rum Festival in Berlin, as we'll delve into later (missed out on the event or want to relive this year’s highlights? Have a look at our “Live from GRF” community post:

Most tasted rums of July 2023

Transitioning to our top-tasted rums of July, we're once again taken on a fascinating journey through the multifaceted world of rum. After seeing a strong presence of Foursquare already in our list of most tasted rums in June (three out of the top five rums stemmed from the esteemed Barbados distillery) we see them leading the parade in July with their most recent joint bottling with Velier called “Raconteur”. This rum, distilled in 2006, took the top position with a total of 44 tastings recorded last month. 

However, the actual star of this month was German bottler Rum Artesanal. Three of their most recent releases landed in our most tasted rums of the month - starting on rank 2 with their release of 2001 T.D.L rum from Trinidad and continuing on the fourth spot with their second single cask release of this month, an impressive Guyana release going under the MEV marque from Enmore, distilled in 1990 with 23 tastings. And as the keen reader of this monthly issue knows, Enmore rarely disappoints. Accordingly, we find yet another expression on spot number three with Flensburg Rum Company’s Enmore REV 1994 that collated 28 tastings. 

Rank five finds Rum Artesanal’s third strike in our top five then, with yet another of our community’s most beloved distilleries showing its magic once more: With the first release in its new Elements series - assigned to “Water” - Rum Artesanal continued their Burke’s brand and made another tribute to the expressive power of high-ester rums hailing from Hampden distillery. The rum was tasted 22 times and is only two years old, however it benefits from aging in a former Sherry Cask that adds a subtle sweetness and additional complexity. To quote an impression from our community: “With its most recent releases, Rum Artesanal has made its comeback on the radar for us rum lovers!”. We can only agree and certainly look forward to what will be coming next! 

The competition in July was definitely strong with quite a lot of recent releases issued just in time for the 12th German Rum Festival beginning of July: Flensburg Rum Company also landed two of their most recent bottlings in our top list with their Enmore REV 1994 on rank 3 with 28 tastings and their exclusive release for the GRF, a well-received rum from Thailand bottled at a whopping 60,3% on a joint rank 6 with 19 tastings. The first rum from Thailand in our top lists - great to see yet another country in our list of favoured rum origins! 

The second bottling on the shared rank 6 (accordingly, 19 tastings as well) is Swell de Spirits’ Private Garden N°3, a 1998 Caroni bottling which we had already seen in our June top list. Also rank 8 is shared this month with 18 tastings each for Eminente’s rum selected by Confrérie du Rhum x Excellence Rhum (Batch 1) 2012 and this year’s German Rumfest selection by S.B.S, a Worthy Park from 2015. Concluding our top ten, the Savanna Unshared Cask for Germany 2006 rounds off the list with 17 tastings.

Eight different countries representing our top 10 is a great testimony to the curiosity and diversity of tastes represented in our community. While every month brings its own set of delights, the constant is the community's shared passion for exploring and celebrating the ever-expanding rum universe.

Most added to the collection in July 2023

As we delve deeper into this month's recap, a recurring theme makes its appearance yet again - the evident decrease in bottle purchases within our community, a trend that has been consistent over the past few months. It piqued our curiosity, urging us to explore the underlying reasons. What could have caused this subtle shift in our rum enthusiast’s purchasing behavior?

In our quest to comprehend, we’ve identified a few potential factors contributing to this hesitation in bottle acquisitions. Naturally, these are merely speculative and by no means exhaustive:

• Economic Climate: The financial backdrop in recent months might be playing a role. Economic fluctuations, inflation, or a more uncertain job market could be causing enthusiasts to be more conservative in their spending.
• Rising Cask Costs & Secondary Sales: An undeniable surge in prices is evident, driven primarily by escalating cask costs. Historically, sought-after releases, especially from prestigious marques or distilleries, were set at competitive prices. This led to swift sellouts and subsequent resales on platforms such as eBay or Catawiki. The original stakeholders - the distilleries and bottlers - would frequently miss this resale boon. Often this was due to underestimating the market value or a deliberate choice to maintain accessibility, sidestepping the dilemma of opening a costly bottle.
• Potential Market Saturation: Could we be nearing a market saturation point? Are rum enthusiasts feeling they've explored the breadth of what's available, or is everyone on tenterhooks for the next groundbreaking rum? This isn't a critique on quality, but a query if current offerings still resonate with the aficionado's evolving palate. Given the prevailing patterns, might the future see a dip in rum releases? It's a direction we're cautious of predicting, but it's essential to discern these market currents.
• Availability of Choices: Another angle might be whether rum lovers simply feel overwhelmed these days - with a multitude of new releases, limited editions, and an ever-expanding array of options, making a purchase decision might have become more daunting for some.
• RumX User Engagement: Another thought is that maybe people using RumX aren't updating their collections as much. This would obviously have a big impact, since the data collected via the RumX app is the basis for these monthly reports. Looking at the continuous user growth and engagement levels of our over 26,000 app and forum members in July 2023, this seems rather unlikely. But, it's something to think about, and we want to make sure we're always in touch with how our users feel, of course. 

While these are just a few potential reasons we've observed, the essence of rum enjoyment remains intact. The community's passion for discovery, tasting, and sharing insights remains fervent. It’s just the way we navigate this vast rum universe that seems to be evolving. After this loooong intro, let's finally dive into the most sought-after bottles in July.

July presented a balanced medley of well-known names and new entrants, sparking curiosity and palate adventures.

Without a shadow of doubt, the collaboration between Foursquare and Velier, with the 2006 Raconteur, remains unstoppable. Notching up a staggering 112 purchases, it saw a significant rise from the previous month's 78. This just underscores how the combination of Velier's stellar reputation and Foursquare's impeccable touch remains irresistible to rum enthusiasts - which is also reflected in the remarkable average score of 8.9/10. 

Trailing behind, but still notable, T.D.L's collaboration with Heinz Eggert GmbH for the Rum Artesanal - Trinidad Rum from 2001 garnered 23 purchases. This one turned out as one of the highlights of both this year’s German Rum Festival and our community tasting with Rum Artesanal - no surprise to see it landing in many of our members’ collections. Ranks 1 and 2 of our most tasted and most purchased rums of the months are the same - which definitely speaks for the quality of the bottled spirits. Kudos! 

Securing the third spot, we have just the next Rum Artesanal bottling which also landed in our top tasted list, their Elements Burke’s Jamaica Rum, accumulating 21 purchases, hailing from Hampden distillery. Combining high-quality Hampden (average score of 8.2) and a pricing below 40€ this rum is a true price-performance champion. We bet to see many more bottles finding their ways into our members’ collections in the coming months - let’s see! 

Not far behind, Savanna made a splash with two releases, one exclusively bottled for France in 2016 and the other being the HERR Japan Tribute from 2018, garnering 20 and 19 purchases respectively. Following closely, Beenleigh and Bielle, both in collaboration with Velier and Swell de Spirits respectively, each recorded 14 purchases. Both these brands have managed to maintain a consistent presence in our community's discussions and collections, and it's great to see that they manage to keep up quality levels - Swell’s release of a Bielle rum even landed the highest average score of all rums in our July lists with an impressive rating of 9.1 points! 

Among the other notable mentions for July are T.D.L's Wagemut Angostura Single Cask Community Edition 2023, the Enmore 1994 REV by Flensburg Rum Company, and Spirit of Rum’s Navy Blend Next Generation. 

With summer in full swing, we're buzzing with anticipation for the next round of discoveries and shared experiences. We’ll keep you posted, that’s for sure!

Most popular tasting locations in July 2023

Turning our attention to our final category, let's dive into the prime tasting spots for July. Not a big surprise to see the aforementioned German Rum Festival and Berlin taking the two top positions. Also the number of underlying tastings show that the German Rum Festival is definitely home turf for our community: With 252 tastings recorded at the festival and another 184 tastings recorded in Berlin, the rum hotspot of July was without any doubt to be found in Germany’s capital.

Comments

How do you feel about buying rum bottles nowadays? Do you find yourself pausing before making a purchase? If you're buying less, what's driving that decision? Or have your buying habits remained the same?