Admiral Rodney HMS Royal Oak

This is outstanding. Deep and complex. Thick and chewy. Flawlessly smooth. I have tried 3 ships in the Admiral Rodney fleet. All were impressive. This one is awesome and stands slightly above the rest. Balance is perfect. Not sweet. Great bite but you hardly notice it. Fantastic sipper. Better neat than on ice but GREAT either way. Lovely tobacco, coffee and plum notes. Finish is long and subtle. Very smooth and memorable. So good I am going to have to buy the officers release. Well done AGAIN by St Lucia distillers.

Most of the st. lucian rum finds a warm place in my heart, and the royal oak is no exception. On paper it's a pretty straight forward 40% vol. blend, aged in bourbon casks between 7-12 years, but it's wonderfully balanced.
The nose treats you nicely with raisin, brown sugar, chewy caramel, oak and hints of mint.
The taste is medium bodied and strikes a good balance between the rounded, fat sweeter notes and the subtle dry, spices.
First up I get the chewy caramel and sweet tobacco. The midpalate fades into mint, oily leather and slightly bitter oak cask, keeping the rum complex and interesting. The finish offers a tiny bit of dry tannins and subtle baking spices like ginger, cloves and perhaps a smidge of cinnamon.
This is almost as drinkable as the great, classic "extra old 12 year" and offering a bit more complexity I would say. The choice between the two, would depend on my mood on the given day (8,6)

Beautiful rum. Smooth, packed with flavour, complex finish. Love it.

Lets start off with the design: it looks amazing! Nice bottle, interesting backstory and great colour of the drink itself.

The smell is not very prominent but there are some fruity elements in there to discover. Then the taste: again not very outspoken from the start but very, very smooth, without any too predominant sweetness or alcohol taste. Realy elegant and enjoyable. The aftertaste is spicy and has a nice duration. Remote but present burn, just the way I like it. Watch out, because this will be flying out of your glass! Cheers!

I got this as bday gift and was looking forward to taste it as the low local availability and price tag implied that this should be some extra ordinary stuff. I must honestly say it isnt. Dont get me wrong, its a great rum, nice sipper, smells fruity, vanilla like with just a little alcohol. However, the taste is too much liquor-ish with lots of orange flavors. Reminds me from far far away of Don Papa and Pyrat (although different in general but rum tasters will get me for sure). Quite a lot alcohol and afterburn. I had few glasses, one also with chocolate, one with cigar, and although it was a nice experience I am not planning on buying this one. Maybe I try it in the future, I am quite interested in others in HMS family

Nose: vanilla, caramel, raisin.
Mouth: tobacco, caramel, vanilla smoke
Finish: spicy caramel

great price quality is also 1 of my favorite long aftertaste

We selected this bottle to write some tasting notes up for our WSET II course at home, and wow, it'a beauty. Well Done St. Lucia.

Appearance: Clean, medium amber
Nose: Clean, medium + intensity. Sultanas, vanilla, tobacco, caramel, cocoa, cloves, brown sugar and allspice
Palate: Clean, smooth and mouthfilling. Dry (although it has an appearance of sweetness, not residual sugar) with a medium + intensity, tobacco, caramel, dark chocolate, cloves and baking spices. Long finish, very complex.
Overall rating: Outstanding.

Le nez offre une touche fruitée et légèrement épicée.
En bouche, une belle finesse et une structure boisée avec de notes chocolatées et vanillées.
La finale a une persistance moyenne.

Nose: Strong and spicy, maybe also some raisins and some molasses.
Palate: Warm and spicy, the spicy taste lasts for quite a while on the tongue. Nice.
But I miss some more „body“, it feels very „liquid“.