Captain Morgan vs. Sailor Jerry – Spiced Rum Battle

This month we decided to dive into the spiced rum pool and compare: Captain Morgan vs Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum. We have passed by the Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum featuring tattoo artwork of a hula girl, for years. Quite honestly, we’re not big spiced rum fans since most often they are mixed with Coke.

Since we’ve featured various Captain Morgan products before, let’s start with a brief history of Sailor Jerry.

The company, Sailor Jerry, Ltd., began as a clothing store in Philadelphia producing running shoes, t-shirts and accessories featuring the tattoo artwork of Norm Collins, AKA Sailor Jerry (1911 – 1973). Collins was one of the great pioneers of tattoo art and culture who set up shop in Honolulu in the 1930s. His distinctive style spread around the world as sailors came and went from the port.

In 1991, the company expanded their product line to create Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum. The company sourced the best rums from throughout the Caribbean to create a blend that was “precise, bold and flawless” just like its namesake. Made in the U.S. Virgin Islands, this 92 proof rum will make the hula girl dance.

We begin the Spiced Rum battle of Captain Morgan vs Sailor Jerry where you should with any rum tasting; neat.

Captain Morgan Spiced Rum bites early on the palate quickly giving way to a sweet note of vanilla and caramel. The spice is satisfying and lingers for quite a while on the throat. Sailor Jerry is extremely spice forward with bold cloves and cinnamon and only a hint of sweetness. The rum quickly hits the throat and dissipates right away leaving us unsatisfied. We could see us drinking Captain on the rocks so round one goes to Captain.

Rum Review: Captain Morgan White Rum

After reviewing both companies’ websites we found a cocktail that was similar: Captain and Ginger vs. Jerry Loves Ginger

1.5 oz Rum
4 oz. Ginger Beer (of course we used Barritts)

The vanilla notes of the Captain rendered the spice from the rum and ginger beer nonexistent. If you keep sipping you can find a bit of spice on the back end but truly the vanilla is overpowering. Jerry’s on the other hand is very rum forward allowing the rum and ginger beer to complement each other. The cocktail is well balanced and refreshing to drink. We give round two to Jerry.

Next we made a Sunset Island cocktail with fruit juice.

6 oz Orange Juice
2 ½ oz. Spiced Rum
1 oz Grenadine

Captain Morgan vs Sailor Jerry… The bold spice in the Jerry’s clashes greatly with the orange juice. The cocktail is off-putting and almost undrinkable. The spice of the Captain though, balances well with the orange juice making this a nice, refreshing cocktail. Round three goes to Captain.

Results

Although we have Captain Morgan Spiced Rum narrowly  beating out Sailor Jerry we feel it all depends on the cocktail you are making. Both have their merits depending on what you are in the mood for.