I also am a huge fan of dark rum, I like the mature flavors and complexities to the spirit, much like I like an Añejo over a Blanco Tequila. Granted, each have their place.
 
Although I would love to do a Rhum Agricole tasting I've not had the opportunity to find many brands besides 10 Cane in the larger market. Depaz is a Rhum Agricole but it's aged more, I believe, than the 10 cane.
 
While I was unsure about putting it into the tasting, as the taste is a bit more "green' or "organic" compared to the others, there were many people who had the expectation that 10 Cane was included. Perhaps because most average folks see it as a rum in the gold/light category. The average drinker doesn't care if it's molasses or sugar cane, they're only concerned with, "how does it taste?" If I had a 100% pure rum show I would split it off with those of its own "family" (given I could find them).
 
Do you know of any other good rhum agricoles? I can track down the importers and see if they can send me samples of their spirit.
 

I have Havana Club Añejo, gold, but I wasn't able to find a white when I was in Germany. So I've got Havana for the next tasting.
 
I understand that Rhum Agricole isn't exactly the same as molasses based rum but the major factor, for me, was "stuff people can buy" and tasting the differences between them. It's more of a way to inform people of tastes and sit down and say "this is what we like." Sugar Cane rum doesn't taste exactly like that of a standard molasses rum and they tend to cost more as well. I've got Depaz Rhum Agricole and it has its own unique "organic" style taste.
 
But, is it apples to oranges? I don't believe so, I would think it's more like Gala Apples vs. Fiji apples or Granny Smith. Both Molasses and Sugar cane distilled products are "rum" - they just have unique taste profiles like a Gala apple compared to a Granny Smith, Fiji or Red Delicious. Couldn't they all be in an apple tasting to figure out which tastes best on your palate? I'd say yeah.
 
Cruzan and 10 Cane both have a good place on anyones shelf and I'd highly suggest buying both. If nothing more than to sit down and run your own tasting. However, I believe people will find cocktails that fit each one and be happy with what they've purchased.

I figured (hoped) the "organic" vegital one was 10 Cane. I had a good feeling the "rubbing alcohol" taste was Bacardi but nobody wants to be wrong, right :) Really, color wasn't the issue, all three had entirely different tastes.

Just to be clear, we're looking to prototype a new series of shows that would run in parellel to this one so people can watch both shows, one show or whatever one you want. My goal here was to show everyone what we're thinking so they can comment and let us know if it was a worthy cause or not.
 
Basically, to setup a second show is a lot of work. I'll have to design another websites, buy more service space to host the videos and record another set of shows and Jennifer will have to edit them. Despite the work, we'd like to do it but only if we find that people consider it an interesting idea. Given we've got a crowd of folks that are passonate about cocktails and spirits, we knew you folks would be able to give us valuable information to justify such a show format.
 
Once we build a scoring system that's people think is worthy we can work through the details (logo, site design, show name, etc.) then we can try more show pilots on a new channel and I can let you all know where to go to see it. That way, it won't constantly interrupt the show flow of Common Man Cocktails and it can build its own audience or expand this one.
 
Sound good?

I want to do a gold rum, dark rum, tequila (sorry), flavored rums, whiskey's and all types of spirits next. These will, of course, be a separate show (not Common Man Cocktails) but I'll let everyone know where it's going to be hosted when we set that up.

M, you can always just cut ep and continue same show on ep02, if you are worried about youtube

I like that idea, have a "tournament" of types rather than carrying one person all the way through. That would be very cool I think.

The rest are cocktails, two bailey's cocktails coming this week. These three were more of a test-set to see if anyone would be interested in the style of show and get some feedback (as you've mentioned in the rest of your post). All of which is being recorded so that when we work towards a real show (with its own video stream, website, etc.) we'll know a bit about what people may like to see.
 
I'll still do some tastings from time to time just not a full round-by-round battle. Regardless, it's good to know you're not interested in such a show so we know what type of person may watch both, what type of person may watch just cocktail recipes, etc. All good info!

I learned some cool stuff, like don't assume the big brands aren't going to be able to compete against the more niche products. I also learned to pay attention to the difference in "burn" factor, sometimes it's in the throat, othertimes on the tongue and in some situations the lips or entire mouth feel some tickling burn.
 
The big take-away, in my opinion is this:

• Some rums will have sweeter tastes while others have more "Barrel" tasting (caramel, vanilla, etc.)
• Not all light rums are created equal.
• Color doesn't matter when your taste buds are concerned.
• Label can impact opinions

Lastly, I think there is some viability in a show of this calibur, we had tons of great reactions both positive and negative ... even if we lose a few people along the way :)

I had a feeling that Bacardi would be third, I wasn't sure if 10 cane was going to beat Cruzan or not. I've used 10 Cane and Cruzan a lot but didn't know which we'd both average higher on a score. Initially, I was fearful of the Cruzan color because distillers try to make their silver/white rums actually "white." The darkness made me think the quality was going to be lower.
 
10 Cane is a cane rum, it's going to have a unique flavor that it can call its own. But, is that unique flavor better or worse than the others? To me, the sweetness was nice but it wasn't as warm and inviting as the Cruzan. Side-by-side it made the Bacardi a bit more rubbing-alcohol tasting when alone Bacardi doesn't exhibit it as much.
 
All three had clean finishes, which I deem important regardless. Do you believe 10 cane should have won?

obviously biased against bacardi, given that you could SEE which rum was which by the color. should have used dark glasses. also, since you tasted the bacardi twice before, you knew the taste pretty well and you could recognise it. =/ ... not a true blind tasting