Alleyne Arthur's Special Barbados

It's a scientific fact: most $12 rums are made with squirrel urine and cheap additives in big factories which sell the stuff to frat boys and frat girls all across the US, where it is drowned in soda pop and guzzled until everyone pukes, passes out and eventually wakes up embarrassed and on probation.

This stuff, on the other hand, is genuine Bajan rum produced by – drum roll – R. L. Seale, aka God. Sure, it's not magnificent, top-tier sipping rum, but it's better than anything else you can find for twelve bucks. This is the IKEA version of his Seale's Ten Year Old rum: nothing elegant, just good, honest, affordable-for-all product which does what it's supposed to do and nothing more. Decent rum.

It's got that familiar Foursquare flavor of leather, tar, and bananas. Dry like the Sahara.

Good info from Capt Jimbo's site-

This is one of the oldest brands of rum in Barbados and is generally not exported. Only our atypical direct arrangement with Total Wine has allowed this brand of rum to the US market.

To your questions :

1. [pot or column] A blend of both (as all of our rums)
2. [basis] Molasses
3. [additives/flavorings] NONE !!!!! (as all of our rums)
4. [age] 2/3 year blend (making it older than 95% of the rums on the market).

Trust this helps.

Richard

Another bargain from Richard Seale and Foursquare, nothing fancy but a good solid basic rum at a price that puts it on par with the cheap stuff from Bacardi, which it puts to shame.

I'm ranking it the same as some of the other lower priced offerings from Foursquare (896, 10 Cane, Doorly's) but I prefer this as a mixer over them. This would be a good rum over ice on a beach.

I have been to Barbados several times and enjoined the Mount Gay Rum served on the boats. This can't be their rum or some mis marked the jerry cans! I usually enjoy rum on the rocks but this gasoline mix has to be the worst excuse for liquor I have experienced. My lawn mower runs great on this stuff and I think it smells good with cut grass but, I can't drink it. I made the mistake of buying 6 bottles because I was so excited at the find. You can fool some of the people but, if you have been to the island and experienced the waters around and the peoples you will know this is not a true brew. Email me if you would like, I am in my 60s and have much experience as a world traveler (mostly Europe) Txtooltime@aol.com Please assign a designated driver to enjoy your parties!

I am willing to try anything from Foursquare and dishing out under $15 for this rum happened without much thought. This rum is nothing more than the top of the crap heap. It certainly is not awful but it is not good. perhaps it is a solid mixer. Worst Bajan rum I have had to date. Mixer at best.

Good rum. Bone dry, not even a hint of sweetness here. Put this on the speed rail for all your basic mixing needs.

I finally got to try this very hard to find rum, thanks to Total Wine in Las Vegas. At 86 proof, it packs a wallop, so it is not a neat sipper. Adding ice cubes improves it tremendously by removing the burn and allowing one to taste just pure unadulterated rum. There is also no penalty the next day if one consumes too much as I did. I used it as a pain killer for a serious leg injury. I may not have been able to hike at all because of this, but at least I did not have to worry about rattlesnakes and scorpions as I remained hotel bound with quite a few new rums.

Update February 9, 2020: I finally got myself two more bottles of this fantastic pain killer. I now have an emotional attachment to it in memory of it being a great opioid free painkiller with no penalties the next day. I just had to test it neat in Glencairn glasses against my favorite budget rum, Don Q Anejo. The taste was very close, but due to the lesser burn from this one, it wins by a slim margin. I guess that means that my rating needs to jump up from a 6 to a 7. It also helps knowing that this one will soon be available nearby at the first Total Wine to open in my home state.

This is a rum that was quite tatsty when used as a mixer. Nothing overpowering or harsh or offensive, just a fine rum to get the night going. I will keep some of this handy.