San Francisco: a city known for its free-spirited hippies, its bohemian artists, its quirky architecture, its innovative startups. It’s eclectic, vibrant, surprising, sexy. And it has the hotels to match.

Accommodations in San Francisco range from pricey 5-star luxury to bargain basement motel dives. The ritziest guests stay at the St. Regis, the Four Seasons, and the Fairmont. Cash-strapped travellers hole up in gritty Tenderloin hostels. But to experience the city at its best – to fully immerse yourself in what makes the City By The Bay so special – a unique, boutique-minded, design-forward hotel is the only way to go.

We’ve rounded up 10 of the coolest hotels in San Francisco for travellers who want more than a bed and complimentary breakfast. Check yourself in next time California calls.

The Battery

The Battery is an ambitious private club that aims to “play host to bright minds with big ideas, provide an atmosphere that’s simultaneously stimulating and relaxing, and offer cocktails, cuisine and culture worthy of discussion.” Fortunately for the masses, non-members can make hotel reservations and receive full club membership privileges for the duration of their stay. A peek at the masculine, ultra-hip interiors should be all the convincing you need to book one of the 14 suites (including a penthouse with views of the Transamerica Pyramid and the Bay Bridge).

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Hotel des Arts

The Hotel des Arts lives up to its name. Its rooms sport works from a variety of artists – Including Buff Monster, Dave Kinsey, Tim Gaskin, Plasticgod, and Shepard Fairey – in a range of materials. The lobby doubles as an art gallery that regularly refreshes the pieces on display. Aside from the visual stimulation, the Hotel des Arts keeps it simple. The hotel offers few amenities beyond breakfast, but it’s reasonably priced for an expensive city and well-located at the crossroads of Union Square, the Financial District, and the Chinatown Gate.

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Hotel Vertigo

Checking into the Hotel Vertigo is like stepping into a Hitchcock movie – literally. Half a century ago, when it was the Empire Hotel, the building at 940 Sutter Street played a cameo role in Hitchcock’s classic, Vertigo. These days it has a new name, but the film plays on a loop in the lobby and the furnishings take their tangerine and white colour scheme from the movie’s promotional materials. Wielding an incomparable eccentricity, style, and playfulness, Hotel Vertigo is a sophisticated, multi-sensory sanctuary where “equilibrium is overrated.”

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Argonaut Hotel

Located near the notoriously touristy Fisherman’s Wharf, this boutique stay takes a nauti-but-nice approach to SF accommodations. The hotel occupies the renovated Del Monte cannery, a behemoth of a building that now sports nautical décor and flatscreen TVs alongside original brick and timbers. If you can stomach the intense maritime theme, you’ll be treated to amenities like free bike rentals, a yoga mat in every room, and six “Tall Rooms” with extra-long beds and raised shower heads.

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Hotel Triton

Hotel Triton exemplifies the essence of San Francisco: spunky, spirited, and utterly individual. The hotel’s 140 guest rooms are bold and bright, with eco-friendly bath amenities and an honour bar stocked with healthy organic treats. A handful of celebrity-designed suites offer one-of-a-kind experiences. Our favourite? That would be the Hãagen-Dazs Sweet Suite, which boasts a custom ice cream cabinet stocked with an unlimited supply of classic Hãagen-Dazs flavours (plus new releases), bowls, scoops and spoons.

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Hotel Diva

For big personalities only. From floor to ceiling, Hotel Diva is unapologetically dramatic. The sleek and provocative décor includes cobalt blue carpet, stainless steel headboards, and sexy custom shades. Visitors enter via a shrine to past celebrity guests called the ‘Sidewalk of Fame’. Two of San Francisco’s finest performing arts venues, the American Conservatory Theatre and Curran Theatre, are just across the street. An attentive staff is on hand to ensure all your diva demands are met. Whether you’re in town for business or pleasure, Hotel Diva treats every guest like a star.

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Hotel Zetta

Hotel Zetta blends sophistication and service with a relaxed California attitude. The vibrant design and sustainable architecture lend an innovative and creative vibe, while the high-tech conveniences and oversize guestrooms keep things luxe. Repurposed materials are everywhere (perhaps a nod to San Francisco’s serious commitment to recycling), but the hotel’s real highlight is its sense of fun. A two-storey Plinko game presides over the lobby, while the Playroom features a pool table, shuffleboard, ping pong, giant Jenga, and multiple gaming consoles.

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Hotel Rex

With a name taken from the emcee of a reading series that launched the Beat Generation, Hotel Rex has a strong legacy of cool to live up to. The cosy interiors evoke the literary salons of the ’20s and ’30s with retro writing desks and armchairs that beg you to curl up with a book. If you forget to pack your own reading material, head to the bookshelf-lined lobby or the Library Bar (where you’ll also find readings, art shows, live music, and cocktails with literary themes). The old-school glamour of Hotel Rex is a refreshing departure from the edgier accommodations that occupy the rest of this list.

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Clift Hotel

Did someone say Philippe Starck? The French designer extraordinaire is behind the chic demeanor of the Clift Hotel, a property that’s high on style and scene in equal parts. The soaring lobby sports chairs from Ray and Charles Eames, a coffee table by Salvador Dali, and a surreal stool by Roberto Matta (inspired by René Margritte). The plush Living Room offers the comforts of an old English club. As for the centerpiece of it all, that would be the legendary Redwood Room – a bar outfitted in digital art, wood paneling from a single redwood tree, and an ultra-hip crowd.

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Phoenix Hotel

Was that Radiohead in the lobby? Are Pearl Jam by the pool? At the Phoenix Hotel, rock ‘n’ roll dreams come true. Owner Chip Conley transformed the formerly seedy “no-tell motel” into a crashpad for creative spirits in 1987. Since then it’s become a cherished stop for rockers passing through SF, with a star-studded guest list that includes the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Killers, David Bowie, and more. Resist the temptation to toss a television out a window.

The post Cool San Francisco Hotels 2022 appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

The trailer for the hotly anticipated television show, Pam & Tommy has finally been released; and, oh boy, it’s stirring up mixed reactions. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, make sure you do so below.

Hulu’s original series, Pam & Tommy, will consist of eight episodes and will follow the very real whirlwind relationship that occurred in 1995 between Hollywood stars, Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. The pair famously married after only knowing one another for four days and, rather infamously, made a sex tape on their honeymoon; which was subsequently leaked and became the first internet video to go completely viral.

This scandal will be the focus of the show Pam & Tommy, which Hulu describes as “the greatest love story ever told.”

Anderson is played by Lily James (Downtown Abbey, Baby Driver) and Lee is played by Sebastian Stan (Captain America, I Tonya) in Pam & Tommy, and other cast members of note include Seth Rogen, Nick Offerman, and Taylor Schilling. With such a great cast, you may be wondering why there’s so much controversy surrounding the upcoming series.

While the trailer does show some incredible, albeit brief, performances from the cast, and a sincere congrats must go to the make-up team as Lily James is completely unrecognisable as herself and is almost identical-looking to the real Anderson, the trailer features some quite unsettling dialogue.

For example, Nick Offerman’s character upon finding and watching Anderson and Lee’s sex tape says “this is so private; it’s like we’re seeing something we’re not supposed to be seeing.” So the writers seem well-aware that what Nick Offerman and Seth Rogan’s real-life counterparts did was wrong.

And yet, despite the real-life Anderson and Lee not being involved at all with this series, the writers are happily bringing the scandal, which would’ve been an incredibly turbulent time for both stars (especially Anderson), back into the limelight over 25 years later.

While the real Anderson hasn’t publicly made a statement regarding the series, The Sun reported that a close friend of the Baywatch star said that Anderson has “no intention of watching this God awful show” and that the whole sex tape scandal “was one of the most difficult experiences of her life.”

“To have it dredged up for a TV show is pathetic. She won’t want to be reminded about it”.

The trailer does however seem to have one shining beacon of hope for the series; it features Lily James’ Anderson arguing with Sebastian Stan’s Lee that the sex tape scandal is worse for her, to which he retorts, “how is this worse for you?”. This seems to be an attempt at showing audiences that women are regularly treated differently, and ultimately worse than men, but men regularly dismiss that truth.

Perhaps, in light of this scene in the trailer, the show will actually focus on how Anderson was a true victim of the scandal and will make the public realise they owe her a long-overdue apology. Or, maybe it will just be another series that simply profits off the idea that sex (and sex tapes) sell.

Either way, we won’t be able to tell until Pam & Tommy premieres on the 2nd of February on Hulu and Disney+.

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The post ‘Pam & Tommy’ Trailer Reboots The Sex Tape Scandal That Left The 90s Shook appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Changing your car’s colour isn’t an easy process. Respraying a car is expensive, tricky and time-consuming. Modern vinyl wraps are effective and more convenient, but they’re still a less than ideal solution. It’s not something you can do on a whim.

But what if it was? Well, that’s what BMW’s latest car is capable of. Meet the BMW iX Flow: an early candidate for the most exciting concept car of 2022.

Unveiled at CES 2022 in Las Vegas (and based on the BMW iX, one of the best electric cars in Australia) this wild version of BMW’s new electric crossover SUV features a unique E-Ink body wrap – the same stuff that’s used in a Kindle’s display. At the driver’s command, the car’s body panels can instantaneously shift colour from black to white and everything in between.

It’s so quick and so striking that it doesn’t seem real – but we promise you, it actually is. Check out a video of the BMW iX Flow colour-shifting in real-time below.

How does it work? Essentially, the wrap is filled with millions of tiny microcapsules, which contain negatively charged white pigments and positively charged black pigments. When stimulated by an electrical field, either the white or the black pigments will collect at the surface of the microcapsule, giving the car body the desired shade.

“This gives the driver the freedom to express different facets of their personality or even their enjoyment of change outwardly, and to redefine this each time they sit into their car,” says Stella Clarke, the BMW iX Flow’s project head.

Not only is the effect dramatic, but it’s also energy-efficient. Like many e-readers and unlike displays or projectors, the wrap doesn’t require energy to keep the chosen colour state constant, and current only flows during the short colour changing phase, BMW explains.

RELATED: Paul Smith’s ‘Designer MINI’ Reveals The Future Of Eco-Friendly Cars

While this chameleon-like effect obviously looks really cool, it’s got a practical benefit beyond simply letting drivers personalise their cars on the fly.

Because white surfaces reflect more sunlight than black surfaces and vice versa, BMW suggests that by adjusting the car’s colour to the weather, you can help to cut the amount of cooling and heating required from the vehicle’s air conditioning, which would reduce the amount of energy the vehicle electrical system needs and therefore reduce the vehicle’s fuel or electricity consumption.

The other exciting part about the iX Flow is that unlike many concept cars, which tend to be extremely visionary, this technology could actually make its way onto cars in the not-so-distant future.

“BMW has not elaborated on the production possibilities of the E-Ink technology seen on the iX Flow, but suggested that applying the material was not unrealistically expensive and that we could see E-Ink eventually making its way onto production vehicles,” Car and Driver relates.

RELATED: What The Apple Car Design Will Look Like, According To A Patent Spy

The iX Flow wasn’t the only big car news to come out of CES. BMW also unveiled a new M variant of the iX, the iX M60, which can do 0-100km/h in 3.8 seconds and boasts a peak power output of 455 kW plus 1100 Nm of torque in Sport Mode.

Japanese electronics giant Sony also unveiled another electric vehicle prototype, the Vision-S 02 SUV, which is roughly the same size as a Tesla Model Y and can play PlayStation games through a remote connection to a gaming console at home. Talk about a level up…

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The post Meet BMW’s Cool Electric Car That Can Change Colour appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Helping the check-in staff out of a jam. Dressing up super nice. Accruing a fantastic number of frequent flyer points. There are a lot of rumoured ways to score yourself a first-class upgrade, but few of them work.

For one lucky man, however, the dream just became a reality, and he didn’t even have to grovel at the check-in desk or do hundreds of status runs.

How? Beau Brown, who is 29, 7’1″ and a cinematographer from Atlanta, was upgraded on a recent flight from North Carolina to Georgia because he was too tall for his seat – even though he had booked into an exit row to accommodate his long limbs.

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A post shared by Beau Brown | DP (@bigbeaubrown)

He was worried when he was asked to get off the flight, but fortunately, the airline bumped him up to first class on the other jet he was put on. He shared his experience on social media, and his story has now been viewed more than 11 million times on TikTok (it has also blown up on Instagram, as you can see above).

“Travelling is always a huge struggle for me and flying can be seriously uncomfortable,” Mr Brown told SWNS, a subsidiary of Fox News.

“When I boarded the plane I’d booked an exit row seat which is usually enough space for me, but on this occasion, I was still too tall to fit. My knees touched the seats in front of me, and I was pinned in, unable to sit down or get up.”

On TikTok he explained: “So I was not able to fit on my plane and now I have to go on a different plane and apparently they’re giving me first class because I don’t fit in any of the regular seats. Let’s see if they’re telling the truth.”

Sure enough, he got the upgrade. Even then he said, “I still don’t really fit lol.” Mr Brown has previously shared videos showing how travel can be a nightmare, explaining he often doesn’t fit into hotel beds and that even renting apartments can be an issue due to his height.

There you have it, short guys. Being tall isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

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The post Lucky Man Upgraded To First Class Just For Being Tall appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

New York, New York, it’s a hell of a town… America’s largest city might be an exciting place to live or visit, but it’s hardly cheap – especially when it comes to both real estate and car ownership.

The city has long had a reputation for insane property prices and terrible landlords (such as a little-known businessman called Donald J. Trump), but also for being a very difficult place to drive in: traffic sucks, and finding somewhere to park your car is a Herculean, expensive exercise.

With that in mind, you can understand the allure of owning your own private parking spot in the middle of The Big Apple – but what’s a bit harder to understand is the truly insane prices some parking spots are going for.

For example, a firm called Centerpark is selling 23 parking spaces in a garage on Manhattan’s exclusive Upper East Side for a whopping US$350,000 (~AU$484,860) a pop. Other private parking spaces in Manhattan are going for half a million or even more. That’d buy you a whole house in New Jersey or Queens…

Private parking spots going for big money in New York is nothing that new, but prices have become even more heated since the COVID-19 pandemic. New Yorkers, like many city dwellers across America and the world, are increasingly ditching public transport for cars over fears of infection.

“So many people have said [they’re] not going to get on the subway again for a very, very long time,” Kirsten Jordan, the broker who’s marketing Centerpark’s spots, shared with Bloomberg.

“There are others saying, ‘I’m paying $60 to get from the Upper East Side to Tribeca [a roughly 11km or 30min drive] because Ubers are so expensive. It might make sense to buy a spot’.”

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New York isn’t the only city where this is happening – it’s happening in Sydney, too. A parking spot close to the CBD in bohemian Potts Point – the most densely populated suburb in Australia – sold for an eye-watering AU$225,000 mid last year, news.com.au reports.

Of course, the other price pressure has been on car prices themselves. Unprecedented demand for cars combined with a lack of new car stock thanks to a global computer chip shortage (another casualty of COVID) means that prices for second-hand cars have skyrocketed, particularly Down Under. More on that here.

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The post New York City Parking Spots Are Fetching Some Seriously Eye-Watering Prices appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Barack Obama once asked his 35 million followers (it was more like 32 at the time) on Instagram and Twitter to “try something new.”

“If you’re in the United States, send me a text at 773-365-9687—I want to hear how you’re doing, what’s on your mind, and how you’re planning on voting this year.”

Though this was back in 2020, one enterprising Instagram user, @dming.obama.until.he.responds, has made it their mission to pepper Obama with messages (until he responds) and is still going in 2022, having started on May the 14th 2020 (before Obama even asked his fans to text him, which happened in September 2020).

The Instagram user’s captions have evolved from the likes of “day one” and “day two” and “Day 6: I wish Obama was still president” (plus an honourable mention to “Day 12, I’m not going to forget again goddamnit”) to random statements (like the following: “Day 514: I don’t care how masculine you are Taylor swift has some fuckin BANGERS”).

The user has also hashtagged a wide variety of Instagram communities (and political groups), to try and get traction.

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A post shared by Dming Obama Until He Responds (@dming.obama.until.he.responds)

That has so far proved pretty futile. The Instagram account has posted 517 times, and only has 249 followers. This does not appear to have dented their confidence, however.

@dming.obama.until.he.responds has also been going for so long, their messages have lived through Instagram’s transition of a white background to Direct Messages to a black background (which appears to have happened in October 2020).

At the time of writing, as far as DMARGE could see, the most popular post on the page has received some 600 likes. Most recent posts, however, have received between 10 and 20 likes.

Though Obama doesn’t look like responding anytime soon, this is a heartwarming example of persistence for us all, and perhaps a much-needed dose of 2022 inspiration.

Obama – you up?

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The post Barack Obama Studiously Ignores Instagram User’s Bizarre Attempt To Slide Into His DMs appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Paris has traditionally played the role of Europe’s ‘old soul’.

While literary romanticism and a deep sense of history lingers in the air, Parisian men are channeling a more nonchalant, je ne sais quoi approach to contemporary style.

Les Parisiens have today crafted a seamless blend of France’s high-fashion ancestry – think Balmain, Saint Laurent and Dior Homme – with newcomer labels A.P.C, Ami and Maison Kitsuné.

It’s an ageless interpretation of what’s fashionable, keeping things simple and elegant.

How To Dress Like A Parisian

Most Parisian men have moved on from the beret and pencil-thin moustache, but some classics like the Breton tee, rollnecks and well-cut blazers remain. Not forgetting the refined bohemian who still wanders the cobble-stone streets in silk, linen and some floppy type of hat.

Key tip on how to dress like a Parisian? They are big on neatness (no hipster beards here) and impeccable fit, wearing clothes that highlight the silhouette, more so than big statement prints and look-at-me colours.

Active wear is big in the French capital too, mixing with traditional tailoring that changes with the seasons: tweed in winter, cotton in summer. But the coolest truc of all for how to dress like a Parisian, is the simple way they work the basics – effortlessly donning a bomber, jeans and tees.

Black Leather Jacket & Denim

Sourced from across the pond, Parisian’s have refined the retro American look of a leather paired with denim jeans. Beating the yanks at their own game, the Parisian pared-down bomber or moto jacket never boasts excessive hardware and is cut super sharp, from the shoulder to the tip of the leather boot.

Largely monochrome, it’s the fabric and fit that catches the eye, and the little refining details such as straps on boots and t-shirts layered under open button-downs. Working greys, white and blacks into one outfit is the Parisian way looking trés chic.

How To Layer Like A Frenchman

While Parisians are proud of their fashion ancestry – think berets, waistcoats and lapel pins, today’s Frenchmen likes to intermix classic pieces with more comfort-driven attire, and even pieces inspired by England. 

Smart casual looks are often tweed-ish with textural jackets or coats than look anglais, the fleck of sturdy wool offset by smooth, cotton shirting, and leather shoes.

Fans of activewear, sneakers often base a heritage-inspired outfit, matched with raw denim or indigo cotton trousers, which are cropped and relaxed. Like the Parisian, quirky leathergoods – think satchels and backpacks – are an essential carry-thing for transporting literature on your way to the Tuileries.

Relaxed Fit Menswear

Oh, just to flaneur the streets of Montmartre as the bohemian artist and ponder life. Being dressed like an artsy, intellectual is very Parisian and is carried-off best in lightweight linens, earthen tones and pops of colour brightening up the deep-thinking mood.

Key accessories are often beaded or made from natural fibres such as straw, then worked into more structured hats such as summery fedoras.

But elegance remains an important part of how to dress like a Parisian, and the traditional boho must also be relaxedly chic, with unstructured blazers and pleated trousers making elegant his breezy stride. Two-tone brogues in pastel-on-neutral hues anchor the refined, eclectic look.

Tailored Black & Blue Suits

Not ones for predictability, all-black looks aren’t enough for the Parisian – opting for the more difficile combination of black and navy. The look is sartorially savvy with pared-back suiting, with pops of white – whether it’s a shirt or simply a pocket square, breaking up the heaviness of the darker look.

The key combination for how to dress like a Parisian is a slim-fit tee or rollneck in black under a navy jacket; and then strip it back – losing the belt and socks with your lace-ups, adding a beanie and sunnies for a different kind of accessorising that feels quite français.

Vintage Denim

Taking the denim train that is chugging on through men’s wear this season, Parisians have caught on to the rustic simplicity of the indigo, cotton cloth.

But, unlike the more hipster antics of east London and Brooklyn in New York, French denim maintains its clean lines and classic washes (raw and mid-blue), without vintage hues or heavy signs of distress.

Key Parisian Fashion Items

Suits

For traditional, luxury suiting look to Lanvin or Saint Laurent for super slim. Minimalist, unstructured blazers and pants are made by A.P.C.

Outerwear

Leather jackets are French rock from Balmain and Surface To Air. Overcoats from Dior Homme are sophisticated, while Acne Studios offers clean minimalism. Sandro offers great trenches and pea coats.

Tops

Linen shirts from James Perse and simple rollnecks come from John Smedley. Grab a classic Breton shirt from Topman, Reiss or Allsaints, and button-downs (especially granddad collars) look exceptional from A.P.C.

Denim

Parisian denim makers AMI are a classic choice, as well as the clean-lined jeans from COS. Source your denim jackets from Levi’s and Neuw Denim.

Shoes

Frenchmen favour Nike sneakers for pared-down street style and more luxury kicks from Valentino. Bi-colour brogues from Paul Smith are a classic option, and leather Derbies in glossed back from AMI. Pebbly-leather Thom Browne Oxfords are super no-sock lace-ups.

The post Secrets To Dressing Like A Parisian When You’re Not One appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Rum. Perhaps no dark spirit in history comes from more humble and controversial beginnings.

Plantation slaves were the first to discover that molasses – a by-product of the sugar refining process and thought of as waste at the time – could be fermented into alcohol. Later this alcohol was purified into the first real rums.

Of course, rum has been popular for ages now, what with it being used as a currency and barter device in the early days of the American colonies, with pirates and navies getting famously paid in rum, the explosion of Bacardi in Cuba and rum-running during the Prohibition age.

Now, lo and behold, here we are in the Johnny Depp/Jack Sparrow rum era. So, with no further ado, let us introduce you to thirty of our favourite drops of kill-devil.

And remember, when you next ask yourself – with your girlfriend’s eyeliner on and your hands going all over the place – “why is the rum gone?” It’s probably because you’ve drank it.

So we look a bit deeper into the best rum and where to buy it.

Havana Club 3 Year Old

We’ll start off nice and easy here by saying that this should be your first port of call when it comes to rum for your home cocktail cabinet. Rum. Havana. Cuba. Hemingway. Mojitos. Cube Librés. One of the best rums.

You can see where we’re going with this? This is the perfect rum for mixing as its nice and light, and is a match made in heaven for that mint plant you’ve got growing in your garden or on your windowsill.

Saying that though, the best way we can think of enjoying a bottle is sitting with friends on the Malecón in Havana, where you can pick it up for about $3USD a litre.     

• Origins: Cuba
• 40% Alcohol

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Bundaberg Blenders Edition

At ninety dollars a pop, you might be thinking that a bottle of this is stretching the wallet a smidge too far. In response to this line of thinking we must retort thusly; have some bloody national pride! Bundaberg Rum is an Aussie icon… But this Bundy is a cut above your average bottle of UP.

But please, for the love of all that is holy, don’t mix this with coke. This is world-beating rum, a champion – and we’re not just waxing lyrical here. It was voted best rum in the world at the 2016 World Drink Awards.

Why? It might have something to do with the beautiful smoky aromas of tobacco, raisins and spices, or perhaps it’s the smoothness of the finish that simply beseeches you to have just one more drink.

So, magnificent bastards of Australia, we call upon you to both support a homegrown hero and do yourself a favour, and go out there and buy a bottle.

• Origins: Australia
• 40% Alcohol

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Pyrat XO

Now, it’s a somewhat universally accepted fact that old school pirates were awesome. Admittedly the majority of them were most probably murderous, thieving bastards with all the culture of yoghurt and the dental hygiene of a donkey, but they undoubtedly had style, and style counts for a lot.

Therefore there are only a few questions that need asking before you buy a bottle of Pyrat XO. Is it tasty? Hell yes. Does it come in a handmade bottle that is based on those used by 19^th century buccaneers?

Of course. Will you be the coolest, swashbuckling mothers son at any party you rock up to with a bottle of this tucked into your waistband? Undoubtedly.

• Origins: Guyana
• 40% Alcohol

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Sailor Jerry’s

C’mon, we know this isn’t the most refined rum out there, but there’s something about it that we find endearing. The bottle is a hands-down winner, and the rum itself isn’t actually that bad considering the price. It’s the overall package that we love here.

The fact that it comes from the famed tattoo artist Sailor Jerry Collins, the hula girl on the label which conjures images of young seamen getting pissed and inked on shore-leave. It’s a good spiced-rum, and with its tweaked and spicier recipe, it goes well with a drop of coke. Yes, you can drink the best rum with coke.

• Origins: Caribbean
• 40% Alcohol

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Appleton Estate Rare Blend 12

We can’t sit here chatting about rum and not mention Jamaica, and we can’t talk about Jamaican rum without paying homage to the good folk at Appleton Estate.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this grogs ubiquity makes it in any way, shape or form an unworthy addition to your cocktail cabinet – quite the opposite, good sirs. The fact that the Appleton Estate has managed to take the world by the soft and danglies, whilst still preserving the quality of their rums deserves special respect – especially when you consider these rum-makers have been churning out the good stuff since 1779.

In particular, this twelve-year-old rare blend is worth snaring, with its coffee and cream taste on the palate that works well with the other flavour hits that you come to expect from Caribbean rum, namely; caramelised bananas, orange peel and heaps of brown sugar.     

• Origins: Jamaica
• 43% Alcohol

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El Dorado 12 Year Old

This much-lauded drop might just be our top pick if you want to strike a balance between affordability and quality.

We might even go so far as to say that Demerara Distillers are on the losing end of the deal. Something that is unanimously agreed on is that to get the most of this rum you really want to drink it neat – that means no mixer and no ice.

Novice rum drinkers might cringe at the thought, but that’s the beauty of this twelve-year-old spirit, it’s just so sweet and rich and comfortable in the mouth – like drinking a much-loved armchair made from sugar and honey, and dusted with tobacco. Give it a go and you’ll see what we mean. 

• Origins: Guyana
• 40% Alcohol

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Kraken Black Spiced Rum

It’s the bottle that catches the eye and wins the prospective drinker over before the seal has even been broken with this distinctive rum. Happily, this spirit’s charm doesn’t stretch solely to bottle aesthetics, its got balls too.

The flavours are quite aggressive and punchy; cherry and dark coffee with nutty, peppery undertones. It’s good straight up or with a mixer, and undoubtedly adds a bit of character to any home bar.

Plus, with that beautiful Kraken illustration and the connotations it has to adventures on the high-seas, it’s just plain cool.

• Origins: Caribbean Blend
• 40% Alcohol

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FAIR Rum 5 Year Old

FAIR by name and fair by nature, this is one of those convenient alcoholic beverages that doesn’t just alleviate a man’s sense of sobriety, but also assuages any pesky feelings of guilt he might have at drinking it in the first place.

What we mean by that is this; the Belizean sugarcane used to make this lovely, smooth rum is all Fair Trade Certified and grown using sustainable and organic farming methods. If you’re a keen rum drinker then buying a bottle of this grog is basically your duty, and even if you don’t usually drink rum then do the world a service a go and purchase a bottle now.

Coffee, chocolate, vanilla and banana are all here on the palate, giving it an almost dessert-like quality. What’s not to love?

• Origins: Belize
• 40% Alcohol

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Angostura Gran Anejo 7 Year Old

Most of us are familiar with the name of Angostura because of their world-famous bitters, but this company has also been in the rum game for many, many years – since 1830 to be (fairly) precise.

This particular rum is pleasingly complex for how affordable it is. It’s made – as all Angostura rums are – from molasses, and is yet another rum on our list that is aged in old bourbon barrels from the States.

Flavour-wise you’re going to be picking up some spices, chocolate, burnt orange, coffee and a little light tobacco too. Basically, you’ve got the Caribbean in your glass.

Whilst you can drink it straight, we’d recommend mixing it into a Cube Libré to take the sting out of its tail on the finish.

• Origins: Trinidad & Tobago
• 40% Alcohol

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Mount Gay Black Barrel

Black Barrel sees the wise folk at Mount Gay blending together rums distilled via the double-pot and column distillation processes, before ending the ageing process in ex-bourbon barrels.

As you might expect, this has given rise to a rum that retains vanilla notes and a dry oaky character, more familiar with bourbon than rum. Having said that though, you’ll still find a pleasant molasses sweetness here – we enjoyed the boozy fruitiness particularly.

Basically, it’s a decent little everyday sipper, and you’ll be trying to find reasons to ditch reality and head out to the beach, straw hat and fishing rod in hand, to enjoy it. 

• Origins: Barbados
• 43% Alcohol

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Rumbullion!

From the truly magnificent bastards at Ableforth’s – the legends that gave us their sensational Navy-Strength Bathtub Gin – comes Rumbullion! Using a blend of Caribbean rums – sugarcane struggles in England apparently – this Kent-based company has knocked up a rather shipshape rum that will really warm the cockles on those cold winter nights and days out on the water. At about sixty bucks a bottle it’s not the cheapest rum on our list, but with it wrapped in brown paper and twine and sealed with wax, you get an element of nautical theatre for your doubloons. Also, if you enjoy this cracking winter warmer with some freshly squeezed lime, you’ll enjoy one hell of a drink too. 

• Origins: England
• 42.6% Alcohol

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Reserva De La Familia Serralles

Now there are a few things about this rum, some of them good and the other, well, not so great. We’ll start with the positives first though, and those are all to do with the taste.

This spirit was distilled in 1994 and aged for twenty years – in charred American oak barrels if you must know – before it was released to celebrate the 150^th birthday of the makers of the Don Q range.

The taste of the oak mingles beautifully with vanilla and fruit notes, and makes for one of the mellowest rums on the market. Now for the not so good aspect of this spirit – and it’s just a little thing – and that’s the price.

A bottle of this grog, well, it’s going to set you back round about two and half thousand of your hard-earned Australian dollars. So…yeah.    

• Origins: Puerto Rico
• 40% Alcohol

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Stolen Smoked Rum

Whereas the majority of the rums on our list are steeped in history, come from Caribbean rum estates that have been operating for two centuries or so, or are made from tried and tested recipes that have been handed down through the generations, this is not the case with this Kiwi company. Stolen is a contemporary brand that is shaking and stirring the rum world up. This is the world’s first smoked rum, and is infused with re-fractioned Columbian Arabica coffee. The warm roasted flavour that this develops harmonises wonderfully with a creamy sweetness from premium vanilla beans. The finish? Smooooooth, son.     

• Origins: New Zealand
• 42% Alcohol

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Trois Rivières Rhum Blanc

For such a boozy monster, this rum has some surprisingly bold flavours. There’s banana and a mixture of fruits, as well as a hint of dry grass. If you want our advice, keep things simple. If you’re going to mix a cocktail, a bit of lime juice and sugar syrup is all you really want. A unique best rum worth a run.

• Origins: Martinique
• 50% Alcohol

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Gosling’s Black Seal

This is rum made for a mixer – not through any inadequacy of its own – but because it’s spicy and deeply fruitful flavours cry out to be joined to something sweet and fizzy. You’ll really get a taste for the country of origin with this drink, as it is used in Bermuda’s national dish of fish chowder, as well as the Dark & Stormy (Black Seal and ginger beer) – the country’s national drink.

• Origins: Bermuda
• 40% Alcohol

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Abuelo Centuria

This is another celebratory rum, this time marking the 100^th anniversary of the family’s production of sugarcane. Unsurprisingly, for a blend that has been aged for up to thirty years (depending on the particular rum) in old Jack Daniels barrels, this is a punchy and rich number.

• Origins: Panama
• 40% Alcohol

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Rum Sixty Six Family Reserve

This is a big-hitter when it comes to flavours. Vanilla, dried fruits, spices and molasses (from which it is distilled) are made more complex thanks to twelve years of downtime in American oak barrels. Thank god this rum wasn’t kept just for the family that originally distilled it, as was the initial plan. 

• Origins: Barbados
• 40% Alcohol

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Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva

The first thing that springs to mind with this sweet tipple is that this would be a bloody interesting alternative to a dessert wine. It’s unashamedly sugary, not as balanced as other rums because there’s not a lot of wood flavour here, but that’s not the point. There’re all sorts of tasty after-dinner flavours vying for attention here: chocolate and banana and spiced fruit, even cloves. Come to think of it, just grab a bottle of this instead of the token and inevitably untouched Christmas pudding the next festive season.   

• Origins: Venezuela
• 40% Alcohol

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Plantation 20^th Anniversary XO Rum

This is the perfect place to start if you’re new to sipping rum, albeit a little bit of a pricy one. What can you expect for $85? Well, you’ll get a beautiful decanter-like bottle to start. The taste is buttery and creamy and rich, with vanilla and caramel playing major roles. Basically, it’s delicious and worth the money.

• Origins: Barbados
• 40% Alcohol

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The Duppy Share

This blend is the bastard offspring of a five year-old Barbados rum and it’s younger, three year-old Jamaican rum lover. And what a happy copulation! The result is a fun and bold rum that’s perfect for the beach. Also, for the rum nerd, the legend behind the name is that Duppy spirits were purported to range from island to island taking their share of liquor from rum casks, much as angels are said to take their portion of whiskey barrels as the whiskey matures.   

• Origins: Caribbean Blend
• 40% Alcohol

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Clement XO Rhum

Here’s another fancy pants rum for the connoisseurs amongst you. Yes, it will set you back about two hundred and sixty bucks, but if you love your rum you might find it worth the coin. This defines sipping rum. You’ll want your braided dressing gown, most comfortable slippers and pipe to hand when you uncork this beaut.    

• Origins: Martinique
• 44% Alcohol

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Saint James Cuvée 250^th Anniversary

You’ll get about ninety dollars change from one thousand here, but you’ll be able to say that you’re the proud owner of one of only eight hundred bottles of this special rum (although good luck tracking one down). It’s a veritable blended all-star squad of vintages from 1885, 1934, 1952, 1976, 1998 and 2000, brought together to celebrate 250 years of rum making. And no, we haven’t managed to get our hands on a bottle, but we hear it ain’t a bad drop. 

• Origins: Martinique
• 40% Alcohol

Inner Circle Green Dot Rum

Here’s another Aussie rum in the list at last. There’s not much to say except that this is overproof rum that has been nailed. It’s full-bodied and well rounded with a caramel start when you first take a sip that evolves into a smoky finish. The most amazing part though is that the high-level of alcohol doesn’t totally take over the taste. The same can’t be said for your neurons after three glasses, unfortunately. 

• Origins: Australia
• 57.2% Alcohol

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Clément Rhum Vieux Agricole Select Barrel

This generously priced liquor is very sweet and boozy, perfect for when the mood strikes and you want to drink and know that you’re drinking. It stays with you even after you’ve finished your drink and are pouring another, thanks to it’s earthy, fruity, spicy characteristics.

• Origins: Martinique
• 40% Alcohol

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Ron Zacapa Centenario Sistema Solera 23

This is a summer’s day rum, one for the boat when the fish aren’t biting and there’s nothing to do but swap stories with the boys and occasionally doze off. You want to serve this baby chilled, with an ice-cube to dilute, and you’ll be rewarded with a host of medal-winning flavours such as toasted almond, chocolate, pepper and apricot to name but a few.

• Origins: Guatemala
• 40% Alcohol

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Santa Teresa 1796

It’s a bit of a finicky rum this one, in the way that it might take you a while to find out the perfect ratio of rum to ice-cube. Too much and the honeyed flavours might dissipate, not enough and you’ll be left wanting more from it. It’s soft, but conversely spicy, making it one that everyone should find something to like about.   

• Origins: Venezuela
• 40% Alcohol

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Zaya Gran Reserva 12

This is great for those of you with a sweet tooth. You’ll want to drink it neat however, with no ice, as this will cloud its primary complexities, and you’ll be missing out if you do that with papaya and candied orange at the forefront.

• Origins: Trinidad
• 40% Alcohol

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Flor De Caña 12 Centenario

If you’ve ever experienced the joy of travelling through Central America than the name of this rum will be like an old friend to you.

It’s everywhere over there, and whilst the cheaper stuff can give you a hangover that’ll make you think someone has pulled your brain out of your ear, thrown it at a wall and then put it back in, this particular drop is a real winner.

It’s multi-faceted in its taste due to the volcanic soil that the sugarcane used to make it is grown in – which gives it a certain dryness – combined with its oak barrel ageing that lends it notes of tobacco and vanilla.

• Origins: Nicaragua
• 40% Alcohol

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Ron Abuelo 12 Años

The Varela family who make this rum are doing fine. Not only do they have the luxury of growing their very own sugarcane to use in their products, but also one of the brothers was recently elected President of Panama.

Now, you’d be thinking that this bunch would be running a pretty tight ship and that the rum would be pretty grand – and you’d be spot on. This is a great end of night rum, with its rich, dark, sugary taste.

There’s something quite festive about it too: a good drop for a Christmas Day fishing trip with your more nautical chums.

• Origins: Panama
• 40% Alcohol

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Afrohead 7 Year

Really, it’s the combination of a great name, funky label and tasty rum at an excellent price, which won us over with Afrohead. Rum purists might be muttering into their beards here, accusing us of lunacy and of leading crooked lives.

That’s because the Harbour Island Rum Company – who make Afrohead – buy their rum from other producers to make their labels and blends. This might seem like sacrilege to the seasoned rum drinker, but, at the end of the day, this is just a damn drinkable rum that won’t have you re-mortgaging the house.  It’s spicy and rich, with banana, brown sugar and vanilla notes that really evoke the Caribbean in the mind’s eye. 

• Origins: Trinidad
• 40% Alcohol

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The post Yo Ho Ho: The Best Rum Brands To Try In 2022 appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

While watch brands love to talk about new model releases or brand ambassadors, they’re normally pretty tight-lipped about discontinuation or price increases – and no brand is more secretive than Rolex, the world’s biggest watchmaker and the most famous luxury brand on the planet.

Hell, Rolex is so tight-lipped about price increases that, according to insiders, they don’t even give their dealers that much of a heads-up – only revealing price increases as little as two weeks ahead of time. There’s no real set schedule for price increases, either, but it’s true that they’ve been more frequent over the last decade or so.

DMARGE can confirm that as of the 1st of January, Rolex has indeed increased their retail prices for 2022… And not only that, but Australians have got a particularly raw deal.

The first thing worth noting is that the price increases aren’t even across the board. The average price increase was around 3-4%, but some models saw far greater price increases. Specifically, stainless steel models from Rolex’s “Professional” collection – which includes popular models like the Daytona, Explorer, GMT-Master and Submariner – saw average price increases of 10% or more.

But on top of that, it appears that in many cases, Australian prices for some models were increased more than prices in other markets. For example, the Rolex Submariner ‘No Date’ (ref. 124060-0001) saw a 10.3% price increase in Italy and a 10.5% price increase in the United States, but a whopping 13.5% increase in Australia.

What gives? Well, it’s a function of the Australian dollar’s performance against the Swiss franc. On top of that, Rolex (indeed, many retailers) engages in what we’d like to call “aesthetic rounding”: that is, they like to round up their prices so that they end on a zero. You’ll never see a Rolex retail for $9,468; it’ll go for $9,500. If you catch our drift.

Rolex does go to great lengths to try and make sure their watches cost roughly the same no matter where you are in the world, in order to balance supply and demand. In that sense, we’re not being singled out – this isn’t an example of the ‘Australia Tax’ i.e. because we’re a small, geographically isolated market. It’s just due to our weaker dollar.

RELATED: ‘Disgusting’: The Real Reason You Can’t Buy A Rolex Revealed

The million-dollar question is this: will the price increase affect the current ‘Rolex drought’? Probably not. It will probably just further push prices up on the second-hand/after/grey market (whatever you want to call it), but it’s hard to tell by how much. Prices on the aftermarket have long been rather disconnected and much higher than retail prices anyway…

All this means is that Australians will still continue to pay way too much for new Rolex watches, but we’re not significantly worse off than other consumers in other markets.

RELATED: Canada, China or Colombia? Where To Score Rolex’s Hard To Find Models

Aftermarket prices might become slightly higher in Australia as a reaction to the higher local retail price, but there’s unlikely to be a notable discrepancy between local aftermarket prices and overseas aftermarket prices – if prices get too silly locally, Aussies will just buy from overseas sellers, such is the nature of the beast.

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The post What The 2022 Rolex Price Increase Means For Australian Consumers appeared first on DMARGE Australia.