Privateer The Queen's Share Single Cask

I ordered this bottle of Privateer Queens share from the Florida rum society. I have been a bit disappointed in many of the American produced rums I have had. That said this rum has garnered a decent amount of attention and I have been meaning to try this for a while now after reading numerous positive reviews on it. This is a New England (Massachusetts) rum produced by Maggie at Privateer. My bottle comes from Barrel P415 and clocks in at a hearty 57.5% ABV - what some refer to as Navy Strength. It contains no additives and supposedly each barrel is different from the next. Here is what I got in my glass.

The nose is a bit disappointing in that it is very simple. In a word it smells like… rum. Hahaha, no, but seriously, it’s a little blander than I anticipated for a rum of this much hype. On the nose I get caramel, vanilla, brown sugar, a touch of leather, just a little bit of homemade apple juice, and oddly just the slightest hint of a scent akin Palmolive dish soap (and no it isn’t because of the glass I am wafting it out of; I tried it other ways also). Mainly the heaviest notes on the nose are vanilla, caramel, and brown sugar.

The palate is where this rum seriously shows up and brings some surprises. Instantly upon the rum entering my mouth I get a flash bang of pure unadulterated Welches purple grape juice - oodles of it. That note is almost overwhelming. Behind that I get some more homemade apple juice and then a hearty dose of sweet strawberry limeade. This rum is very, very sweet despite containing no additives. Mostly this shows up in the form of sweet fruit juice or fruit juice limeade type notes. Behind that and upon entering the back of the throat I get a return to Vanilla-town and Caramel-ville along with a bit of spicy peppery heat.

The finish is very short and simple: vanilla and caramel. Though a long time after putting the glass down I do get some tapioca pudding notes.

This rum is both slightly disappointing and simultaneously unexpectedly pleasant. It is better than the other pure American made rums I have had to date in that it is not try to masquerade as bourbon. It seems this distillery has some potential, but I would love to see them shoot for a little more of the fruit notes and a little less vanilla. The sweet berry limeade notes were a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. This one compares favorably to my tastes to the mid range Bajans, though the nose and finish is a bit bland. It is pleasant and has some unexpectedly nice fruit notes but also relies a bit heavily of overworn tropes of what “rum should taste like”….rather than what it really can be. That said, this is a newer American distillery and doesn’t have hundreds of years of experience so maybe I should not be holding it up against the likes of the great master distillers and blenders of Jamaica, Barbados, Martinique, Haiti, and Cuba.

All in all it’s pretty good. It’s not “definite repeat purchase” at the price I got it for for my cabinet and is a bit too expensive to be a mixer, but I will enjoy this bottle.

Short Description: Arrives like dressed as “rum”, sucker punches you with grape juice and strawberry limeade, and then leaves as “rum”

Nose: Caramel, Vanilla, faint apple juice, brown sugar, leather, faint Palmolive dish soap

Palate: very strong Welches grape juice, apple juice, strawberry lemonade, caramel, vanilla, very sweet, touch of spiciness

Finish: short, caramel, vanilla, later tapioca pudding

Country of Origin: United States of America

Distillery: Privateer

ABV: 57.5%

7

Final thoughts: This distillery may have potential if it can focus more on drawing out the notes I got on the palate and worrying less about whether people will recognize it as “rum”. It’s a pretty nice sip but it doesn’t blow you away. It doesn’t have many outright faults either though. This is square in the middle of “pretty good”.