52
: the taste test
In this edition of Fired Up, we are shining the spotlight
on local rum producer, Mount Gay Distilleries Ltd.,
and R-tic Melt, a popular local ice cream parlour
that specialises in tasty homemade ice cream.
We put these two Bajan brands to the test, to see
if our hometown favourites could go head-to-
head with larger international brands. Curious to
see how our local favourites fared? Read on!
THE TEST: THE CRITERIA:
As home to the world’s oldest distillery,
we considered including rum in our
very first taste test, to be our civic duty!
Then after we warmed up our tasters
with a selection of rums, we cooled them
down with some delicious, frozen treats
We ultimately decided on vanilla as our
flavour of choice because, well… It’s
vanilla! Vanilla is basically the cornerstone
of all flavours, so it was a no-brainer! The vanilla ice cream brands were judged on:
texture, density, vanilla flavour, appearance,
overall taste and personal favourite.
The rum brands were judged on:
colour, flavour, texture, overall
taste and personal favourite.
THE CONTENDERS:
Mount Gay
Eclipse
R-tic Melt’s
Vanilla
vs
vs
1. El Dorado Rum: 5
year-aged cask aged
2. Captain Morgan
Original Spiced Rum
1. Breyers’ Natural
Vanilla ice cream
2. Haagen Dazs’
French Vanilla
THE METHODOLOGY
We assigned a letter to each brand of rum
in order to remove any potential ‘brand
bias’, and placed a sample size of each type
of rum into a cup marked A, B or C.
A – El Dorado Rum: 5-Year-Old Cask Aged
B – Mount Gay Eclipse
C – Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum
We then had our tasters fill out a score card
where they scored each rum on a scale of 1
to 5 (where 1 was the lowest and 5 was the
highest) based on the stipulated criteria.
For the “personal favourite” option, tasters
were simply asked to tick the brand that they
deemed to be the one they liked the best.
We repeated the process with our selection
of ice creams, where the below were
designated A, B and C, as follows:
A – Breyers’ Natural Vanilla ice cream
B – Haagen-Dazs’ French Vanilla
C – R-tic Melt’s Vanilla
We then totalled up the scores in each
category to determine how well each brand
did. In the case of the personal favourite
category, we assigned five points per tick,
which was then also added to the final score.
Want to know how our deliciously
‘creamy meets boozy’ taste test
went? Well the results are in!