The Wild Geese Premium Rum

Review: The Wild Geese Premium Rum   78.5/100
a review by Chip Dykstra (Aka Arctic Wolf)
Posted on March 4, 2014

The Wild Geese Rum Collection is the companion to the Wild Geese Irish Whisky Collection. While the Wild Geese Irish Whisky collection sought to bring the Story of the Wild Geese and their struggles in European Armies to light, the Wild Geese Rum Collection continues the saga bringing to light the story of some of these Wild Geese who after service in the continental armies of Europe found themselves transported to America and the Caribbean where many worked upon the Rum Plantations in the new world.

The Wild Geese Premium Rum is a blend of Bajan, Guyanese, and Jamaican rums which have been aged for up to eight years, and bottled at 40 % alcohol by volume.

In the Bottle 4/5

To the left is the North American bottle presentation for the Wild Geese Premium Rum which in the USA is sold as The Wild Geese Soldiers and Heroes Premium Rum. My criticisms of the rather odd crystal skull motif were related in my previous reviews for The Wild Geese Golden Rum and The Wild Geese Caribbean Rum. Suffice it to say that I believe the stylized crystal skull I see on the front of the bottle has very little to do with paying tribute to soldiers and heroes of the 18th Century Irish brigade.

However, the back of the bottle does provide some welcome information about the Wild Geese and this serves to temper my criticisms somewhat.

In the Glass 7.5/10

When I pour the rum into my glencairn glass, I notice that it displays as a light golden liquid. When I tilt the glass and give it a slow twirl, I see a slightly thickened sheen of rum on the inside the crest of holds the rum droplets for quite a while before they very slowly crawl down. I do not sense a strong oak presence and my suspicion is that the slow droopy legs are more a result of added sugar than of oak aging.

When I bring the glass to my nose, I sense a light sweetness of canned peaches and apricots a rather firm impression of vanilla. There are some light oak spices in the breezes as well as the light spiciness of orange and banana peel. Hints of tobacco and a light grassiness rounds out the nose. The rum does not bring very much complexity forward into the air; although some of the rum in this blend may be aged up to 8 years, I suspect that this represents a very small percentage. The spirit has the look and feel of a young amber rum.

In the Mouth 47.5/60

The spirit carries more spice through the delivery than the nose implied. I taste orange peel and lemon citrus carried along by impressions of sugar candies and a small dollop of vanilla. There is a light indication of oak spice, but as it was on the nose, the spirit does not display an abundance of complexity. It tastes more like a young cocktail mixer, than a premium aged rum. I decide that if I am to find enjoyment, I had better start to mix cocktails.

And this is exactly where the Wild Geese Premium Rum finds contentment. It makes a satisfactory Cuba Libre’, and an even better Daiquiri. Although I could not find character and complexity when sipping the rum, I did find the rum was well suited to the cocktails I mixed. To that end I decided to get a little creative, and using the Brandy Crusta as my inspiration, I developed a signature cocktail for my Rum Club (see recipe below).

In the Throat 11.5/15

When sipped neat, the finish is a little rough around the edges, although the butterscotch sweetness serves to alleviate the burn somewhat. As indicated above, the rum did not seem suited to be a sipper; however with a bit of ice (and perhaps some soda) the exit is much nicer.

The Afterburn 8/10

The Wild Geese Premium Rum leaves me with mixed feelings. I was expecting more character and complexity from a rum advertised to be a blend of Bajan, Guyanese, and Jamaican rums which have been aged for up to eight years. This complexity never manifested itself during the tasting sessions.

However, the rum seemed to find itself when I mixed it, and the cocktails I built were quite enjoyable. Not all rums are meant to be sippers, and my conclusion is that there is nothing wrong with a premium cocktail rum, and that is exactly what the Wild Geese Soldiers and Heroes Premium Rum seems to be.

If you are interested in comparing more scores, here is a link to my other published Rum Reviews.

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Suggested Recipe:

The Rum Club Cocktail

2 oz Premium Gold Rum
1/4 oz Orange Curacao
1/4 oz tsp Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
1 tsp Sugar Syrup
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash Fees Cocktail Bitters
1 dash Maraschino Liqueur
Ice
Sugar
Orange Peel
Ginger-ale

Add the first seven ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice
Shake until the sides frost
Rim the edge of a chilled cocktail glass with a lemon slice and dip it in sugar
Strain the contents of the shaker into a chilled cocktail glass
Lengthen with Ginger-ale
Garnish with orange peel and a lump of ice
Please Enjoy Responsibly!

Note: If  you are interested in more cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!

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My Scores are out of 100 and you may (loosely) interpret them as follows:

0-25     A spirit with a rating this low would actually kill you.
26-49   Depending upon your fortitude you might actually survive this.
50 -59  You are safe to drink this…but you shouldn’t.
60-69   Substandard swill which you may offer to people you do not want to see again.
70-74    Now we have a fair mixing spirit.  Accept this but make sure it is mixed into a cocktail.
75-79    You may begin to serve this to friends, again probably still cocktail territory.
80-84    We begin to enjoy this spirit neat or on the rocks. (I will still primarily mix cocktails.)
85-89    Excellent for sipping or for mixing!
90-94    Definitely a primary sipping spirit, in fact you may want to hoard this for yourself.
95-97.5 The Cream of the Crop
98+       I haven’t met this bottle yet…but I want to.

Very loosely we may put my scores into terms that you may be familiar with on a Gold, Silver, and  Bronze medal  scale as follows:

70 – 79.5    Bronze Medal (Recommended only as a mixer)
80 – 89.5     Silver Medal (Recommended for sipping and or a high quality mixer)
90 – 95         Gold Medal (Highly recommended for sipping and for sublime cocktails.)
95.5+            Platinum Award (Highest Recommendation)