Ok, I said that I was reviewing all of my Barceló rums now, but most of them are mixing rums. I actually ran out of limes, and I am NOT paying $3 for 4 tiny brown limes at the bodega. So I’ll go buy some proper juicy 6 for $1 limes when I go to the grocery store soon. For now, let me do a weird one from the Dominican Republic. This is a celebrity rum for Johnny Ventura, a legend of Dominican Merengue. Art-is-anally hand crafted small batch ultra-premium collector’s yadda yadda you get it.

Note: I am seeing lots of inconsistent “aged up to X years” claims, but the bottle has no age statement.

Review

Also before I go into nosing or tasting, when I first got the rum, in a clear glass cup with no ice, I noticed that the rum is full of flocules. I guess it’s unfiltered? Not really a problem for me, I just was curious why they didn’t filter it.

Smell

No smell. I put my nose into it until the tip touched the rum, and I couldn’t smell it.

Taste

Sweet. A bit of burn. That’s it. There’s basically no flavor here, and if I really swish it around my mouth, I get the tiniest bit of rum taste.

Verdict 4/10

It reminds me of Oliver & Oliver rums. Smooth, sweet, flavorless, and boring. I’d hate to call it worse than Bacardi, because it’s so much less harsh for sipping neat, but it’s just so flavorless, that I can’t imagine picking this bottle up again. 4/10