Last night was a momentous occasion for Peggy and me. We finally finished all 97 rums and joined the “ranks of the immortals” in Forbidden Island’s Kill-Devil Club. I’ve written of our quest previously (here, here, here), which began on March 22 and ended November 2, a duration of 225 days, with an average of nearly exactly 3 drinks per week. Owner Martin Cate made a very nice speech of congratulation, and presented us each with bottles of our favorite rums, Ron Zacapa 23 for Peggy and Santa Teresa 1796 for me. We are the first to make it into the club as a couple, and will see our names enshrined together in a double-wide plaque behind the bar. Pics when it happens.
EDIT 14 Nov 08: It happend, see post here.
Thanks for posting your notes… It must have been a very interesting experience!
Yes it was very educational, and we made many new ‘friends’ along the way. That, and my tolerance for booze is way, way up, perhaps a mixed blessing.
Congratulations! I’m insanely jealous that I don’t have something similar in my own region, and am sad that I was unable to join ya and share some Royal Navy Imperial while I was visiting Cali. That’s quite an accomplishment, mate! I counted through the rums, and to my best guess I’ve tried 54 of them, so even a dedicated rummy such as meself would still have a ways to go yet!
Kudos and gold dust. Kudos and gold.
Yar. And after our official last rum, Peggy and I shared 2oz of the Imperial to celebrate further. Bilge, 54 is a very very good score without the resouces provided by FI. A Gosling’s man like you will definitely want to score a bottle of Goslings Old Rum if you haven’t done it already, it is about $65 at my local shop, and is definitely a Top 5 on the list. Best value for my taste is the Antigua English Harbor 5, only about $30 but a very good amber rum.
Goslings Old is a definite treat, I’ll heartily agree. And English Harbour, I just killed my first bottle of the stuff. It’s not what I normally look for in a rum - no real heat, spice, or true rummy disposition. And yet I found myself liking it more with each glass (and no, that’s not each glass within the same sitting, in which case my growing affection would be more easily dismissed.)
YAY! Congrats… You guys are heroes of the drinking population!
p.s. I just ran across your blog, great stuff!
Bilgemunky was kind enough to include a mention of us in his latest show. You can subcribe to his podcast and listen to the November 4 episode, or listen to the relevant excerpt here.
Bilge mentions getting Kill-Devil credit for the 54 rums he has already sampled. Ain’t gonna happen. In fact, I had had a dozen or so of the featured rums at FI, and I still had to drink them all over.