Rum for Connoisseurs.

The best preface I can give you for this review is to just ask you to read my previous reviews on Oliver & Oliver rums.

Story

The giant XOX on the front lets us know that this rum is very old and very good, and the giant 50 right below it means it’s 50 years aged. Well, not really. They write “Aniversario” in such small cursive font that it’s hard to read without the bottle being right in your face, and I think that’s intentional. I don’t like it when liquor brands put a large number on the front to heavily imply an age statement when it’s not. My least favorite number is 23.

I mentioned a few reviews ago that I will name and shame Taíno Gifts in Punta Cana. Well, here goes.

Originally, I was going to go to the Barceló center to see how they make rum. Sure, Barceló mostly contracts out stills, but I was still interested, and they make decent rum. Anyway, our tour company screwed us over so many times, that my aunt (who sort of does all of the vacation planning) canceled everything we had booked because the company was just unbelievably bad at their job. And, included in what was canceled was my trip to Barceló. So, to make it up to me, she booked me to… the Oliver & Oliver gift shop. I mean, look, I get it, she was trying to fix a bad situation, and I do appreciate that. But man, Taíno Gifts, which is the Oliver & Oliver gift shop in Punta Cana, is suuuuch a tourist trap. The prices are insane. To be honest, I was only looking at the prices of the rum, because that’s what I am into, but Puntacana Club Tesoro was $129. Its literally less than $40 in the US, at a liquor store here in NYC— not just on the liquor store’s website that might be out of date, I saw it on a shelf for $38. Likewise, Taíno is selling E. León Jímenez 110 Aniversario for $250. Punta Cana airport duty free, which doesn’t exactly have the best prices, has it right now, on shelves, for $150.

But I was booked for a “rum education and tasting”, and so I went to it. The teacher legitimately was just saying things. He said that the first country to distill rum was Jamaica, said that Spanish-style rum is always sweet because it’s based on Cuban rum. When presenting our first rum (Puntacana Club XOX), he said it’s a 25-year-old rum. I exclaimed “wow, 25 years old?” and he quickly corrected himself— 25 year solera. He told us how the best rum has lots of legs when you swirl the glass, and is dark when you hold a sheet of paper behind it, and then legitimately tried to convince us that Puntacana Club XOX was the darkest of the bunch, even though it was abundantly clear, and everyone in the class agreed, that Unhiq XO was the darkest rum.

The class was murmuring about this, so I raised by hand and said that to me, Unhiq XO looks the darkest, and he clarified that darkness is not about the color of the rum, but of the age, and Puntacana XO is aged 25 years, therefore it’s the darkest.

What a joker.

To be fair, the Taíno gift shop very frequently simply calls these rums “25-years-old”, full stop, so it’s not just the teacher getting it wrong.

He also made it a point that swirling a rum around and seeing the legs shows that it’s a quality aged rum because it’s been aged more. There’s a lot to break down there, and I made a post about this recently, but the long and short is that sometimes the legs are more pronounced from being more mature, sometimes, it’s from higher ABV, and sometimes, it’s because glycerin and sugar are added. Knowing what I know about how my 1-3 year old Puntacana Club Silver Dry had very well defined legs… I am not inclined to believe that the legs of Puntacana XOX necessarily prove anything.

Anyway, I got a sheet with a description of the rums, and this is what it said about Puntacana XOX, translated to English:

This complex, contemporary rum is a connoisseur’s fantasy. From the visual impact of the fiery tears gliding down the glass to the sweet, subtle bouquet of Port wine—the spices, the smoked wood, and their sensual persistence combine to form an authentic symphony. On the palate, it offers a very comfortable entry, with a smooth, unctuous flow, volume, and body. The Malvasia grape bestows upon it a delicate sweetness, while the finish reveals an elegant tannic note.

Notes:

Price: The price for this rum in US liquor stores is around $60, but at Taino gift shop, it’s around $160.

Base fermentable: Some retail sites say molasses, but their official site says miel de la caña (sugarcane honey) which is a sugarcane juice syrup. Since they buy bulk rum from Trinidad (definitely from Angostura, which is molasses) and from Panama (highly likely from Varela Hermanos, which is sugarcane juice), as well as from various other countries, it’s probably a blend of both.

Origin: Cask Cartel says that it’s a blend from five countries. My guess is the same as the rest of the Puntacana Club lineup: bulk rum from Nicaragua, Colombia, Panama, Trinidad, and the Dominican Republic.

Aging: The claim is that it is aged in a solera style in American and French oak casks, then finished for 3-6 months in port casks, with either the oldest portion 25 years old, or 25 years is the actual age statement. Claims differ.

Please take the above information with a very large grain of salt, as Oliver & Oliver is not known for their transparency in terms of their ingredients, additives, and production, and retail sites and their distributor have wildly different claims about how it’s made and what’s in it. Not a good sign.

Review

Smell

Pretty light on the nose. Vanilla, caramel brown sugar, but it’s hard to nose it because it’s so light.

Taste

Again, very sweet. I get a nice rich oak, vanilla, a slight bit of wine, and it’s smooth and doesn’t burn very much. I actually snuck in a small bottle of Barceló Imperial, because I thought that I was going to the Barceló center this morning, so I wanted to use that as my litmus test during taste testing. But, I get to use it here instead. And compared to Barceló Imperial, Puntacana Club XOX is about equally woody, has a bit more of a wine taste, and is way sweeter, to the point where I think it’s hiding the flavor of the rum itself. But, I do like that there’s a bit more of a deep, rich, caramelly taste.

Verdict 5.75/10

In cognac, XOX means that the eau-de-vie was kissed by the master blender so that it knew that it was loved. Jokes aside, your guess is as good as mine as to what XOX means here.

Overall, between XOX and Barceló Imperial, it’s hard to pick which I like more. And that’s the most frustrating part of this entire exercise. Puntacana Club XOX tastes like a slightly deeper, richer, better rum than Barceló Imperial. The oak is there, the wine finish adds a nice touch… it’s genuinely pleasant. But, that rum is buried under 19g/L of added sugar, and who knows what else, designed to make it “smooth” for a tourist’s palate. Oliver & Oliver has proven with this rum, as well as with Tesoro, that they can source and blend a spirit with real potential. They can source good quality stock and age it well. But they don’t trust you to appreciate it… they want you to drink the sweet, smooth, adulterated version (aka the version that’s easier to sell to someone on vacation who doesn’t know any better). So, they drown it in additives, put it in a stunning bottle, slap a huge number on the front, and charge a premium meant to trick you into thinking that you’re buying luxury. Oliver & Oliver isn’t rum for connoisseurs— it’s rum for gullible tourists. The entire brand goes out of its way to ensure that no actual connoisseur would ever want to drink it.

So how do I score this? I’m conflicted. The rum here genuinely is good. It’s not fantastic, but there was some real depth and richness. If it was bottled at 43% and 0g added sugar, it would easily be a 6.5/10. But with the sweetness masking the nuance, I honestly don’t know if I would choose this over Barceló Imperial. Maybe by just the tiniest bit. 5.75/10.

Also, let’s talk value. $60 in the US is already overpaying for this rum. If you like smooth sippable solera rums, for this price, I’d rather you go for Santa Teresa 1796 (or even Zacapa 23). Both are much better. Regardless, the price at this gift shop is just bonkers.