First Anniversary: RumDood.com

Wow, seriously?  It’s been a year?  I didn’t even prepare a speech or anything.  It’s true, RumDood.com turns 1 year old today.  It’s been a crazy year too.

When I started this blog, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with it.  My first post was about breaking both of my arms the day before I was in my best friend’s wedding.  A few weeks later I posted a restaurant review, followed by a random image post, and then – finally – a rum review.

Of course, all of those posts happened OVER a year ago.  At the time, this was “tehdood.com”, a site with no purpose or focus.  Two days after posting my first rum review, I registered “RumDood.com” and forged ahead into the rummy wilderness without a clue as to what I was doing.

From there I’ve found myself blogging about rum, cocktails, and drinking-related events.  I’ve posted 16 rum reviews, participated in 10 Mixology Mondays, posted 5 original cocktail recipes, toured two rum distilleries, sat as a judge in a rum tasting competition, attended Tales of the Cocktail, numerous spirits tastings, and a Tiki Bar Crawl.  In a week I’ll be in London to attend UK RumFest.

Some interesting tidbits (at least to me):

  • A year ago my rum collection was about 12 bottles.  Today I have over 90 rums.
  • The most popular post on RumDood.com is the review of Ron Zacapa Centenario, with almost 6000 pageviews
  • While I didn’t start tracking visits until December 2007, since that time almost 17,000 people have visited the site

It’s been a wild ride and a ton of fun.  I can’t wait to see what’s coming up next.  Most importantly, I want to thank all of the people that come here to read, research, comment, and generally make this blog or site or whatever I should call it my favorite hobby/obsession of all time.  As much fun as I have doing all of this, it wouldn’t be nearly as fun without all of you.

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Rick

    October 17, 2008, 16:09

    Congrats Matt! It’s great to have you as part of our cocktail community. I can always turn to you when I need to know which rums to sub for various cocktails.

  • Silvio

    October 17, 2008, 16:24

    Congratulations, perhaps we shall share celebratory drinks at the UK RumFest to honour this.

  • Matt Robold

    October 17, 2008, 16:56

    I think the greatest thing I’ve done as an advocate for rum is getting Rick to come around and see the way and the light of Wray & Nephew Overproof. 😉

  • Dr. Bamboo

    October 17, 2008, 20:48

    Congrats! You’ve certainly managed to cram a lot of rum-centric activity into one year.

    And since I just got a bottle of Wray & Nephew overproof…send me some suggestions as to what to do with it!

  • Jay Hepburn

    October 17, 2008, 21:02

    Congratulations Dood! Keep up the good work. Look forward to catching up with you at Rum Fest…

  • Natalie - The Liquid Muse

    October 18, 2008, 03:35

    Congratulations, Rum Dood! Sounds like you’ve found your voice and your favorite topic. Takes some people a lifetime to do that!

    xo The Liquid Muse

  • Tiare

    October 20, 2008, 11:16

    Congrats Dood! your blog is one of the best out there!

    Did show the way and the light of Wray & Nephew Overproof to Rick?..welldone! he`s soon going to be able to pair it with Ting!

  • Jacob

    October 20, 2008, 18:21

    Congrats, Dood!

  • H.C.

    October 27, 2008, 22:11

    Congratulations! Here’s to another blogiversary of great rum discoveries and cocktail adventures!