Epic Drinking: Rum Season and a Good Cheap Bottle

One year it happened. I give the credit/blame to Hunter S. Thompson of all people.  After I saw "The Rum Diary" [a fine movie by the way].  Then, entranced, I bought the book and read that too.  Then, there was only one thing to do. Declare the opening of Rum Season.  A time of excessive heat and [even for the American sub-tropics] humidity.  Seersucker.  Poplin suits. Straw hats. And rum.  Only rum.  My bartender friends roll their eyes and laugh when I declare the season open.  They seem intrigued when I declare it to be closed.  Because it opens and closes only when I say it does. And why not?  Why should there be only four seasons to the Epic year?

Along these [blurry] lines, I highly recommend Bacardi Select rum.  A dark rum with great flavor drunk neat or on a few rocks.  Or on crushed ice.  Or, I suppose, in a pinch, out of the bottle or from a flask.  HST style.  You can buy a lot more expensive rum, and some of them, such as Ron Zacapa 23 [$50.00] are superb.  But at around $14.00 for the bottle, this four year cask aged rum is a GREAT buy.  Enough to get you through whatever season you find yourself in the midst of.  Cheers!