Don Q Cristal Rum 750mL

Well this has been sort of a long time coming. We’ve previously mentioned with the gold that this is our silver go-to filler and is a mainstay of the lounge. This is mostly due to the pricing, but there’s some good aspects. It’s cheap, and it mixes well. Now that may seem like a slight against it, but loyal readers will know that’s pretty much all we want.

Sure if something is amazing straight we are all the happy (this of course does not count whiskey), but we always are on the look for something that beats the regular ‘standard’ like Bacardi in terms of quality, and pricing. DonQ has that. Well their silver has that as evidenced by the Gold, and next week the 151.

 

What they Say: “Don Q Cristal rum is a multiple distilled white rum produced at Destileria Serrallés in the town of Ponce in southern Puerto Rico. Aged in American white oak barrels to round out the spirit, this works well as a replacement for vodka in a variety of cocktails.”

 

Taste: 7.0 – It starts off nice and clean, almost like it’s not there – which is seemingly by design.

Aftertaste: 5.0 – The rum is still there though, but even then it’s light on taste relying more on the burn to ruin your day.

Burn/Smooth: 2.5 – That burns exactly like a bad vodka or rum and there’s nothing to warm you.

Aroma: 7.5 – Like a good vodka it’s nearly odorless. There’s a twinge of a rum there, but otherwise nothing. Considering their own wording that seems to be on point though.

Honesty: 5.0 – The town being Ponce is actually kind of cute, and despite the color it’s interesting to find it spends time in a barrel. The main concern for our windmill attacking friend is that their own marketing bills this as a vodka, and the product shows. In that way it feels slightly dishonest if you just wanted a white rum.

Mixability: 7.0

W/ Rocks: 7.0 – As expected that smoothes out the burn. But the main reason this gains points is it does that, while at the same time showing off more of the rum flavor. This isn’t likely to become a nice sipping rum, it’s somehow unlike a sipping vodka and a rum at the same time, but it’s nice.

Rum and Coke: 7.0 – It makes a pretty good rum and coke.

White Russian (with Rum): We did this for funsies since they said too, but it’s non-standard so we won’t score. That being said it’s okay? Like it’s not super, you can tell it’s not vodka, and overall it just feels like a college kid who’s too lazy to go out, but only has cream and kamora to mix.

Value: 7.5 – Ahh, the main crux of why this is such a mainstay in the lounge. It satisfies the main requirements of mixing well, easy to find, and cheap.

Google Shop Average: $10

Website: http://donq.com/

 

Reviewer Scores:

BuffaloJern: 6.5

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Metric Score: 41.5/70 |+| Metric Average: 5.93 |+| Reviewer Average: 6.5

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Final Thoughts: Unless there’s some major shakeup I fear much like New Amsterdam this is slated to continue to be our well spirit until something comes along. However we’ve begun to exhaust the more common options and sometimes the common and cheap item wins out by virtue of actually getting your money.