A week or so ago Ultimate-Beverage.com announced the results of their Ultimate Spirits Challenge 2015. All of their top rated rums seemed on par with the rest of the industry accept for one: They rated Stroh 80 (160 proof) as a 95/100 which raised a number of eyebrows in the rum world. Stroh 80 has its uses but sipping is not typically considered one of them.
According to the Ultimate Beverate website:
Ultimate Beverage Challenge’s mission is to create and establish a new and higher standard of evaluation for spirits and wine that provides accurate, meaningful and useful results in recognizing and promoting the quality of beverage alcohol products. It accomplishes this by the integrity of its people and approach, its innovative and exacting methodology, and through the credibility of its results.
You can checkout the rum rankings below.
RUM – Unflavored Products were judged like-with-like. The Chairman’s Trophy was awarded to the highest scoring product in the category.
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| Award | Score | Product | Accolade | |||||
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| Chairman’s Trophy | 97 | Opthimus Finished in Port Casks 25 Years Old Rum Dominican Rep., 43% abv, $99.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Extraordinary, Ultimate Recommendation |
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| Finalist | 96 | Banks 5 Island Rum West Indies, 43% abv, $39.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Extraordinary, Ultimate Recommendation |
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| Finalist | 96 | Opthimus Finished in Malt Whisky Casks 25 Years Old Rum Dominican Rep., 43% abv, $99.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Extraordinary, Ultimate Recommendation |
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| Finalist | 95 | Banks 7 Golden Age Rum West Indies, 43% abv, $39.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Extraordinary, Ultimate Recommendation |
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| Finalist | 95 | Diplomatico 2000 Single Vintage 13 Years Old Rum Venezuela, 43% abv, $119.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Extraordinary, Ultimate Recommendation |
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| Finalist | 95 | Don Q Gran Anejo Rum Puerto Rico, 40% abv, $59.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Extraordinary, Ultimate Recommendation |
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| Finalist | 95 | Opthimus 18 Years Old Rum Dominican Rep., 40% abv, $59.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Extraordinary, Ultimate Recommendation |
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| Finalist | 95 | Ron Abuelo Centuria Rum Panama, 40% abv, $140.00, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Extraordinary, Ultimate Recommendation |
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| Finalist | 95 | Stroh 160 Rum Austria, 80% abv, $32.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Extraordinary, Ultimate Recommendation |
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| Finalist | 94 | Opthimus 21 Years Old Rum Dominican Rep., 40% abv, $69.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| Finalist | 94 | Phraya Deep Matured Gold Rum Thailand, 40% abv, $49.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| Finalist | 94 | Plantation XO 20th Anniversary Rum Barbados, 40% abv, $44.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| Finalist | 94 | South Bay Small Batch No. 18 Rum Dominican Rep., 40% abv, $27.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 93 | Diplomatico Blanco Rum Venezuela, 40% abv, $27.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 93 | Don Pancho Origenes 18 Years Old Rum Panama, 40% abv, $90.00, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 93 | Flor de Cana Centenario 12 Rum Nicaragua, 40% abv, $39.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 93 | Owney’s Original Rum United States, 40% abv, $33.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 93 | Plantation Original Dark Rum Trinidad & Tobago, 40% abv, $17.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 93 | Plantation 3 Stars Rum France, 41.2% abv, $18.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 93 | Pusser’s 15 Years Old Rum Barbados, 40% abv, $59.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 93 | Zaya Gran Reserva 12 Years Old Rum Trinidad & Tobago, 40% abv, $34.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 92 | Bacardi Reserva Limitada Rum United States, 40% abv, $109.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 92 | Bacardi 8 Rum United States, 40% abv, $22.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 92 | Coruba Dark Rum Jamaica, 40% abv, $19.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 92 | Facundo NEO 8 Years Old Rum United States, 40% abv, $45.00, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 92 | Facundo Exquisito Rum United States, 40% abv, $90.00, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 92 | Penny Blue XO 2nd Edition 7 Years Old Rum Mauritius, 44.1% abv, $79.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 92 | Plantation Grande Reserve 5 Years Old Rum Barbados, 40% abv, $21.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 92 | Ron Abuelo 7 Years Old Rum Panama, 40% abv, $21.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 91 | Gold of Mauritius Rum Mauritius, 40% abv, €45.00, 700 ml ,seeking US Importer FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 91 | Pusser’s Rum Barbados, 42% abv, $23.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 91 | Tanduay Silver Asian Rum Philippines, 40% abv, $19.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 90 | Bacardi Anejo Rum Mexico, 40% abv, $18.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 90 | Bacardi Solera 1873 Rum Mexico, 40% abv, $22.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 90 | Flor de Cana Gran Reserva 7 Rum Nicaragua, 40% abv, $24.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 90 | Privateer Silver Reserve Rum United States, 40% abv, $27.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Excellent, Highly Recommended |
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| 89 | Brugal Papa Andres Rum Dominican Rep., 40% abv, $1500.00, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Very Good, Strong Recommendation |
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| 88 | Mezan XO Rum Jamaica, 40% abv, $36.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Very Good, Strong Recommendation |
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| 88 | Tanduay Gold Asian Rum Philippines, 40% abv, $19.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Very Good, Strong Recommendation |
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| 87 | Caliche Rum Puerto Rico, 40% abv, $24.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Very Good, Strong Recommendation |
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| 87 | Cane Rum Trinidad, 40% abv, $12.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Very Good, Strong Recommendation |
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| 87 | Ron Viejo de Caldas Grand Reserve Rum Colombia, 40% abv, $19.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Very Good, Strong Recommendation |
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| 87 | STARR African Light Rum Mauritius, 40% abv, $34.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Very Good, Strong Recommendation |
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| 86 | Don Pancho Origenes 8 Years Old Rum Panama, 40% abv, $40.00, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Very Good, Strong Recommendation |
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| 86 | Mekhong Spirit of Thailand Rum Thailand, 35% abv, $20.00, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Very Good, Strong Recommendation |
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| 86 | Ron Viejo de Caldas Rum Colombia, 40% abv, $12.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Very Good, Strong Recommendation |
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| 85 | Cana Brava Rum Panama, 43% abv, $27.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Very Good, Strong Recommendation |
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| 84 | Shellback Silver Rum Barbados, 40% abv, $16.00, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Good, Recommended |
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RUMRhum Agricole |
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| Award | Score | Product | Accolade | |||||
| 86 | Batiste Rhum ECOISTE Rhum Agricole France, 45% abv, $39.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Very Good, Strong Recommendation |
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RUMFlavored Rum |
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| Award | Score | Product | Accolade | |||||
| 86 | Sugar Island Coconut Flavored Rum Caribbean, 21% abv, $23.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Very Good, Strong Recommendation |
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RUMSpiced Rum |
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| Award | Score | Product | Accolade | |||||
| 88 | BlackMask Original Spiced Rum Thailand, 40% abv, $14.00, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Very Good, Strong Recommendation |
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| 87 | Shellback Spiced Spiced Rum Barbados, 40% abv, $16.00, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Very Good, Strong Recommendation |
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| 87 | Sugar Island Spiced Rum Caribbean, 46% abv, $23.99, 750 ml FULL RESULTS | Very Good, Strong Recommendation |
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| 86 | Breckenridge Spiced Rum United States, 45% abv, $26.00, 375 ml FULL RESULTS | Very Good, Strong Recommendation |
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