Real McCoy Limited Edition 12-Year

Bottled at 46% aged in madeira & bourbon casks. Unadultraded rum from what I am quickly realizing as the vanguard rum distillery Four Square form Barbados. If you see it get it without hesitation.
Fantastic limited barrel aged rum. An absolute no brainer buy.

The Madeira really shines. Smooth coconut like mouth feel

I have a problem with private branding of others products, even if it slightly changed. This is no FourSquare, just an over priced rum with an extra middle man and marketting company. Why not just buy the real deal from the guy who makes it. Don’t get me wrong it was a decent full body dark aged real rum with some character, but not an 8, 9, 10

The bump in proof really makes this shine. The sweetness (created without additives, just impressive use of barrels) is absolutely perfect. My favorite style of rum, if you can call it that, are these wine finished spirits that impart sweetness while not being sweet. Masterfully done.

The color is dark, probably imparted by the Madeira casks. The nose hits you with coconut, plums, brown sugar, subtle overly ripe bananas, sweet tobacco and leather. Given a little time, it's extremely inviting. Apart from the Madeira ageing, this is also a slightly beefed up version of the original 12 year, weighing in at 46% vol. The taste is very full and devolps quickly with dark notes of leather, tobacco, roasted coconut, and slightly spicy pepper. There's an underlying and rounded sweetness underpinning the power perfectly. This is bloody good and pure old barbadian rum. Love it.

The color is lighter brown hue, the label claims no "artificial colors or additives", so if something "natural" like tannin infusion was used, I cannot say. I would not mind, since color adjustments is defacto standard practice of the industry, bar some independent bottlers.

The nose is intense and pleasant, especially after adding a splash of water (recommended, since it's a 46 ABV rum), harmonious notes of gingerbread, apricots, dried apples.

The palate is on the sweet side, more apricots, brown cake, brown sugar, some vanilla, with pronounced Madeira cask influence, tempered by tannin astringency from the oak, medium-bodied with lingering, pleasant, warm finish.

The main selling point is the perfect harmony of this rum, both on the nose and on the palate. Currently my favorite rum.

Delicious. Complex. A thing of beauty. I love this rum to sip on. For those who are in the whiskey world and think of rum as a spirit to hide in fruit juice, this variation may sway their opinion.

Price seems to be a common theme with my thoughts on Real McCoy rums. I buy from the importer of both (same company). This 12yo is 80% more expensive than Doorly's 12yo and 25% more expensive than the Doorly's 14yo. And to me that's just crazy - you're paying Foursquare's mark-up as well as Real McCoy's mark-up.

But the rum is good. Real good.

I love a wooded nose that carries through to the body and on to the finish. And this has it. Unlike the lesser McCoy's 12yo this has the acidity/spirit to it that carries the length. Maybe it's not as subtle nor delicate on the finish as the Doorly's 12yo (which to me has one of the better finishes you can find) but it is very appealing and long.

So then I thought, given that it's 25% more expensive than the Doorly's 14yo. why not try the 2 side by side - McCoy @ 46%, Doorly's 14yo @ 48%. Both fresh bottles.....and to me, here's the problem. The Doorly's 14yo, cheaper, richer, fuller, as sweet as the madeira aged McCoy. Better finish. Longer length. More sophisticated. Just better all round and cheaper.

Which leads to the question, why would you pay 25% more for McCoy 12yo madeira finish over Doorly's 14yo? The answer to that for the future, is I wouldn't. That's a great shame as the rums from McCoy are really good, but just badly priced.

What i expected from a Foursquare rum. powerfull taste with no sugar added to it.