Plantation Multi-island XO

A very rare 5 for me. Not a big rum connoisseur but branching out from bourbons, scotch and mezcal.... WOW. Single cask, 46.5%, matured in French wine cask, aged in bourbon then cognac, cask #1, bottle #111. Distilled at West Indies distillery long pond and Clarendon. This is the pick intended for Ticonderoga club in Atlanta that somehow ended up at Holeman & Finch bottleshop. The nose is filled with vanilla, banana and heated raw sugar. Pineapple is present but less so. Oak finishes the nose The palate is all kinds of vanilla, cream, apple, banana, burned sugars and caramel. It finishes with a heavy dose of allspice, cinnamon, anise and clove. Finish is oily at first but quickly dries into a puckering spice. Phenomenal liquid.

This is a 2017 Hi-Time Liquor store pick. Rums from Guyana, Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica are aged 10 years in Bourbon casks, then 2 years in Cognac casks and finally 1 year in Peaty Arran Scotch casks. Part of Plantation’s Single Cask line. Not sure how that works. Bottle 266 from cask no. 3 41.7 ABV Nose - Chocolate cream puff, Hershey’s chocolate syrup, banana, hazelnut, barrel spice, coffee liquor, hints of mango, vanilla and cinnamon. Palate - Almost silky with balanced sweetness, much more barrel spice than the nose, molasses, chocolate, vanilla, a little coffee and a hint of mango and orange. Finish - Medium length with the barrel spices lingering until the end. Good stuff.