Diplomático Blanco Rum

I’m a little torn on this one. Maybe confusion attributed to what the eyes see and what the tongue and palate feels. First off, it has a very creamy and robust nose with much deeper and boozy molasses notes than a typical silver/light rum. Distant aged wood grain and earthiness follow in with sharp alcohol fumes, more expressive of a young spirit. In the mouth, it starts off with faint sweetness with brown sugar, almond, warming spices and strangely; a little sticky herbaceousness and papery,tongue depressor type woodiness. The finish is surprisingly hot and dry considering the spirit’s initial mild sweetness. It’s not smooth and refined like an aged rum, but has mild woodiness and richer flavors, however muted, like one. This isn’t a sipper, just like most silver rums, but isn’t something I like to use in cocktails with a lot of competing ingredients either. This does make great daiquiris and will keep experimenting. Probably not a selection I’d spend the extra couple $ on again.

This is the older version of their white rum, which has been renamed Diplomatico Planas. This is not a rum I tend to reach for when making cocktails, but its solid, unfortunately though a bit more pricey than other white rums, which are better. The nose features vanilla and coconut. On the palate the sweetness is front and center, with a bit of pepper. The finish fades quickly, but doesn't have a ton of burn and you get the hint of tropical fruit. It's a decent white rum and if it wasn't for the price I would probably move it up a bit. In the end, if I had to update my previous white rum rankings, with the addition of Diplomatico, Cruzan Diamond & Mount Gay Silver, it would go: 1. Privateer 2. Havana Club 3. Barbancourt 4. Mount Gay 5. El Dorado 6. Cruzan Diamond 7. Diplomatico 8. Cana Brava 9. Banks 5 Island 10. Flor de Cana 11. Angostura

rivals wray and nephew overproof in flavor without the overproof