Kirk and Sweeney 12-Year

Après une bonne année d'essais infructueux à me procurer cette élégante bouteille, je dois avouer que mes attentes étaient bien élevée après avoir mis la main dessus par pur hasard pendant un voyage en Californie. Malheureusement, les attentes ne furent pas tout à fait comblée....

Au nez on sent immédiatement une présence intense de cassonade et de vanille. Le coté boisé vient ensuite compléter ce premier contact avec ce rhum qui déjà, semble vouloir me laisser sur mon appétit.

En bouche, les mêmes arômes viennent, dans le même ordre qu'au nez. Cassonade, vanille, le bois carbonisé et un légère touche d'armertume qui ressemble à du zest d'orange.
Une chaleur au niveau de la gorge fait une arrivée tardive, voir 2-3 secondes après la gorgé, ce qui pour moi est de loin le coté le plus intéressant de ce produit.

Ce qui me déçois de ce rhum est son insipidité, son manque total de personnalité...
Dommage car ce n'est pas un produit mal fait ou surfait. simplement .... sans caractère.

Je donne quand même un 7 pour l'effort et aussi pour le fait qu'un 6 serait malhonnête..!

At first, I thought this was going to hit me strong, simply judging from the nose. Then I sipped it. Not overpowering, just a good balance of kick with smooth.

It had a great well rounded taste to it. Did not meet my best rums but beet most others that I have tried.

Soft with persistent flavors (sugar cane, molasses, vanilla, tobacco). Recommended !

This rum is great if you like a rum that balances some sweetness, depth, smoky and just the right amount of alcohol. The rum is just a tad less refined than the 18 year version, but still a fantastic sipper neat.

Har glædet mig meget til at smage denne rom. Flasken er super flot og indbydende.
Duften er dejlig sød med vanilje og et strejf af banan og tørret frugt man fornemmer tydeligt noget fad.
Smagen er som forventet sødlig og røget smag den ender ret tørt med en lækker eftersmag af fad.

Smooth sipper neat. Easy on the palate for a young age, with a tone of Vanilla and medium finish. Like it.

I gave this one several tries before giving my score of 7/10. It just lacks in flavor and overall smoothness. It has a good taste but comes on very strong and a bit bitter. I guess it's a recommendation when you're not into all the sweet rums and prefer something stronger. For me it's just overrated, maybe an earlier year used to be better?

A pleasant drop of Rum. Spicy and high alcohol flavours to start, with with a nice honey after-taste.

molasses. dry!
i smell vanilla and toffee notes. spicy elements at the same height.maybe some tobacco notes and some fruit.
i taste toffee, prune and honey. bold wood. almond in the back. a little bit raw with some sharp edges.
7/10 - drop 5 points if your best rum is the diplomatico or plantation xo barbados!
a nice heavy rum without sugar. good starter, the 18y old is much better!

This is a warn rum that just hits the right balance between smoothness and flavour great if you just have some nice quiet time to sit and drink

Second favorite run so far, the 23 year being my favorite. I would rate it 9.5 overall but with the price factored in I felt rounding up would be the best choice.

Price is weighed lightly in my rating. I paid $28 for a 750ml bottle, absolute steal for the price.

Enough said....not overly spicy...not bland. Just smooth

EDIT: I'm finishing off the final bottle and wanted to give it another go. I added some water this time to try and open up the flavor. Definitely a bit better than the first go. I'm still getting an odd mix of flavors and the bitter taste is still there which I'm not sure if coming from the oak or a possible dried fruit. I wonder if they tried to put too much complexity into this. I think letting it sit longer may be the secret to this. The strong alcohol and vanilla is slowly turning into banana (laffy taffy). Will update later with my final conclusion, but I did give it another star.

First: Opening up the bottle was definitely not what I expected it to be. Alcohol with a faint sweetness. What did I buy?! Once poured, a tinge of vanilla mixed with a slight molasses under tone.

First Taste: Alcohol, vanilla, burn. Somebody said dried tropical fruit. Is this a Jaimacan? No...wait...bitter, sour...pepper?

Sitting in a rocks glass for 5-10 minutes: Bloom of vanilla...taste...pepper, alcohol...bitter after taste.

Honestly, at this point, I am not a fan. Nothing about this rum makes me want to come back. Was looking at the 18Yr...I'm going to pass. I'm not sure what the big deal is about this rum. Maybe I prefer a bit sweeter rum? I find the character hard to pinpoint. It feels like it's lost between Barbados and Jamaica. I may try adding a bit of sugar to it. Maybe some water or ice. I do compliment the bottle though. Very nice presentation. Looks wonderful. For comparison sake, I'm using Mt. Gay XO and Pilar 24 as the competition.

where i live this stuff is cheap compared to other states which i was surprised. after trying it after a whim i was like wow this is great stuff. got alot of oak and smoke flavors (which if you like that then ull like that).

Good Rum for the price

I did expect a little more after reading the ratings. It is a good rum, the smell is really nice but behind the little sting of alcohol doesn´t come as much as i would liked.

Un rhum que je ne connaissais pas et qui a vraiment été une bonne surprise! Aussi chouette au nez qu'en bouche!

Priced right. Great bottle. Fine sipping rum. You will be back.

Nice amber color, tad sweet but balanced vanilla and oak notes. Good value for a no burn sipper.

I tried it clean, tried it on ice, and never really found the complex flavors everyone's talking about. This is a decent rum, but a diplomatico is similarly priced and much better.

This rum is a great sipper rum. Nice and smooth with no burn. All the wonderful favors of vanilla and oak are present providing a well balanced drink. The bottle is quite unique and sexy.

Taste like the grass from my lawn . maybe its nust me idk . i wont try again.

Det er en okay fin rom, dig fortrækker jeg at varme den op med fingrene, så forsvinder den sprittede smag meget og der kommer flere smags noter frem 👍🏻