Skip to main content

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

Twenty Boat Cape Cod Spiced Rum Review

Twenty Boat
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Even if you don’t consider yourself a rum drinker, chances are, at some point in your life, you’ve had a spiced rum. In a mixed drink or at a college party out of a plastic handle, the stuff has gone down your throat. Maybe it was great, and maybe it was the thing to turn you off of rum.

Recommended Videos

More rum guides

As with any type of alcohol, though, in the last few decades, craft distillers are paying more and more attention to what they put into their products in order to create a high-quality, potent potable. The folks behind South Hollow Spirits are no different.

Twenty Boat Cape Cod Spiced Rum is created at the first legal distillery on Cape Cod since Prohibition (located at Truro Vineyards). The rum is made from a mix of organic sugar cane and molasses and is double distilled. The spices are also locally-sourced from the Atlantic Spice Company.

Twenty Boat Cape Cod Spiced Rum
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The name Twenty Boat comes from the history of bootlegging in the area. In 1930, according to the South Hollow Spirits site, a number of rum runners were arrested in Dorchester Bay. One of those men, William Sovell, posted his own bail and promptly went right back to doing what he did best. Twenty boats were sent to catch him to no avail.

Appearance: Twenty Boat resembles heavily brewed tea with just a little molasses in it.

Nose: Immediately the spices in this rum make themselves known. Cinnamon and cardamom play around with vanilla. Under these notes, you’ll get the base ingredient: molasses. The nose is akin to what

gummy cola bottles

 taste like.

Palate: With a fairly thick feel, you’d think this rum would be sweeter than it is. Thankfully, it is not. The heavy spice flavors come through from the nose instead — cinnamon and clove, mainly, with allspice coming through on a second and third sip. These mix with a hint of bittersweetness like an orange peel.

Finish: While there are chai-like notes on the nose and the body, they really come through on the end. These lead into a dry woodiness and a medium-length finish.

Final Thoughts: Often, rums can be too sweet — beyond cloying, even. That is not the case with Twenty Boat. The spice characteristics are at the forefront from beginning to end, and those produce a nice, somewhat dry body. While you can, this rum really shouldn’t be mixed into cocktails — you don’t want to overshadow the already great flavors of this rum.

Twenty Boat Cape Cod Spiced Rum is 47.5 percent ABV and retails for $45.

Sam Slaughter
Sam Slaughter was the Food and Drink Editor for The Manual. Born and raised in New Jersey, he’s called the South home for…
A Michelin-starred chef guides us on pairing wine and pasta
pasta courses at Massara NYC

Enjoying a nice bowl of fresh pasta? While steak and wine are often touted as the perfect pairing, pasta is also a complex pairing for wine. But with so many pasta types, cooking styles, and sauces, pairing pasta with wine is a complex task. We decided to try out the new pasta-tasting menu at Massara, a Southern Italian restaurant in New York helmed by Chef Stefano Secchi of Rezdôra (a one Michelin-starred restaurant).

"Michael Duffy and the somm team has done well in the pairing," said Chef Stefano Secchi. "Luckily, the wines on our list pair well with the food eaten in the region…a strong ethos and throughline of our restaurants."  

Read more
I tried the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe—here’s how it handled real recipes
Even if you make mistakes you can create crowd-pleasing meals with Kamado Joe Konnected Joe
Pre-heating the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe guarded by with Happy.

I jumped at the chance to test the Kamado Joe's Konnected Joe Digital Grill and Smoker. Like most members of our extended family of avid cooks and eager eaters, I enjoy grilling year-round. Still, my experience has been limited to conventional charcoal grills and three-burner propane grills. I was curious about what it would be like to cook with a ceramic grill, and grew even more excited by the prospect of precise temperature control promised by the Konnected Joe.
Why cook with a kamado-style grill

Kamado-style ovens, stoves, and grills use heated stone or ceramic to provide radiant heat that cooks the food. The Kamado Joe brand of kamado grills cooks with radiant heat, with thick ceramic sections in the cooker. It can take some time to reach the desired temperature, but the grill's heavy insulation retains the heat for a long time.

Read more
How I upgraded my De’Longhi Rivelia to make incredible cold espresso drinks
How to unlock six new cold foam recipes
De'Longhi Rivelia

I first started using the De'Longhi Rivelia espresso machine, the brand's newest fully automatic, innovative, and touchscreen espresso maker for home use. I was instantly impressed with how easy this espresso maker was to use and how quickly it made it possible to prepare all my favorite espresso-based beverages.

Ironically, I was so caught up in learning how to use the machine to make hot coffee drinks that I forgot it could also make cold coffee drinks. Once I upgraded with the De'Longhi LatteCrema Cool kit, I unlocked a whole new world of possibilities for cold coffee drinks, from an iced white flat to an iced cappuccino. This tiny upgrade changed the game, solidifying just how much I love this espresso machine.
De'Longhi Rivelia LatteCrema Cool

Read more