Barbancourt 5 Star Reserve Especiale 8-Year

Barbancourt 8-year is the tiki rum of choice for many an exotic cocktail. It blends exceptionally well with fruit, but is refined enough to make a perfectly acceptable sipper.

Vic's recipe, according to B. Berry, calls for 2 rums: an aged agricole and a dark Jamaican. (There is some confusion about whether Barbancourt is truly an agricole, but the label says "100% sugar cane rum" and that's close enough for my standards). There isn't enough character or complexity for this to be a top-notch, stand-alone sipper, but it deserves respect (and an 8) for making authentic Mai-Tais shine like the sun.

This rum is pretty delicious. It has strong oak flavors but not overpowering. Reminds me of Appleton 12 with a hint more complexity and bite from the agricole

Nez : fruits exotiques comme la banane
Bouche : goût toasté de caramel, bois brûlé, noisette et pain grillé avec une finale de goût d’épice.
Au final un bon rhum agricole, mais il y aura place à plus de complexité au niveau des arômes.

I don't care if this undermines my rum qualifications but this is my only Mai Tai rum. Grassiness marries with Pierre Ferrand dry curacao elegantly and the wood the Barbancourt takes on stands up to the heaviest dem syrup and orgeat. You can drink a cocktail with only 1.5 ounces of Barbancourt and 6 ounces of juice and not forget that you are drinking rum when you're drinking it. Barbancourt all day my babies.

Full honey flavor, grass notes and a nice dryness. Light an floral with hints of tannins and wood. Try this in rum cocktails you wanna throw an "island" spin on.

Reading about this rum I discovered it to be one made from sugar cane juice rather than from molasses and from what I have read is produced in the French Caribbean tradition.

Now what "French Caribbean tradition" means in detail is unknown to me at this point. I may learn about that later one being that I am now fascinated...perhaps infatuated...with rum.

Anyway for me this is a borderline sipping rum. Rather smooth but just not quite smooth enough for me. However it is still a pretty good rum. I cannot really put a good descriptive term concerning its aroma in the bottle other than to say I like it. And I really cannot put my finger on why.

The flavor is quite nice. Rather complex mixture of flavors, none of which stand out meaning it's well-balanced. Not really a burn but more of an enveloping warmth that coats the tongue then fades but lingering in the throat. I get a butteriness to it along with a mild sweetness. Very good rum. And at $25 a bottle I think it is a good rum to keep on hand. However for me, it's best as a mixer but I cannot argue if someone prefers it neat. Works well either way.

A little "rough" maybe but excellent with a bit of ice.

Very affordable agricole (cane juice) rum. The 5-star is light, easy-drinking, unassuming, fairly dry, some oak. Really smooth and well-balanced. So easy to drink it's downright dangerous.

I could see his becoming my daily sipper. Different then other rums I tried. It was nicely balanced. Very fruity and just dry enough to cut through the sweetness with a smooth finish.