Ron Del Barrilito 3 Star

The upfront nose is the charred oak followed by the sweetness of some caramel and even a little earthiness and almost some jungle! The initial taste is a fair amount of alcohol on the tip of your tongue and then heat against the back of your throat. Almost bourbon like in complexity. I would place it at a mild smoothness. This is about my 20th dram and it will certainly warm you up and bring a flush to your cheeks!

Being a screw top bottle from PR, I wasn't anticipating much. But to my surprise it was quite smooth, hits of smoke, mild fruit flavors, molasses and oak. I think I'll keep a bottle around. Very good for the price and one of the better PR rums.

It is a taste that I never tested before, for some they like and others not. We where 3 testing and only one said that it was really good.

The Ron del Barrilito is a blend from Puerto Rico and was stored in bourbon oak barrels for about 6-10 years. It is bottled with 43% alcohol. The bottle is rather simple and not appealing. It reminds me of a "booze" bottle.

After the first screw-on of the bottle comes the shock. Sharp notes of alcohol irritate. It quickly becomes clear that the rum has to breathe. After 30min, the rum changes. You can see notes of vanilla, caramel and smoke. In the mouth, the rum is lively. Cornery and direct, it gives you many barrel and smoke notes. A dry sweetness with caramel. Vanilla notes complete the taste. The rum is sharp and must be consciously drunk and enjoyed. The reverberation is medium-long smoky with wood notes.

The rum gets better with each pouring. It needs to breathe and takes time. A good rum if you like it dry and spicy. But it is a Bacardi. So much must be said. A solid rum. Somehow even the rotary lock fits here.

Der Ron del Barrilito ist ein Blend aus Puerto Rico und wurde ca. 6-10 Jahre in Bourbon Eichenholz Fässern gelagert. Er wird mit 43% Alkohol abgefüllt. Die Flasche ist eher schlicht und nicht ansprechend. Sie erinnert etwas an eine "Fusel" Flasche.

Nach dem ersten Aufschrauben der Flasche kommt erst einmal der Schock. Scharfe Alkoholnoten irritieren. Es wird schnell klar das der Rum atmen muss. Nach 30min gibt sich der Rum dann verändert. Man kann Noten von Vanille, Karamel, Eichenholz und Rauch wahrnehmen. Im Mund ist der Rum lebendig. Eckig und direkt gibt er viele Fass und- Rauchnoten ab. Eine trockene Süße mit Karamel. Vanille Noten runden den Geschmack ab. Der Rum ist Scharf und muss bewusst getrunken und genossen werden. Der Nachklang ist mittellang rauchig mit Holznoten.

Der Rum wird mit jedem Einschenken besser. Der Rum muss atmen und benötigt Zeit. Viel Holz und Rauchnoten machen ihn würzig. Es ist kein milder Rum. Aber es macht Spaß sich mit ihm auseinander zu setzen und ihn verstehen zu lernen. Es ist allerdings ein Bacardi. So viel muss gesagt sein. Hier passt sogar irgendwie der Drehverschluss.

The definition of smooth. You hardly notice you're drinking a straight spirit.
This is not super appealing to me but I'm sure many will rate it highly for that fact.
The flavor profile is enjoyable and approachable, with caramel sweetness at the front, followed by oak spice and a finish of smoke and cinnamon.

Not worth the hype for me.

Had a weird almost plastic alcoholic taste. Very harsh rum. Could be a mixer but there are better options.

Sugar: Tested by others at 7 GPL but it seemed a bit sweeter than that. Tried this rum at a friends house and was quite surprised. I first I thought it was a Dominican rum, but upon further inspection found it was from Puerto Rico. Oak, vanilla, and a bit of caramel are the major tastes in the profile. There's a bit of alcohol on the nose, but overall the rum is quite smooth and goes down easy. There's a nice afterglow from it. Aged for only 6 years this rum has the profile of a 12 year old rum. Definitely a a low end sipper, high end mixer.

This one was another rum that I was hesitant to buy with such a wide disparity in the ratings. So I ignored all of the low ratings and plunked down $40 for my bottle today. I let it breathe for at least 20 minutes in a snifter. The aroma of light vanilla and light oak is wonderful and I could sniff this one all day. Then the first neat sip on the tongue had so much of a burn that it wiped out any of the flavors. Going down the pipe was a bitter burn. Treating this one at 43% ABV just like my Clement 6 year at 44% ABV, I wisely added an ice cube and let it sit for a few minutes. Ah, the burn on the tongue was gone so that I could taste vanilla, caramel, and oak. Going down the pipe still had a somewhat bitter burn, but not nearly as bad as being served neat. Just like the Clement 6 year old, this rum was made for consuming on the rocks in the hot tropical climate down there. Neither one has any added sugar. I would not dream of using either one as a mixer, especially at these prices.

Due to the high price and scarcity of it where I live, I realized that this very unique rum needs to grow on you. No other rum out of 80 tastes like this one. After the second glass later that evening with two ice cubes, the very strong smoky flavor is what originally puts off those new to this rum. Flavors are very assertive and this one is not for wimps. To give you an idea, following this one up with a different rum made Mount Gay XO seem downright nasty.

Many of us criticize the solera method, but that is only because of deceptive practices from many companies showing false ages. This company specifically states on the back of the bottle that their rums are aged between 6 and 10 years in charred oak barrels. It is their own 3-Star solera blend that supposedly remains the same year after year. The solera method greatly increases the odds of a company producing consistently similar results. Such is not the case with single barrels, which could be hit or miss. This company does not lie about the ages inside the bottle, but it is up to all of us to inform all the rest about companies with deceptive aging statements. Many of these have already been pointed out by fellow reviewers.

I know that this company has admitted that they have altered their rums. What is unusual is that it is not nearly as sweet as most altered rums - rather it seems to have a faked-up woody-smoky, almost phenolic taste.

I really wanted to like this but I don't. A much better example of the Cuban style is Doorly's XO or R L Seales' 10 yr, which have a similar taste to this without the offputting phenolic taste.

I read somewhere that they source their rum from Bacardi, which goes to show that it's all in the aging process. Full flavored, dry, spicy, cinnamon, leather and delicious!

edited to add sugar test results- 7g