During my long delay at the airport, sure, Copalli was absolutely the star, but they had another rum available to try— Cruzan aged light rum. Now, I will spoil and say that I only had one serving of it and went right back to Copalli, so it was not my favorite, but I felt like reviewing it anyway, for the sake of completeness.

At this point, I feel like my reviews are a collection. I am reviewing rum I feel like I wouldn’t enjoy, just to have a review of it. Though, it has its merits. I would have dismissed Copalli if I just assumed it would be like Holmes Cay Reunion.

Review

Smell

It’s hard to describe the smell exactly, but it smells like Bacardi Superior, with extra Bacardi Superior. Like, you know the taste of Bacardi? It’s very hard to describe in flavor notes, but there’s a mild vanilla coconut taste that makes up that classic white rum smell and flavor. I’m sure all of you know the taste of Bacardi! So, Cruzan aged light rum reminds me of that, but stronger.

Taste

I actually quite like the taste. It makes Bacardi feel like vodka in comparison. I didn’t have Bacardi on me to compare side by side, but it’s my most drunk rum in my life, so I feel like I remember it, and this tastes like Bacardi x2. It doesn’t have any fruity or funky notes, so I still wouldn’t say that it’s as good as Havana Club 3 or Planteray 3 stars, but if you love Bacardi and don’t want anything radically different, then Cruzan is just a straight upgrade.

Verdict 5/10

(Edited from 6/10 on 1/4/26)

I still wouldn’t buy this rum, except maybe for a room party. It doesn’t depart from Bacardi enough to make me want to have the time for it. That being said, it’s definitely a solid step up from Bacardi, and I actually prefer it over Flor de Cana 4 year as well. In terms of plain generic column still white rum, this performed about as well as it could have, given that it’s a tough category to really be excellent in. It’s a solid 6/10.

January 4, 2026 Update:

Not much more to add, I am just amending the score down to a 5 to reflect my new scoring system.