Westerhall Plantation

It’s always hit or miss when one buys a bottle of rum at a hole in the wall liquor store that doesn’t look to sell a lot of rum. This one was a miss. Started with the cork residue on the bottle neck and went from there to the taste. Nothing unpleasant. Just nothing really good either. At least there wasn’t much of an afterburn, and not too much cork ended up in my glass. Perhaps a higher rating if the experience was a better one.

Nice and smooth. First zip. Perfect. I love the after taste

This rum, issued at a relatively sedate 43% ABV, dates from the early 2000s, and is therefore from Angostura stocks only: aside from some batch variation, there’s little to distinguish it taste-wise from either earlier or later rums, and consistency has been maintained quite well. The nose is probably the best thing about it: thin, yet quite distinct (always a plus with me), redolent of brine and olives, and set off by a crisp, light, fruity aspect. Behind it lurk notes of paint, acetones, nail polish, and a nice blend of tart-sour fruits like five-finger, star-apple, gooseberries and green mangoes, with just enough sweet to mitigate the lip puckering. It does become somewhat lighter and sweeter as it opens up, and there’s even a trace of sugar water at the tail end.

Palate is nice, just uneventful - much of the nose is lost in the light easiness of the way it tastes and “watery” is not a word that would be out of place here. There are traces of peaches, apricots, bananas and green peas(!!), and some of the brininess and olives carry over; also dates and some very light citrus and vinegar-like hints, not enough to derail the experience. It retains the light sweet crispness that the nose promises, and if the finish was kind of brief - warm, dry, salty with a touch of fruits and sweet soya - well, you know what, as a whole the rum kind of works, and is not a disappointment.

What it does is actually remind me somewhat of the Whisper Antigua rum, also an unpretentious rum aged a few years. Perhaps that’s because it doesn’t try too hard to be some kind of uber-sexy blend from a world famous distillery backed up by a snazzy marketing campaign sporting a celebrity (from within or without the rumworld) to raise awareness. It’s just a decent light five year old. (81 points)

I was at the ancient structure the rum is made in about thirty years ago. An amazing place to see. You walked into the past when I was there. It was small, intimate and very basic. A true artisan rum. I have bottles that are from that time. The rum is a true sipper. If you don’t rinse the glass the next day it has a nose of pure butter scotch.

With it's pale golden colour, this rum looks more like a Chardonnay wine than a rum. The blue waxed bottle top gives this rum great packaging. Opening the bottle, the rum had only a very faint alcohol citrus scent... Sipping it straight was possible, although it provided little flavour and was accompanied by a slow burn. Easy to drink with an ice cube and some coconut water. This rum tasted like no other rum I've tried, although I can't say that I would recommend it.

I had to waiver a little, but in the end, I'll agree with the majority.

This is not a great rum but is still drinkable. It's a raw rum with nothing flavour wise added. Still has a decent body but just doesn't rock my world I'm afraid ..

The color was very golden. The sweet is very inviting with a banana cakey syrup sweetness. Very long legs and slight alcohol on the noise. And nothing to my liking once on my mouth. I thought maybe I should try it with a snifter. To no avail no improvement. I add a droplet of water on one occasion and with a ice cube on the other. Nothing improved. I was torn between getting this or plantation 5 year. Well the top broke off while trying to open the bottle,annoying but no biggie. I mixed it and that's when it showed up for the party. O well I wanted a low level sipper but this will do for my mixing. Join your brother pyrat XO and black magic in the mixing cabinet.

Update 4/17/17.

It's getting better. On the nose I notice banana and Citrus. Smooth going down. I'll revisit it again.

Smooth and light with a nice warmth.

sugar test- 7g

Smart move bottling it above the standard 80 proof. It's far to smooth to be a slight 40% The extra kick adds some excitement yet remains an easy spirit to sip.
Carmel vanilla and wafts of banana and citrus. Not overly sugary nor dry. An all around non offender. Being just so, a snob might mistakenly think it mundane. Quite the contrary. It's a rum that falls into the realm of standards. A measuring stick, a starting point and I imagine not an easy feat to achieve. When you go too far one way or the other this is a rum that will bring you back to the core of what a well crafted golden rum is and should be.
Deserves more than 8 out of 10 but sometimes your mecca lies beyond the realm of standard. Westerhall Plantation is not that sort of rum but saying so is not a knock rather an admiration.