2011 K&L Awards - Best Rum of the Year

You can tell that my generation has taken over the news media because sources of information that once contained legitimate news are now nothing but top ten lists.  The children of the late 70's/early 80's would rather talk about their all-time favorite screwball movies, or the top ten places to drink Pabst Blue Ribbon than spend their time actually digging up a story.  Seeing that both Mr. Girard and I are firmly from this generation, it only seems fitting that we would also engage in such behavior.  Therefore, since it's December and the new year is almost upon us, we will begin what is now a yearly tradition for us (and a daily tradition for the San Francisco Chronicle) - we will list our favorite products of 2011.  Let's start with rum:

David Driscoll picks: Berry Bros & Rudd St Lucia 11 Year Old Rum - Best rum of the year and a leading contender for my overall spirit of the year.  Honey, cherries, menthol, fruit tea, and bitter spice.  It's pretty freaking odd.  It's also pretty freaking delicious.  I don't know what makes it taste this way, but I wish I could find more rums like it.

David Othenin-Girard picks: El Dorado 12 Year Old Demerara Rum - David OG told me today that lately he's been putting this stuff away like water.  That doesn't surprise me.  The last time I was in LA we spent an hour emptying his rum collection into our bellies.  The El Dorado 12 is a staple of fine sipping rum.  Better balanced than Ron Zacapa, better richness than Zaya, more sweetness than Zafra, and $10 less per bottle than all of them.

-David Driscoll