Rum Is My Temporary Recreational Drink of Choice

Tagged with alcohol, philippines, rum, sugar, united states, whisky on August 19, 2024

Yes, rum is my temporary recreational drink of choice. Although I prefer bourbon whisky over anything else, I intend to wean myself off all types of alcoholic beverages. The problem is my tolerance level is way too high. I can drink 350 milliliters or more of liquor per day when I feel like it, without getting drunk, without even being impaired.

Rum or Rhum

It doesn’t matter, unless you’re a connoisseur. Rum tends to be sweeter than rhum because it’s made from molasses. Rhum is made from freshly pressed sugar cane juice. Of all the brands I sampled over the years, I really couldn’t tell the difference. From 2006, when I arrived in the Philippines, until I left the country in 2018, I drank rum and Coke.

I switched to whisky while I was in the United States for nearly four years, and I continued with whisky until a few days ago. Since I don’t like rum as much as whisky, it should be easier to give up alcohol completely after awhile. I don’t like spiced rum, even in a highball like rum and Coke, but I can drink it if I have nothing else available. Tanduay Rhum mixes better, but I no longer use anything but ice.

I don’t remember every brand of rum I’ve consumed, and these are the brands I remember:

• Bacardi
• Bacardi 151
• Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
• Kraken Black Spiced Rum
• Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum
• Tanduay Rhum Light
• Tanduay Rhum Dark

I tried Kraken Black Spiced Rum when I was in Hawaii during the COVID-19 pandemic. I didn’t like it. Any brand of spiced rum only tastes okay to me when mixed with cream soda.

Beer and Wine and Other Liquors

I’ve never been much of a beer drinker. I can only remember getting drunk on it once, and that was more the 40 years ago. I like the taste of strong, dark beer, but I dislike any beer or IPA that has a fruity taste to it.

I prefer not drinking wine, even when strongly enticed to do so. Even though I like grape juice, I don’t like the fruity taste of wine. I don’t like the taste of brandy because it’s distilled from wine and also has a fruity taste.

I know I haven’t tasted every kind of alcoholic beverage in existence. There are just too many of them, especially when you include variations like wine coolers. I don’t like vodka because it has to be flavored with something, and I don’t like gin because of the metallic taste.

When I was younger than 24, while I was in the military, I sampled all kinds of mixed drinks. I already mentioned rum and Coke. Here are some others:

• Black Russian
• Margarita
• Screwdriver
• Seven and Seven
• Tequila Sunrise
• Whisky and Coke
• White Russian

I’m sure there are more that I just can’t remember. I stopped drinking completely while my children were growing up, for at least 18 years, because I didn’t want to be a bad influence on them. My older son, before he joined the military a few years after high school, broke that streak by getting me to drink a couple of mixed drinks with him and some of his friends. I remember drinks made with Goldschläger and Jägermeister, and I didn’t like either one.

Image by Tanduay Rhum official from Facebook