Kirk and Sweeney 12-Year

From the moment you pick it up you know this is gonna be a great rum experience. The heavy bottle fits perfectly in your hand as you pour. Crystaline golden honey cascades into your glass. The first to last sip is a balanced, blissful. Drier than many contemporary rums, with lots of oak and earth. It was preferred in a taste test with friends against the 25 yr El Dorado... Total opposites of course, but for 1/8th the price, I plan to get more K&S next time I find it.

It's difficult not to admire the beautiful and thoughtful packaging of this rum. But no stuffed shirt, this. To my taste, an exceptional balance of wood-aged flavors, both in the nose and the mouth. Just the proper suggestion of native rum sweetness, while supplying a tremendously smooth and buttery finish. A tremendous modern rum and, like the Plantation Barbados 5 Year, sporting an incredible price for this level of rum value.

A must-have if you are into sipping rums. When you taste it, it's hard to pick out the flavors as the vanilla taste is in your face. Woody notes are followed by a very smooth finish

Great bottle to slide along the bar... low center of gravity, like an electric car. As for the rum, a little one note on the vanilla, a little medicinal. A real rum though, doesn't seem tampered with, although some feel the vanilla might be spiced in as an after thought. I want to believe the distillery is on the level. Certainly grows on you, would be good with fruit, maybe perfect for baba au rhum!* Nice clean buzz... *(A popular European lemon desert cake soaked in rum...)

Found this little gem reviewed on Liquor.com last year. Found a bottle reasonably priced around $40 and snapped it up. Great on the rocks and mixed. Smooth, sweet and delicious. A great rum with notes of vanilla and clearly aged.

Lots of Vanilla

This rum is about as good as it gets in the mid-upper price zone - at about $35 bucks a bottle - this rum is smooth and flavorful with a lot of fruity flavors and just enough woody vanilla overtones to be an excellent rum and not a whiskey wannabe.

I originally bought this because I was intrigued by the bottle. I found the flavor a bit subtle for my tastes...hints of stones fruits, and an aftertaste that's understated. Perfectly drinkable special occasion stuff.

Very smooth. Rosewater and sugar notes. Very little wood.

Probably the best looking bottle on my shelf too.

First sipping rum I tried. Really like it, but have gravitated to the Plantation rums a bit more. Will be nice to go back to this one from time to time. Ah the first loves...