Negrita Spiced Golden Review

The origin

This is French rum. The man behind the brand was a young French businessman, Paul Bardinet. In 1857, he became interested in the cargo of the ships anchored in the ports along the coasts… in sugar cane alcohol. He started blending and ageing rums in oak barrels and improved fast. It was not before long Negrita rum was born. Its name traveled around the world, so he moved the business seat closer to the shore. His son, Eduard, bought new large storage rooms and got the best-educated master blenders. Generally, their products are targeted at the masses rather than professional tasters. Their annual production is around 50 million of bottles. Negrita, in particular, received several awards, including Silver Medal from IWSC 2012. Best Spiced Rum title – IWSC 2013. GOLD MEDAL – SPICED RUM – THE RUM MASTERS at THE SPIRITS BUSINESS 2014 and others. 

Smell

The alcohol quite shows but the smell is rather mild. You get sugar cane and intensive vanilla. However, it feels quite artificial. Before reviewing this rum, I reviewed Dzama with vanilla pod inside and it really is a difference. There’s a slightly nutty note. 

Taste

This is quite complicated. The taste is not bad overall, in this price category I find it better than a lot of its competitors. It’s just that you can tell this is a harsher rum, artificially improved with vanilla. The taste is on the sharper side on the tongue, the finish rather short, with alcohol notes and not very prominent. However, you get used to this after a while and it is not half bad for neat drinking. It is sweeter but again, compared to the competitors, it is not overly sweet. The alcohol content is 35 % but the rum feels stronger. The rum should contain natural vanilla and lemon flavours (I am not quite sure about the natural here) and caramel colour. 

Bottle

This is no design surprise, rather the classic cheaper-rum style. Should I compare it to Captain Morgan Spiced, I would just swap the pirate for a less-clothed coloured woman and rounded the bottle. 

Price

This rum is really affordable for everyone. The price is below CZK 300 per 0.7l. 

Verdict

To be honest, this is one of the top rums in the price category of CZK 300 per 0.7l bottle. Should I keep the Morgan comparison, I will always prefer Negrita. Neat or in cocktails. I recommend trying it for comparison.

Don’t expect some high-class rum. But I had no problem drinking two glasses of this rum neat. With other rums in this category, it usually is quite a problem :-D.

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