896 Gold Rum 5 Year

Rating: 10/23 N: Kind of smoky and spicy with a bit of slightly fake caramel and a hair of funky tropical fruit. There's something a tad sweaty to the nose as well. Not a ton going on here and it's very light compared with something like Appleton Estate 12, unfortunately. P: It's smooth and balanced. The flavor has a bourbony character to it that reminds me a tad of Ron Zacapa, though less pronounced and eccentric. It's sweet with some bite from spices, but it avoids the alcohol harshness. There's smoke with some of that firework flavor (bitter and a bit tart) that indicates it's a rum. Possibly solid as a sipper for the price range, but definitely young with a substantial alcohol flavor and a bit of artificial caramel flavor. There's plenty of vanilla along with some caramel that tends toward light butterscotch. It's quite sweet, but the fireworks balance it out. This is an acceptably solid rum. It's a bit harsh and not Uber complex, but there is some decent caramel with some soft peanut flavor that has some baking spices and a bit of mild wood before giving way to hints of tropical fruit. It's not really full, but it's passable and could be a fun alternative to a light rum in a mixed drink. F: The caramel, smoke, and spices linger for a while, but so does the alcohol burn and it gets kind of muddled. This is a passable $15 rum. It's a bit young in flavor and in harshness, but not too bad. The complexity and fullness could definitely use some work, since it has nothing on Appleton Estate 12 and Doorly's 12. Not amazing, but not objectionable. I can imagine trying to sip this and I'd have no problem using it in a cocktail to substitute for a light rum, but I think I'd prefer Blackwell, Plantation Xaymaca or Doorly's XO for a few bucks more, or Doorly's 12 for a few bucks more than that. I'm going with something in the 9 to 11 range. 10 seems about right.

A delicate, aged Rum from Barbados that has an aromatic birth with notes of sugar cane, wood, nuts, herbs & spices; while a rich life adds notes of vanilla & caramel that led to a long & balanced finish. May 2018 /

Thought it was a good rum for making dark and stormy’s, quite young for neat and lacked depth