Narc - this is a good place to ask that sort of question. We're a wine site, but do talk about spirits (and other libations) fairly often. More of a whiskey drinker myself, but, I do remember a very enjoyable evening in the Brandy Library in NYC where I drank some of their rums.

Let me check my notes to see what I tried that night.

Narc, glad to see you aboard.

I've become increasingly interested in drinking good rums neat after discovering the enormous quality and variety of products beyond the workmanlike Bacardi offerings.

Latest find is Diplomatico Rums from Venezuela - have you seen these?

Also, I must second Philip's recommendation of NYC's Brandy Library. Now that you are retired, head in there on a week night when it isn't too crowded and enjoy a tasting flight of rums. They have almost 100 rums available!

I really am no fan of Rum until they have aged into something more akin to Cognac. The Agricoles from Martinique are superb and the Trois Rivieres at age 30 or more have been among my favorites.

Barbancourt, at almost any age, is good stuff. What did you dislike about the Rhum Clément? I've mostly had it in shrub-centric punches, but I liked it plenty straight at last year's Whiskey Fest in Philadelphia.

I stayed away from rum for a long time, after a near-fatal runin with a bottle of 151 Bacardi and too many cokes back at age 16. Pina coladas in copious volumes all over the tropics were an easy way back to enjoyment, after a suitable interval had elapsed! Now I tend to prefer my rum straight, and often after dinner with a cigar. I like many of the Venezuelan rums I've had, and they were just about all molasses-based. Besides Diplomatico, Santa Teresa has a couple of offerings I like, though their orange rhum is not necessarily my favorite. Unfortunately, destroyed brain cells disallow retrieval of some of the more obscure Venezuelans I've tasted on some very serious nights with some natives from that country... ;-(