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Koloa Dark rum

Koloa Dark

United States | Dark

Koloa Dark rum, a version of their White Rum with added caramel color and flavors. Bottled unaged at 80 proof.

via American Rum Report
7.0/10
67 ratings
Recommendable to most
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67 Koloa Dark Ratings

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hammer640 ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ | 10 ratings
Posted over 3 years ago

Really nice rum. If the coffee bean forward flavor profile is in your wheelhouse you'll enjoy it. Solid but not near the upper echelon.

Docsarvis (PREMIUM) ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ | 463 ratings
Posted over 3 years ago

This is ok. Smooth but too sweet. Short finish. Overpriced. Tastes like there are additives.

blowpez ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ | 22 ratings
Posted over 3 years ago

An excellent rum bursting with natural caramel and vanilla flavors. A good sipper but this really shines as a mixer with coke or ginger beer.

RumHelps ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ | 10 ratings
Posted over 3 years ago

The aroma is more complex than the taste. If you took a coffee bean and infused it with a little bit of vanilla, bittersweet chocolate, macadamia nut, and just a hint of clove...and then toasted it, that's the aroma I get. The taste...initially sugary coffee, but develops into a less sweet almost peppery finish.

Trogdog ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ | 13 ratings
Posted over 3 years ago

Even better than the spiced. Excellent aroma and flavor.

Gary ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ | 36 ratings
Posted 4 years ago

I was a little surprised at how good this was over ice.

Paul B ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ | 472 ratings
Posted 4 years ago

I had been polarized by their legendary coconut rum versus their awful white rum. Before going on a long trip whereby I was able to pick up small 50 ml sample bottles, I had read all of the reviews here. Apparently, this very young company in Kauai does not age their white rum and merely adds very sweetened flavors to it to achieve the rest of their line.

So I asked for small 50 ml samples of their dark, spiced, and coffee, but the liquor store only had their dark rum, lucky for me. After sampling some good rums before this year's Super Bowl, I told myself WTF and opened up this bottle that I had placed in my fridge hours before. On first sip, it almost went down the toilet. Had I tried this rum in my early days before I got away from highly sweetened rums, I may have loved it. However, knowing what I know now, the rest of this small bottle in the snifter probably needs to go down the toilet. This is sickness in a bottle!!!!

So what in hell does it taste like? I have been to Hawaii three times in my life and those islands are famous for coffee, chocolate, vanilla, macadamia nuts, papayas, passion fruit, mangoes, guavas, pineapples, and coconuts. This "rum" has absolutely no notes of any of them!!! So this can only mean that the dark coloring and flavoring are all chemicals. Buyer beware!

How in hell do they manage to make a great tasting coconut rum from what starts out as crap is beyond me. They must have just lucked out. I heard that their coffee rum is very good, but I am through trying any of their other "rums". As bad as I found this rum to be, there are actually other rums that I found to be worse, as shown in my cabinet.

chrisinak ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ | 2 ratings
Posted 4 years ago

Ahhhh, sadly the reason I chose to review this rum was I got to visit the distillery on Kaua'i while there for a wedding. I was so excited to go thinking this would be a great place to get my first taste of Hawaiian rum. Well, fortunately it wasn't busy and I got to taste all of their offerings and interact with the person pouring the rums. Well, I was disappointed and unimpressed with all their offerings and as it turns out, the one I was most excited about had the least to offer. Koloa does not barrel age their rums...any of them. In fact the dark rum gets its color from dye and its flavor artificially added according to the guy running the tasting room. Sadly, he admitted his only experience with rum was there at the tasting room and drinking it in Mai-tais. Really sad to break it to those who thought this was a good rum especially since the Koloa's representative was bragging about having the best sugar cane in the world to work with. Maybe they'll buy some barrels and start actually aging some tot give it real flavor and color.

Dean ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ | 54 ratings
Posted over 4 years ago

Nice little spice finish. Went really well in a mix drink.

Andero ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ช | 101 ratings
Posted over 4 years ago

Had a bottle while vacationing in Oahu. Super balanced vanilla aroma, feels also pretty sweet and round in mouth. Has distinctive Tiki flavours. Obviously there is sugar added, because there were white crystals present in the bottom of the bottle. The sugar thing is a tricky topic - obviously the overall product ahould be achieved just by fermentation, aging and distillation and therefore is debatable whether rums with added sugar are good rums. The Koloa dark in fact is sippable on its own and works very well also in coctails. I have approached sweet rums like these with a mindset that in coctails you can use less sugary beverages instead of coke, juices, syrups etc to keep the overall amount of sugar consumed under control. So an 8 would be too much in terms of the sweet profile but itโ€™s definitely an enjoyable rum on its own and also in mixes. Not sure how the dark profile was achieved because there are very little tannine notes. Added caramel?




Brand Details

Name: Dark
Type: Koloa
Raw Material: Unknown
Process: Unknown
Distillation: Unknown
Women leading Rum: No