Plantation Xaymaca Special Dry

Tom Browne would be proud !
Nice 43%abv 100% pot still rum with no plantation dosage. The small amount of sweetness comes from the over ripe pineapple and bananas. Very fruity and floral in the nose plus some nail polish remover ! Plenty of funk and a bit of a bite. I need to be in the right mood for this one but its something different which is good. Will try in a couple of cocktails as I think it will perform well.

I am quite new to Rum, and i find this a little too dry for me. Think i need to find something sweeter.

I saw this one on the liquor store shelf for only $21 and remembered that it had some good reviews. Being a fan of Plantation rums, how could I go wrong in buying it? And to boot, this one specifically states that it is dry, meaning no added sugar. This could be quite interesting.

I got it home and the aroma from the snifter was subdued hogo funk that is unique to Jamaica. So far, so good. Then I sipped it and all Jamaican qualities were lost to excessive aging in cognac casks to give it the Plantation signature. So why did they go through all of that trouble in Jamaica and document in detail on the label only to unfunk it in cognac casks? Yes it is a sweet tasting rum without any added sugar, but it loses all identity as a Jamaican rum. It basically has an identity crisis for trying too hard.

Updated later: My rating rapidly went down from a 6 to a 5. Fearing that this rum would eventually go down the drain, I used it to try and improve on one of the most disgusting drinks called the Hemingway Daiquiri. Instead of the usual cheap 80 proof white rum that Papa preferred, I swapped that out with this rum. Had this rum been around in Papa's days, he would have approved of the higher alcohol content and no added sugar. Well, this rum only marginally improves on that nasty drink. I guess that I need to get more creative to avoid flushing this one down the toilet.

Update March 10, 2021: That bottle has been long gone, but I have since found out why I referred to it as subdued hogo funk. The esters level is quite low at only 156 g/hL AA with volatile substances being only 312 g/hL AA. With funk levels this low, the cognac cask aging definitely dominates it. No wonder it was so cheap. Just add some of your high ester funk rums to this to improve it (maybe).

Dry but a hint of sweetness. This one suited my tounge.

Nose something I can't quite identify maybe tropical fruits. Dry with a harsh bite on the back end.

Like with any Jamaican rum, your mileage may vary depending on how you react to the various esters, phenols, etc., but for me, this is exactly what I want from a Jamaican mixer. Neat it's bone dry and a bit spicy with overripe banana, pineapple, and mildly grassy notes. Cocktails is where this really shines and becomes a flavor bomb. Lovely stuff, blows Appleton Signature completely out of the water.

Disappointing would be an understatement. I understand that people enjoy tastes differently but when I took my first sip I couldn't get coke into the glass fast enough. This is the ugly step sister of the Plantation world.

Duft: Kirsebær, fermenteret frugt, sødme. Score: 2
Smag: Røg, røg & røg, træ, sødmen er i god balance, tør. Score: 2

Tasted next to the Appleton 12 Rare Casks and liked this better because of it's slight sweetness without dosage. Unmistakable Jamaican nose of ester funk and full body, but short finish.

Somehow I was not very impressed, absolute average.