Mount Gay Eclipse Rum

Part of a Mt Gay rum tasting trio from Flaviar. I'm somewhat new to critical rum reviews. I've had many, many "sipping rums" on my travels through Florida, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. The 2021 New Year marked a more serious appreciation for this spirit and my love for Foursquare is pretty intense. Let's see what this iconic brand brings to the party. The pour is a light brass. A swirl shows multiple thin legs and light sheeting that dissipates quickly. I anticipate this will be just a touch thin. I gave it a good 5 minutes to rest and tasted neat from a glencairn. The nose is slight cotton candy, cut grass, gently butterscotch. The nose is thankfully free of any ethanol or chemical notes. It's very soft, but clean and appealing. On the palate this rum continues its lightweight journey. Surprisingly this is reminding me of Japanese whisky, particularly Suntory's Toki. Very light and delicate. It is not at all complex. There's a slight sweetness, a touch of honey, a bit of caramel, very light white pepper and a short, clean finish. There's a blush of ginger. and a light sweetness remains on the palate after a swallow. This is the antithesis of demanding. The finish is short, clean and combines sweet with a touch of sour lemondrop. Interesting, I get no banana or fruit. I get more banana from a Belgian ale than is present in this by an order of magnitude. This is okay as a sipper, but not good enough to be enthusiastic. It might be a reasonable mixer, but its ephemeral taste profile means it will get lost quickly in multi-element cocktails. I'm thinking this is a good choice for a highball with Q soda and an orange zest twist. It might also be interesting to mix this into something Manhattan-like with an Ambrato vermouth That's probably my next experiment. This is a $20 bottle. It's certainly a good value with no fatal flaws for its inexpensive market position. It's really not my thing, but I'm not hating on it. I'll happily trade a 90% full 750ml bottle of Toki for a 50% full bottle of this! I rate on a scale where 1 is undrinkable for me and 5 is a perfect example of the expression. Looking at a bell curve, most competently made liquors should sit between 2 and 3 with the peak at 2.5. I think this is an honest 2.75 and that's not a bad thing at this price point.

Rating: 10/23 I had this back in the day, before I started writing reviews. I was pretty sure that I didn't want to buy another full bottle of it, but I was lucky enough to stumble upon a sample. E: Surprisingly light in my glass. Not a good sign. N: Not much action here. I get some burn sugar and orange peel. The alcohol is also showing through here. P: Pretty smooth. A bit of a burn and some harshness toward the end though. There's plenty of burnt sugar mixed with a bit of what must be barrel tannins with perhaps a hint of clove, but there's also a nice tropical note I get plentiful oranges with perhaps hints of pineapple, mango, and banana. I do get a little of the alcohol at times. The palate is not very full and it actually isn't as boldly bitter as I might have made it sound. The complexity is really not there, but the balance is adequate. This is actually substantially more pleasant than I'd expected based on the nose. F: Bitter, a tad numbing, alcohol, generally light. Forgettable and almost missable even while I'm experiencing it. - Conclusion - This doesn't have enough force to be a great mixer, nor does it have the fullness and/or complexity to be an enjoyable sipper. It's super bland, but not exactly objectionable. Is it below a 12? Yes. Is it worse than Don Q Añejo? Yes, but not as much worse as I'd expected. I could go for a 9 or 10 for this one. I appreciate the substantially increased fullness of Plantation 3 Stars relative to this, which is what pushes that over the line into the better sipper category for me. I did briefly consider giving this an 11, but I'm going to land on a 10 here.

Allspice and warmth up front, cream soda and banana momentarily walk on stage, almost has a Sarsaparilla presentation in spiciness, full mouthfeel but not entirely juicy. Addendum: Done with a Glencairn Glass: The color is pure gold, no hint of brown whatsoever, and pleasantly, not reminiscent of urine whatsoever which is what I expected. Aroma is full of an astringent quality head on, but it's not terrible or putting me off from drinking, there is also a lot of pepper head on, some nuttiness and a bit of vanilla cake. Taste is very mellow and sweet but turns spicy (like sweet baking spices and a bit of clove) very strongly and burns all the way down the throat.

Upfront, this isn’t a Maritime rum at all! Yes, it has exotic features like the pure coral filtered spring water... however, this rum is more along the whiskey lines... it’s not sweet (Compared to Sailor Jerry’s Rum). As a single malt scotch guy, I do love my Three Canes Rums. I took a chance on this, and to my shgrin, I can honestly say, I AM NOT A FAN!

A complex, Gold Rum by Master Distiller Allen Smith for Mount Gay Distilleries Ltd in Barbados. It has an aromatic birth with notes of banana, apricot, fresh flowers & vanilla; while a thick & tart life adds notes of fruit, toasted oak, smoke, herbs & spices; that leads to a warm & spicy death with notes of oak, honey & lemon. March 2021

Sweet honey and cake batter notes, with smoke and brine in the mid palate. Very smooth and drinkable. Surprisingly sweet for something unadulterated. Overall, a very nice entry-level pour that kicks above its cost, but lacks the complexity and finish to compete with the big boys