Another rum I had while in the Dominican Republic. I thought that this one was not by Oliver & Oliver, but, after doing some research following my initial note taking, it turns out that it's totally by Oliver & Oliver. Usually they like to slap their name on their bottles, but in this case, it's a celebrity rum for Enrique Iglesias. Oh boy, Oliver & Oliver AND finished in cognac AND a celebrity product. 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 Smells primarily of alcohol, with the faintest hint of sweetness and vanilla. Taste Primarily alcohol and pretty flavorless. It's not that harsh, and it's pretty easy sipping, especially with some ice. But it really doesn't have much flavor— even Puntacana Club XOX, which is a similar "25 year" solera, has at least a decently nice deep rich woody flavor. It has some faint notes of vanilla, sweetness, oak, and perhaps brown sugar. The finish is very short, but it's slightly floral similar to Puntacana Club XOX. Verdict {rating}/10 I pretty much feel the same way about this rum as I did with my previous review of Legado El Caballo Mayor, and most Oliver & Oliver rums. Sweet, flavorless, and not bad, but not really worth your time either.

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 {rating}/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

Time to finish up Barceló. Going to have one more post after this, and then that will be basically their entire core lineup. Not sure if I want to go for all the different finishes for Imperial. Review Smell Surprisingly, still has some nice vanilla and oak smell, along with the prevailiang alcohol smell. Side by site with Bacardi gold, it smells about the same. Taste I was surprised after trying Blanco by how much less Dorado sucks. It has more oak and vanilla flavor, has a fuller body, and actually tastes like rum. It might be close to Brugal Añejo in flavor. Bacardi gold burns about the same, and the flavors are different, where Bacardi gold is more of that classic vanilla coconut rum flavor, while Barceló Dorado is noticably more dominican, and it's in the same flavor vein as Brugal and Bermudez. In a daiquiri, the trend continues. Makes a decent daiquiri, not much better than Bacardi gold, but the rums are just very different terroirs. Barceló Dorado just has more of an oaky floral note to it. Side by side with a Brugal Añejo daiquiri, the Brugal is noticably better, but the taste is very similar. The Barceló is just more watered down. Verdict {rating}/10 Barceló Blanco was a real disappointment. Flavorless and sweet. Barceló Dorado came out a bit ahead. Not by much, we're still talking about mixers here, and just as Brugal Añejo falls short of Havana Club 3 for mixed drinks, so too does Barceló Dorado fall short of Brugal Añejo. It's a judgement call in terms of whether it's better than Bacardi gold.

Time to finish up Barceló. Going to have one more post after this, and then that will be basically their entire core lineup. Not sure if I want to go for all the different finishes for Imperial. Review Smell Smells like alcohol and nothing else. Taste It's pretty flavorless and noticably sweet. There's a tiny hint of vanilla, but not as much as the bolder vanilla and coconut flavor of Bacardi, and the sweetness is distracting. Nowhere near as flavorful. In fact, I pulled out my bottle of Parrot Bay and I would say it's about tied in terms of lacking flavor and having unnecessary sweetness. In a daiquiri, Blanco is still worse than Bacardi. The cocktails are the same burn but for less flavor. Verdict {rating}/10 Barceló Blanco was a real disappointment. Flavorless and sweet. Barceló Dorado came out a bit ahead. Not by much, we're still talking about mixers here, and just as Brugal Añejo falls short of Havana Club 3 for mixed drinks, so too does Barceló Dorado fall short of Brugal Añejo. It's a judgement call in terms of whether it's better than Bacardi gold.

I've been collecting little bottles of orange liqueurs for a while. Saw a 50mL of Cointreau and Grand Marnier, and of course I bought a whole bottle of Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao for Mai Tais. But then, when I got a sample of Clément Créole Shrubb, I knew that I had to do an experiment. Review Smell Definitely smells of orange, something spicy like cinnamon and vanilla, sweetness, and the grassy smell of agricole. It's like an orange spiced tequila. Taste The taste is pretty wild and unique. The underlying agricole rum is very interesting and suits this flavor profile. Spicy, sweet, fruity, and it's honestly not too grassy/briny, but there's some good depth and complexity here. It's hard to pick out any individual spice from the mix because it's all so subtle, but I really like the mix. It has this really nice finish that is floral and fruity. I also tried it in a Mai Tai. I actually took the opportunity to compare several different orange liqueurs, and Créole Shrubb won the contest for my favorite, barely edging out PF Dry Curacao and Grand Marnier. I hope to do this again when... I know a bit more about what I'm talking about. Verdict {rating}/10 It's hard to compare this rum to other rums, since it's more like a spiced rum or spirit drink. And in that regard, it might well be the best one that I have ever tried, just because it does it well for the task, which is to be a complex and flavorful mixer for when the recipe calls for an orange liqueur, such as a Mai Tai. I would not drink it neat, and its use is situational, but I can see it easily elevating cocktail recipes that call for basic orange-flavored liqueurs.

Whenever I try things at the NY rum club bottlesharing events, I always write all of my feelings down for each rum. That said, I usually only actually write reviews for the first few rums that I try. For one, I usually go for the ones that I am most excited about first. Also, I tend to be the most sober at the start, and by the end of the tasting, my notes start to be less and less... useful. For instance, towards the end of the April tasting, my notes for Perennia Caroni 27 Year from Raising Glasses were "Very fruity, contact cement, Gigabyte. It's a roller coaster and I am not tall enough to ride." But finally, I will occasionally taste a palate killer. After this sort of rum, I am basically no longer able to feel the subtler nuances of a rum, as it completely dominates my palate for a while. This is one such rum. > Note: It is aged 13 years in ex-bourbon, then finished for 4 years in 2nd fill French oak barrique. The say "we transferred this rum", so that implies the last 4 years were definitely in the UK. Unknown if any of the prior 13 years were in Guyana or also in the UK. Review Smell Overwhelming nose. The name said glue, and I definitely get that. Perhaps even contact cement. But then it opens up into fruity notes, something earthy like prunes or dried fruit, and finally the oak and vanilla. The smell is kind of sweet, perhaps molasses or brown sugar. Taste Of course I took a sip the way that it is, and it's overwhelming. Definitely begs for ice or water. Contact cement, intensely earthy, sour, and bitter. Completely overwhelming to my palate. It burns like a shot of 151 all the way down my throat. After adding a few drops of water, to what's left at the bottom of my cup, it opens up to something very dry and not nearly as fruity as the nose suggests, but back to familiar territory, the classic El Dorado flavors: prunes, raisins, those types of dried fruits. Someone brought some El Dorado PM/DHE, and I tried it right after, and it's not exactly the same, there's some difference, but it's not a large one, and I don't quite know how to articulate the difference. Both are in the same ballpark. Verdict {rating}/10 This rum is definitely complex and challenging. I hope to some day better appreciate it, and to someone who is really into high octane Demerara rums, this might be your 9/10. To me, it was a fun experience, and I am glad to have tried it, but if I had this in my liquor cabinet, it would sit for a while, hopefully waiting for a time that I can better appreciate it. It's good, perhaps even great, but kind of like a full strength Hampden rum, I just am overwhelmed and it's not something I would relax with, and the industrial and cement flavors just are kind of harsh and off-putting for me right now.

This is a bit of an interesting one. The only Panamanian rum that I have had is Ron Abuelo, and that's from Varela Hermanos. Another distillery in Panama is Las Cabras, with Don Pancho as the master distiller. I've heard a lot about them, but I have never had the chance to actually give his rum a try until now. > Note: It says it's aged 21 years in ex-bourbon. Everything online pours about how it's made in the Cuban style, but I could not find any evidence that they actually age and rectify it before aging it again, so I am going to assume that it's probably a marketing gimmick to appeal to Americans, for whom Cuban rum is this mysterious forbidden fruit. Review Smell Strong and rich, with notes of vanilla and oak, but also a surprisingly harsh hit of alcohol. For instance, Zacapa 23 and Ron Abuelo XII Two Oaks are similarly rich and oaky, but with less of a harsh alcohol hit. Taste A little more harsh and sour than I was expecting, but it's totally sippable. It's harsher than Zacapa 23, but knowing that Zacapa uses glycerin to smooth itself out, this is probably to be expected. Zacapa has more of a wine and honey flavor, which I quite enjoy, while Zafra 21, while also noticably sweet, has clearly never seen a wine cask, as it's more of the typical long-aged Spanish-style rum flavor. The finish is medium, and has the floral notes that I get a lot from Cuban rum and some of the better Dominican rums. Of course, HC Seleccion de Maestros is a lot more flavorful (and that's just Havana Club. Imo Ron Santiago de Cuba is even better). There's way more bold floral notes there that I feel immediately, while Zafra is more of a bold oak and vanilla that fades into these mild floral notes at the end. I would say that the rum it's most similar to is Ron Abuelo XII Two Oaks, as they both are quite sweet and start with a bold woody taste, and finish with mild floral notes, but I would say that the vanilla and oak flavor from Ron Abuelo is stronger, and is almost smoky. Verdict {rating}/10 At first I was worried if I had anything to compare Zafra 21 to, since I don't have any other super long aged Spanish-style rums, and honestly, the deep, rich, smoky, complex notes of El Dorado 21 just sort of blew it away. But interestingly, Zacapa 23, HC Seleccion de Maestros, and Ron Abuelo XII Two Oaks turned out to be very comparable. And Zafra 21 just sort of comes close to all of them, but just a bit short. It is not quite as rich in wine and honey flavor as Zacapa, it's not as floral as an actual Cuban rum, and it's not as oaky and vanilla-rich and smoky as Abuelo XII. But it's close. All of those are 6.5/10 rums, so before giving it a 6/10, I tried one last test: how does it compare to Havana Club 7Yr, which I gave a 6/10? Well, it is definitely smoother and oakier, and they share the same weird sourness, but Havana Club 7Yr just is a nicer, lighter, slightly more floral rum, so I feel confident in making it a tie. 6/10 it is.

I want to combo break from the Dominican Republic again, because I think I may have found a rum competing to be my favorite, again. I have two variants of Doctor Bird. The original one you can get anywhere, and the blend exclusive to The Inferno Room, a tiki bar in Indianapolis. > Note: It carries NAS, apparently it's aged in the US in ex-bourbon barrels (not in Jamaica?) and finished in PX sherry casks. Review Smell This thing is fantastic. You take the cap off, and the rum fills the room. Very strong pineapple, banana, sweet, fruity, tropical. Basically the same as the classic Doctor Bird, but even stronger! Makes sense, it's the same base rum, but this is higher proof. Taste It reminds me more of Stolen Rum Overproof (7 year aged HLCF iirc?) because of the higher proof and the more pronounced aging. But the base flavor is still very similar to Doctor Bird, just noticably amped up and with a sherry finish. I made myself several daiquiris. Doctor Bird, Inferno Room, Smith & Cross, and DOKTOK split base 1:1 with Diplo Planas as DOK tends to overwhelm. Well, maybe I am just becoming a dunderhead, but DOKTOK split with Planas was my favorite daiquiri of the bunch. But it was veeery close. Honestly I should have also split base for Inferno Room because it's challenging to drink a daiquiri that is 2 parts rum, 1 part lime, and 1 part syrup, when the rum is a 60% ABV funk bomb. But they are all delicious. I can't emphasize enough what a fantastic break this is from so much Dominican rum. I would put Smith & Cross and Doctor Bird tied for 2nd to DOKTOK in the daiquiri tasting, and honestly, I feel like I still need to find the right cocktail for Doctor Bird Inferno Room, because the sherry flavor doesn't really work quite as well in a daiquiri, even after compensating for the overwhelming ABV and funk. Verdict {rating}/10 I have very similar feelings as the original Doctor Bird, but of course, there's some key differences. It's higher ABV, which makes it harder to drink neat or in a daiquiri, so this rum is well and truly intended to be mixed deep like in a jungle bird. And also, it's a sherry finish, which I definitely think can work in some cases, but a daiquiri just might not be it. I tried what remains of it in a pepsi, and of course, I could barely taste the pepsi— it just takes over. I only ordered a sample of it, so unfortunately I don't have enough to try in a Jungle Bird, Mai Tai, Jet Pilot, etc. to see where it really fits in. As such, I am giving it somewhat of a soft 8/10 because I can see myself being convinced either way, but just the fact that I'd have to go to Indianapolis and pay $43 for a bottle sort of makes me think that I won't be trying more any time soon. I've heard some people comparing this one to Hampden Pagos (and that Pagos is also a bit of a weird one for Hampden).

I want to combo break from the Dominican Republic again, because I think I may have found a rum competing to be my favorite, again. I have two variants of Doctor Bird. The original one you can get anywhere, and the blend exclusive to The Inferno Room, a tiki bar in Indianapolis. > Note: It carries NAS, but The Fat Rum Pirate says that Zan Kong (marketing manager at WP) told them that Doctor Bird is a blend of rums, some of which are aged 6 years. Two James then finishes the blend in Detroit in Moscatel casks. Review Smell This thing is fantastic. You take the cap off, and the rum fills the room. Very strong pineapple, banana, sweet, fruity, tropical. Taste Pineapple, banana, blueberry, and it melts into a caramel and buttered popcorn. It's such a nice pure Jamaican funk, with none of the industrial notes that I get from some of the more complex Hampden marks like C\H, but it's not as oaky and vanilla as Smith & Cross, it's actually very light and crisp. Is it the perfect daiquiri rum? I made myself several daiquiris. Doctor Bird, Inferno Room, Smith & Cross, and DOKTOK split base 1:1 with Diplo Planas as DOK tends to overwhelm. Well, maybe I am just becoming a dunderhead, but DOKTOK split with Planas was my favorite daiquiri of the bunch. But it was veeery close. Honestly I should have also split base for Inferno Room because it's challenging to drink a daiquiri that is 2 parts rum, 1 part lime, and 1 part syrup, when the rum is a 60% ABV funk bomb. But they are all delicious. I can't emphasize enough what a fantastic break this is from so much Dominican rum. I would put Smith & Cross and Doctor Bird tied for 2nd to DOKTOK in the daiquiri tasting, and honestly, I feel like I still need to find the right cocktail for Doctor Bird Inferno Room, because the sherry flavor doesn't really work quite as well in a daiquiri, even after compensating for the overwhelming ABV and funk. Verdict {rating}/10 When I was trying it, I was convinced that it was a hampden. I pulled out my 8 marks and was tasting them... maybe it's a blend of LFCH and \H? It's so hard to tell because it's also definitely aged and my marks are all unaged! But dead on, it gave me hampden vibes. I was stunned when I read that it was Worthy Park, because I associated Worthy Park with that really grassy weird flavor like in Worthy Park Overproof, 109, and Hamilton Pot Still blends. Not that I don't like Worthy Park, but I always assumed that it had this one specific profile, but that might just be a particular mark that they use in those rums but they don't use in Doctor Bird, because this blows every other WP I've had out of the water. But regardless, my conviction that this was a Hampden just goes to show how good this rum is. Crazy fruity, crazy funky, and it's incredible that it goes for the same price as Smith & Cross. For $30 I now have a choice of two 8.5/10 rums that are quite different but fantastic in their own way. It's an insane daiquiri.

Alright, I am back from the Dominican Republic. Yet again, my plans to visit Barceló have been dashed by circumstances beyond my control. So I will stop delaying and just go through the Barceló rums that I have tried. Review Smell A nice nose of oak, vanilla, and wood. A bit of harsh alcohol as well. Taste It goes down smoother than the nose would suggest. Notes of vanilla, woody oak, and it's noticably sweet but not overwhelmingly sweet. There's also a slight sourness to it that I notice some cheaper rums have and I don't quite know what it is that I'm tasting. It's got an okay body, not very complex, and overall not really a big departure from Brugal. In fact I think it's very comparable to Brugal XV and Doble Reserva. I made a daiquiri with it, and it wasn't that bad, aside from being kind of woody. Definitely not as good as a Havana Club daiquiri, or even a Brugal Anejo daiquiri, but it's alright. It's much better in a rum old fashioned. But, still, it just doesn't quite excel at anything. Verdict {rating}/10 This is a pretty archetypical Dominican rum. Not much going on in terms of crazy flavors, since it's basically aged neutral spirit. It's not as good for sipping as something like Brugal 1888, and it's not as flavorful for mixing as Brugal Extra Viejo. It's pretty forgetable, aside from being sort of the compass against which Dominican rum gets judged, since it's so affordable, widely available, and half decent. 5.5/10

I have been reviewing a lot of rums from the Dominican Republic. I love the country and I have tried a lot of their rums. Lately I've been reviewing Oliver & Oliver, and yeah, it's bad, but I promise it does get better. However, for now, I want to take a little break. I am once again in the Dominican Republic to celebrate my 30th birthday, so let's take a small break and do some non-dominican reviews that I've been sitting on. So I was at a NY Rum Club meet last month, and someone said that someone from Guatemala is bringing a Guatemalan rum. I joked that they would bring Zacapa, but, sure enough, they brought Zacapa. La Pasión, to be specific. Of course, I asked them about it, since it's a bit of a controversial rum in enthusiast circles, but they told me how much they love their rum and how it's the pride of their country. Of course, I asked for an ounce or two of it to go, and gave it a full review at home. Review Smell Oaky, with vanilla and red wine. It actually smells less sweet than the original Zacapa 23. Taste It's rich, deep, with honey notes, sweetness, wine, oak, and vanilla. Though, it's not super sweet. It's quite similar to the regular Zacapa 23, though, with the PX cask finish, I actually expected La Pasión to be sweeter than the original, but it actually comes off as dryer. Significantly dryer, actually. And maybe a touch smoother. The finish is nice. Not super long, but with floral notes that remind me of a cuban rum. Verdict {rating}/10 The improvement is not large, but it's noticable. Zacapa 23 is almost too sweet, while La Pasión is right in the "just right" zone for me. I sweeten my foursquare rums, so if you like your rums bone dry, this still isn't for you, but it's tastefully sweet, and a small, but meaningful, improvement over the original. I have not had Zacapa XO side by side with either La Pasión or the original, so I don't know exactly what effect the cognac finish has, nor if it likewise makes an improvement, because honestly these are indeed pretty similar, but hopefully I can do that with XO and draw a firm conclusion. Yes, it probably is sweetened, and yes, they have histocially been caught using glycerin (though it's been a while and I don't know if things have changed). With that said, it's still a great rum, and one that I enjoy sipping on.

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. The four rums we tasted. Notice that Unhiq XO is definitely the darkest. A facebook advertisement simply claiming 25 years old. 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 {rating}/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.