UnderTheLabel used our Smart Rating system, which combines expert reviews and liquor competition results, to find the 100 best rums for under $100. 17 minute read › UnderTheLabel is an alcohol research site that uses Graphiq’s semantic technology to deliver deep insights via data-driven articles, visualizations and research tools. Deep insights from alcohol data. Review: Blue Chair Bay White Rum 82.5/100 Review by Chip Dykstra (Aka The Rum Howler) Published February 19, 2015 Fishbowl Spirits Llc. is a company wholly owned by Kenny Chesney, the well-known Country Music Singer from Knoxville, Tennessee. In May, 2013 Fishbowl Spirits launched Blue Chair Bay Rum, which features an assortment of rums which were apparently inspired by the relaxed island lifestyle of the country music star. The line-up includes an assortment of flavoured rums (a Coconut Rum, a Coconut Spiced Rum, a Banana Rum and a limited time only Coconut Spiced Rum Cream, as well as a standard White Rum.
Although Blue Bay Chair Rum is based in Nashville, the assortment of rums they produce are distilled in Barbados and then bottled in Rochester NY by LiDestri Food & Beverage. Three of these spirits, the Coconut and Coconut Spiced rums, as well as the White Rum have been brought into Alberta by Glazer’s Of Canada Llc, and they arranged for me to receive all three rums to review here on my website. This is the review for the Blue Chair Bay White Rum, which according to the Blue Chair Bay Website is aged less than 100 feet from the high water line where there’s something about the sunlight and the wind on the water that gets into the oak casks and into every drop of Blue Chair Bay®. How long the rum has been ‘beach’ aged before being filtered clear is not mentioned; but as every bottle of rum sold in Canada must be aged for a minimum of one year in oak casks we have at least a lower time limit for that aging which we can can estimate. The climate here in Edmonton, Alberta (in mid February) does not necessarily lend itself to the island lifestyle which Kenny Chesney enjoys.
I couldn’t resist snapping a picture of his White Rum bottle complete with the Blue Chair Bay neck ringer on my snow-covered picnic table which is currently sitting upon my back deck. I guess I am just a little envious of Kenny’s island life right about now. Having said that, the medium-tall rum bottle (despite the snow) looks nice with its smoked glass which runs from Caribbean Sea blue at the bottom to Arctic Snow white at the top. I like the solid synthetic corked topper which is used to seal the bottle as well as the slight taper through the body of the bottle which makes it easier to grip. I also like the splashy neck ringer which features Kenny Chesney lounging on a blue chair in the island sun. The rum is bottled at 40 % alcohol by volume and shows no definitive age statement. The rum presents itself as a clear spirit with a shy, subdued nose. When I gave my glencairn a tilt and a slow swirl, I saw a light clear sheen of rum left on the inside of the glass. Only a few skinny legs formed and ran back down into the rum.
The spirit reminded me almost a soft vodka as I inspected the breezes. The aroma which drifted upwards from the glass was clean, but slightly vegetal. There were light bits of spice wandering into the air with a smattering of buttery caramel. Perhaps I also sense some freshly mashed banana, vague notes of tropical fruit, some whispers of marshmallow, and hints of mint and licorice. When I add ice to the glass, the light scents seem to blow away in the breezes, leaving only phantoms of butterscotch above the glass. The rum has a pleasant soft texture, as it feels slightly buttery across the palate. There is an underlying taste which reminded me of mineral water which I suppose may be associated with the soft buttery mouth-feel. I also tasted a mildly sweet butterscotch flavour which is very lightly accented with mint and licorice. There is also a growing spiciness which hints at citrus zest and banana peel. I found that I preferred to add ice to my glass rather than to sip the rum neat.
When I mixed a few mojitos I was not disappointed as the Blue Chair Bay White Rum is indeed ideally suited for that purpose. In fact, all three of the quintessential rum cocktails (the mojito, the Cuba Libre’, and the ) taste great with Blue Chair Bay White Rum. (I did notice that each cocktail seemed to have a nice tropical fruit flavour pushing through which surprised me as those tropical notes were very hard to find when I sipped the rum neat.) The rum brings about a light creeping burn in the exit which hurt its score a little. This creeping burn prevented me from enjoying the rum as a sipper; but it appears to have no impact at all on those delicious cocktails I mentioned above. The intention of Blue Chair Bay Rum in creating their white spirit was to create a laid back rum for mixing bar drinks and cocktails for enjoyment on lazy sunny days when relaxation is your prime motivation. In this regard, I believe they have succeeded, as the soft rum does indeed seem to be calling out to me for some mint, lime and soda.
In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by the Kenny Chesney Rum, and it is to my delight, pretty much as advertised. If you are interested in comparing more scores, here is a link to my other published Rum Reviews. Lime and Maraschino Daiquiri 2 oz Blue Chair Bay White Rum 1/8 oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur 3/4 oz Fresh squeezed Lime Juice 1/2 oz Sugar Syrup Add the first four ingredients into a Metal shaker with ice Shake until the outside of the shaker frost Strain into a suitable cocktail glass Garnish with a slice of Lime Note: If you are interested in more of my original cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes! My Final Score is out of 100 and you may (loosely) interpret the score 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 rum or whisky. 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.)