Blackwell Black Gold Special Reserve

While I know and respect Chris Blackwell to a high degree, this is a serious stand alone rum. Much better than Goslings and coming out of Wray & Nephew says good things. Not too sweet and a perfect black strap rum to get the job done.

i really really like this, a nice sweet dark rum,good sipper but for me perfect with coke and ice.

I enjoy this rum, and in my opinion just as good as some of the more expensive ones, great to mix but retains it's signature, this one is a can't miss mixer of quality at a reasonable price.

Typical rum from Jamaica, with good price and taste.

Smooth for sure, color is a deep auburn. The smell is of rum soaked lady fingers! (For tiramisu, I'm Italian) the scent is a pleasant scent of a worthers candy or deep caramel! I'll go back to this for sure!

I really liked this rum after trying at the rum fest a couple of years ago. It was warm, with a hint of spice, as well as being sweet with dried fruits cutting though. Makes an awesome Dark 'N' Stormy!!

Strong flavors of fruit and spice to draw this on up as a closer semblance to a spiced rum than a Jamaican dark rum. Syrupy and sweeter than most Jamaican rums, this rum can be enjoyed neat or mixed with certain cocktails that aren't clearly over the top to decadent and sweet.

Another in our rumvent calendar. We liked its smoothness and the mix of caramel, fruit, and spice on the palate.

Can work as a sipping rum

Straight up (pun intended), I tend to prefer Jamaican rums. As a Jamaican, I learned of rum -and-water quite early. This J. Wray product is a dark amber that matches its bottle and is best served to my taste with a dollop of water at room temperature. It's a young blend, strong, and for me ice heightens its harshness.

As described above, I sip it with a dollop of water at room temperature, a scenario that brings out the warm flavour of caramel and molasses. The nose is strong as one might expect for that young a blend and the aftertaste is more heat than anything - until you add that dollop which changes everything. The aftertaste loses much of its heat and the aforementioned flavours smoothly become apparent. I do find it quite impressive for its price and it's my go-to for sipping while listening to music, being convivial with friends or just relaxing, hence its rating of 8. It's a staple of my rum cabinet.

Blackwell is impossible to get in Canada but is available at the Duty Free when leaving the island. Despite its age, I'll happily compare it favourably to a Brugal Anejo or Havana Club 7 year, although at the end of the day, I'll just keep going back to Chris Blackwell's little gem.