Myers's Rum Original Dark

Myers's Rum is indeed world famous - as the slogan on the label proudly proclaims - due to the universal availability and reasonable price. Historically, the catalyst for popularity was the British Armed Forces, and more precisely its supply network NAAFI, which provided the comforts of home to communities stationed abroad. The number of trading outlets grew to almost 10,000 during World War II. Myers's Rum was there permanently in the offer.

Wide popularity usually results in a wide opinion range. Most consumers however evaluate the product positively, although frequently out of sentiment. And often with a note that rum is more suitable for mixing than sipping. Let's stop on this distinction for a moment.

I applaud grassroots debates. I am less enthusiastic about terms appropriated by marketing. While the mixing category seems to be intuitively understandable, the term sipping reveals how conceptually empty those words really are. Let's take a definition attempt from The Manual as an example: "Sipping spirits must, above all else, possess a structure and flavor complexity that allows them to be enjoyed on their own, without the addition of mixers or additional liquors."

I wonder how many rum producers would eagerly or at least voluntarily find their product digestible or tasty only when mixed with another product. Or maybe some esteemed body should judge on what can be drunk separately and what not? How about the producer immodestly as well as arbitrary calling its own product 'best sipping rum'?

A definition that satisfies the rules of logic applies to all defined objects and only to them. The term sipping is based on subjective impression and as such leaves room for interpretations. Indistinct concept doesn't meet the criteria of the definition. Anyway, I'm tempted by a revolutionary thought: let the consumer decide the purpose of the drink… by himself. Voilà.

Slightly contrary to my reasoning and to raise a little havoc, I will mention the brand's founder - Fred L. Myers (1879) - who saw the value and even a competitive advantage in promoting his product as the main ingredient of the Planter's Punch cocktail. To achieve a synergy effect and not to devalue one's brand (as mixing spirit).

Myers's absorbed its competitor Charley's in 1937. Over time, however, the Myers's was the one to be absorbed by Seagram (1954), Diageo (2000) and finally Sazerac (2018). The bottle says that the rum is produced for successors to Fred L. Myers & Son. Mention, for successors and not by. The website informs that rum was made entirely from Jamaican molasses, made in both continuous and pot stills and matured in white oak barrels. No further details.

There's not much more. Myers's Rum Original Dark is made at the Monymusk distillery as a blend of nine rums aged up to four years. The final product contains caramel E150a.