Contact Me
How to Contact The Rum Howler to have your Spirit Reviewed!
If you are a member of the spirits industry, and wish to see your spirit reviewed on the Rum Howler Blog, then here is where you should make your initial contact. My email address for such inquiries is:
MAIL.RUMHOWLER@GMAIL.COM
Please leave a short message regarding your inquiry. If you wish your contact request to be kept confidential, please indicate this in your email. Although I am located in Canada, I have made appropriate arrangements to receive samples from the US and abroad.
All spirits samples must be bottled and sealed in original packaging.
I generally will not review a sample of less than 200 ml, although the preferred sample size is 500 ml to 750ml bottle, and I will respond via email to make arrangements to receive your sample.
On occasion, I have also been asked to provide specialized consulting services to certain spirit producers to assess the quality and marketability of their products. My fees for this sort of service are very reasonable (at least I think so), and you may use the above email address to contact me in confidence about such matters.
(Please Note: The email address indicated above is for industry contacts only. I will not respond to other inquiries. If you have questions or comments regarding my reviews, my recipes, or other matters relating to the blog then please use the comments section provided at the end of each article I publish.)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Republishing My Work
Copyright is inherent when an original work is created. This means that the producer of original work is automatically granted copyright protection. This copyright protection not only exists in North America, but extends to other countries as well. This means that , all of the work produced on this blog is protected by copyright, including all of the pictures and all of the articles. These original works may not be copied or reused in any way whatsoever without the permission of the author, Chip Dykstra.
If you are a producer, advertiser or publisher and wish to use, or republish any of the materials or pictures on this website (in full or in part) or have myself submit new material to you for publication, please be advised that all of my articles/reviews/photographs are my intellectual property. Please contact me using the email address above. And yes, I expect to be compensated for such use.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
About Me
I have been writing reviews of distilled spirits for about 4 years now. It began when I posted a few mad ramblings on the Ministry of Rum which gave my views on a few of the more popular Rum Brands. Soon after those ramblings were published, I was contacted by the owner of a website called Rum Connection. He was wondering if I would be interested in writing a few reviews for his website. I decided to give it a try, and the result was my first published review:
Pusser’s 15 Review
The folks at Rum Connection apparently liked what I wrote, and during the next year I published about 15 reviews for them.
Reviewing rum was so much fun that I decided to create my website, but not just for Rum. I made the decision that I would discuss all distilled spirits, and when I opened this website in October of 2009, I made sure I added a few Whisky Reviews, some Gin Reviews and a couple Tequila Reviews such that most of the major distilled spirit categories were represented. (Since opening the website, I have expanded the range to also include Vodka Reviews as well as Brandy and Cognac.) Although my focus is primarily upon Rum and Whisky, it is my belief that acquiring knowledge and skill with respect to all spirits serves to broaden my perspective and is beneficial to my over-all understanding of distilled spirits.
For what it is worth, people (and industry) seem to like what I write. Since opening the website, I have twice been asked to act as a Spirits Judge for the yearly Canadian Whisky Awards, as well as for the International Rum Competition at Rum Renaissance in Miami. Having said that, I think it would be true to state that the reviews on this website represents more of a knowledgeable layman’s perspective than that of a professional taster.
I hope you enjoy my reviews and find value in them; but always remember that an opinion is just that, an opinion. Do not take my writing too seriously, for opinions vary and in the end, only you can really decide if a spirit gives you enjoyment. Use my reviews as a guide, but trust your own tastes and preferences as well.
(Note: I sometimes receive comments and messages from persons who wish me to comment on the value of bottles of whisky and rum that they have in their possession. And from persons who wish to use my blog as a means to sell such bottles. Although I thank you for reading my blog, I cannot help you in these matters. My suggestion for you is to visit Whisky.com or the Ministry of Rum where it appears help in these matters may be provided.)
François said
Dear AW. Can’t get enough of your blog…
Some weeks earlier, I amsure that I read a review of Chivas Regal, but I cannot find it. Is my memory playing tricks? All the very best
Arctic Wolf said
It must have been somewhere else because i have not reviewed the Chivas Brand.
François said
I hope some day then! thanx, best regards
Tom Fahey said
Hi Chip:
I share your appreciation for all things “Forty Creek”, and was at the Forty Creek Distillery last weekend for a VIP Tasting, thanks to a gift from my son.
However, while I was there and discussing whisky stuff with the Forty Creek staff, the topic of a new Canadian whisky distillery just down the road in Beamsville – Dillon’s Small Batch Distillers – came up. The guys at Forty Creek had nothing but good things to say about Dillon’s.
So, the next day I had to take a little side trip to visit Dillon’s Sipping Room… had a wee taste of their three products for sale: vodka and gin (distilled from wine) and white rye (distilled from 100% Ontario rye). All three were very smooth, presenting very interesting to the nose & palate. The vodka and gin with a wine base have a unique flavour & aroma that you just need to taste. This will be a plus for my other son, who has developed an intolerance for both wheat and corn, so a spirit derived from grape should be okay for him to consume.
Anyway, I very much enjoy your blog, and thought I would drop a note and give you a heads up about the new distillery. The retail store opened last December. April 1 is the release date for their white rye at the LCBO. I think the gin will follow soon after, but not sure of the date. The white rye is priced comparable to Highland’s White Owl.
They have also laid down some casks of Canadian Rye Whisky that won’t be ready until 2015. Guess we’ll just have to wait patiently for the oak to work its magic.
Tom
Elmira, ON
Arctic Wolf said
Thanks for the information Tom
I wrote them an email to introduce myself and asked for some press information. I am looking forward to seeing how this goes.
Chip
Sam said
hey mate! i live in australia, just started work at a liquor store and have been spending some time going through your reviews. really well written and quite helpful for someone with next to no knowledge about how to review such things. just wanted to say hello and thankyou. hope all has been well, and that you continue to keep up the great work!
Mike Z. said
I had the pleasure of attending a rum tasting here in Edmonton last night, hosted by Chip, the Rum Howler, himself; I would highly recommend attending any event that Chip is a part of. I really appreciated the sheer humility and honesty of his opinions, which is a breath of fresh air in the world of “expert reviewers / bloggers”. Chip never elevated his opinions above any of the attendees and genuinely encouraged the fact that rum shouldn’t be a spirit that holds rigid guidelines when it comes to tasting and bottling (albeit honestly must prevail).
Many thanks to you Arctic Wolf, for providing valuable insight into the history and culture of rum, and also, for providing a great example of how sheer enthusiasm and honesty can lead to great things.
Mike Z.
michael reid hunter said
Loving your reviews, especially of the Torres Jaime I brandy…wow
btw: I can’t wait till you run across and review the Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye Whiskey….a truly amazing American whiskey.
I am preferably a rum drinker, and love to winter with a snifter of brandy. I prefer the Spanish lush flavours over the stunning but dry cognacs. What is your favourite ‘sipping’ rum?
Arctic Wolf said
I am glad you like my reviews Mike. And yes the Torres Brandy is a stunner. I have been trying to make my way over to review more American Whisky, but it is always the same problem, too many spirits to review, too little time to get them all. My favourite sipping rum changes from day to day, and sometimes from hour to hour, but if you want to get a good idea of some of the best (in my humble opinion), check out this link.
The 2012 Rum Howler – Top 30 Rums
Brad said
I’ve been haunting your site on and off now for awhile, as I feel that you write good, honest reviews. I have, however, recently acquired two products which you may or may not be familiar with, and I think you may enjoy reviewing. Cristall Vodka comes direct from Moscow, and at the time of me writing this, has only been available in Canada for about 8 weeks. In southern Alberta, I found this vodka for around the $35 mark. I also acquired a bottle of Oxley gin($47), which was a little more difficult to find, but actually beats every other gin I’ve had with the superiority stick.
I would suggest that you(who likely has a better-trained palette than I) give these spirits a try and a review. I think both will sit highly on your list, but even if they don’t, it may provide some useful information to your readers(I, for one, generally ignore your 100-point system and look more at your notes regarding the bouquet, flavour, and feel of the spirit).
Arctic Wolf said
Thanks Brad,
I will be on the lookout for the Cristal Vodka and the Oxley gin. Thanks for the heads up.
By the way, when you say that you generally
“ignore my 100-point system and look more at your notes regarding the bouquet, flavour, and feel of the spirit”,
I find myself in complete agreement. That is the correct way to interpret my reviews.
Brad said
I’m happy to see the agreement. After I wrote and posted that, I re-read it and realized that some may take it offensively, which is certainly not how it was intended.
Anyway, in my experimentation with mixology, I’ve stumbled upon the original Trader Vic recipe for the Mai Tai, circa 1944. The recipe was specifically written around a J. Wray & Nephew 17-year aged rum, something no longer available(and I imagine not for some time). I’ve not ever had it, and so I’m not entirely sure what the profile is like. I wonder if you may be able to shed some light on this, and perhaps suggest a replacement? I had a brief online discussion regarding this with Robert Hess, but he read the recipe and immediately started in on how he hates seeing recipes that have “juice of one lime”, etc., etc.
Perhaps you have a suggestion?
Mike B said
To improve the website experience for everyone. Place your scores beside each bottle listing with prices as well. That way we can all try and find the best quality for the price point people are willing to spend. Without having to spend a few hours on here trying to go through every review.
Arctic Wolf said
I have always left the issue of price out of my reviews and will continue to do so. This is because
I have more readers in Florida than I have in all of Canada. The price of Rum there, is very different from what it is here. I have as many readers in the United Kingdom as I have in Ontario, and again the prices are very different. Any price I quote next to any review is going to be misleading to most of my readers. (Even within Canada I have seen the same rum sell for very different prices from store to store and from Province to Province.)
Sahil Singh Duggal said
I love your website and truly appreciate the information you’ve provided. I’ve always said – a man must know his whisky. I’m an ardent dark rum fan and was wondering if you plan to review an Indian dark rum – ‘Old Monk’. It is available in Canada (I stay in Toronto and know so), information regarding the rum is available at – http://www.mohanmeakin.com.
If you are interested in reviewing the rum and have any difficulty obtaining a bottle – feel free to let me know, I’d be happy to arrange it for you.
Regards,
Sahil
Arctic Wolf said
Hello Sahil,
Please contact me at my email address (provided in the Contact me section of the blog) and we will see if a sample bottle can be arranged.
Thank You and I would love to sample the Old Monk!
Christian Kroemer said
Hi Chip!
Great work you’ve put up on this blog, for some time this has been my primary source of information whenever a decision of which great rum to buy next came up. Still being a student at university, I can obviously only spend a limited amount of money and am therefore not only interested in the question “What is a great rum?” which is probably answered quite precise by your ratings, but also “What do I get for the money I spend?”. To answer the second question a little bit more precisely, I’ve collected some data from your blog and the German online retailer from which I usually purchase my spirits and found 30 matches to use for a small analysis.
Here are the results which I’d like to share as they may be of interest for others as well:
http://chk-online.com/files/Rum_Howler_Analysis.pdf
Actually one particular question comes up before deriving any findings: In which ways – if any – do you consider the price of a bottle in your reviews? If your final rating actually mirrors your value-for-money assumption my work would be pretty useless. But if not, we have some very interesting results here…
1. There are some rums, first of all the El Dorado 3 and the Flor de Cana 7, which really stand on from a value-for-money perspective. I’ve simply divided your rating minus 70 points (Anything below 70 is not something to care about in my opinion) by the price to obtain the value in the last column of my analysis. This means that a rum rated at 90 should cost twice as much as one at 80 for the same value-for-money ratio which is in my opinion a quite reasonable assumption.
2. Considering only the really high end of your review (95+), there are only two rums in my list that I consider affordable: the Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva and the Flor de Cana 12.
3. I’ve highlighted some other minor value-for-money recommendations, but the rest of data pretty much indicates one thing: Even though it’s obviously a matter of taste, the quality of a rum is not even close to being proportional to its price. There are many heavily over-expensive rums, first of all the Appleton 21 in my list, and reading your reviews before actually purchasing a bottle is really useful for not wasting too much money on a disappointment. So once again many many thanks and keep up the good work!
Cheers,
Chris
Arctic Wolf said
Hi Christian
You are correct when you made the assumption that price does not influence my review.
The reason why is twofold. First off, prices vary considerably from locale to locale making any value for the money comparison a very localized comparison. And in fact when I receive samples from various parts of the world, I often have no idea what price the rum would be in my market.
The second reason is more important though. How much value does a consumer place having something just a little better? I suspect the answer is different for every consumer, and I suspect that paying more for a 93 versus a 90 is much more acceptable for a consumer than paying more for a 73 versus a 70. So the value for the money process would not be linear for anyone.
I take the position that if I give you a fair score; you can decide how much you would pay for a rum of that score.
Having said that, I enjoyed your analysis, and I agree completely that FDC 7 is a great value for the money. I love that rum!
Christian Kroemer said
Yeah, you’re probably right about the non-linear scale. But anyway, good to hear you’re providing ratings independent of the actual price. This will (no matter which scale is being used) really help in order to not buy a bottle X if another one Y is both, cheaper and rated higher by someone with the ability to properly judge quality
Harvey Levitt said
I love sipping Rum. The best I have ever had is Barbancourt 15 which I bought in Haiti on a cruise. I kick myself for not buying more. Any chance you can review it?
I enjoy your blog, thank you.
Arctic Wolf said
Hi Harvey
I have reviewed the Barbancourt 8 Yr but not the 15. As for when I might review the 15, It just always seems like there are too many rums and too little time. But we will see what the future brings to my sample cabinet.
Jackmo said
Hello Chip,
Came across your very worthy site this evening after doing my round of homework and finishing with a glass or two of whatever’s in the cabinet. I’m a great fan of Bourbon and Rum, as well as Tequila and to some degree Scotch.
Tonight I chose a glass of the Flor de Cana 18 year, and as I mentioned in my reply to your review, I’m substantially in agreement with you. Now I’ve switched to a glass of Centenario Conmemorativo 9 year rum, and I find it hot and bitter by comparison. Not a bad drink, however, and worth the 20 bucks I spent on sale, but just barely. Still, my fave is one of yours, the Flor de Cana 7 year Gran Reserva, a truly exellent rum that compares in every way to the super premiums out there. Thank you for your excellent observations on such a wide range of spirits.
Have you considered creating a section or forum within your blog for fan reviews? It wouldn’t have to be very complicated. You could even do a listing of as many rums as possible and allow people to do 5 star votes and comment on them. There are so many choices out there, and so little time to review
… Such a section might impart additional understanding of those spirits that you haven’t had a chance to cover yet.
Excellent blog, I look forward to reading more.
Jackmo,
Miami
Arctic Wolf said
Hi Jackmo
Thank you for the very kind words. Originally, when I opened my website, I was going to have a section for fan reviews. However, it was pointed out to me by someone of legal persuation, that I would, as owner of this website, be responsible for everything people wrote. Although that is not an insurmountable obstacle, I do have a ‘real’ job in the real world that demands my time, and so I decided to keep this blog in its present form.
You make a good point, but one which time unfortunately does not permit me to implement.
Cheers!