Captain Morgan Black Launches In Chicago

By Amy Cavanaugh in Food on Apr 28, 2012 6:00PM

Our love of whiskey around these parts isn't exactly secret (nor should it be), but lately this fanatical whiskey drinker has been getting into rum. I've never minded the spirit, but when your first introduction to rum is Bacardi and coke, it's not hard to be unimpressed. But as my palate has expanded and I've been getting into other spirits like cognac, I've also been drinking a lot more rum, at places like Barrelhouse Flat, which has an excellent selection of rum cocktails, like the Airmail, with rum, honey, lemon, and champagne. The Drawing Room has a rum-based Old Fashioned, and Sable has several daiquiris.

This week I went to a tasting for Captain Morgan Black, a new rum that's now available in Chicago. Made with Caribbean Blackstrap rum, cloves, cassia bark, and other spices, the rum is finished in double charred blackened oak. Sipped straight, the spices and hints of chocolate and coffee give the rum a nice, smooth flavor. It also works well in cocktails like a Manhattan, and I can foresee folding the bottle I took home into a potent summery punch.