Excellent but room for improvement
Posted
5 Feb '18
by
piratejabez
from
United States
with
314 ratings
8
49.5% ABV. A Blend of toasted and American and French oak. Single-distilled. N: some rotten bananas. A hint of alcohol. P: dark and woody. Smoke. Vanilla.
Here's what I said about W&B's main rum release:
This is some fine rum. Wright & Brown succeed in making a GOOD rum rather than just ticking a box (though at the time of this review the rum is still nowhere to be found on their website... hmm...). They have taken the typical American-crafters-who-care approach of aging for a rather short time in first-use barrels, and then charging too much for it. Fortunately, it does taste very good—it just won't be mistaken for anything long-aged in the tropics. They are off to a great start.
This one (B+B), surprisingly, falls just short of the other. Too much wood, too much vanilla oak. Strangely, it reminds me a lot of Lost Spirits. Lots of wood (too much). The distillate seems fantastic, but the new oak has killed it. I'd like to see them release an unaged rum to show off the best they can pull directly from the still, and then start aging for longer-term dividends—4, 6, 10 years—with higher volume and lower prices. If they plan for that today, they will be rich then.
I quite nearly gave this rum a 7+, but really, this is still very good rum, offered at a great strength. Grab a bottle if you can, and if you don't sneeze at $60 for a short-aged spirit (I do).
