Gosling's Spirited Seas Ocean Age Bermuda

Apparently this rum made it's intro into stores in November 2022 after spending 2 years at sea being aged as it sailed over and over again between Bermuda and NJ in oak bourbon barrels on a cargo ship. Great deep reddish amber color. Aroma was the biggest disappointment with alcohol being completely dominant. Taste has very little sweetness with notes of bourbon, cocoa and spice.it is a dry rum and the aftertaste was fairly smooth even at 44% ABV. Ice really brought out some nice flavors while taming the alcohol. I am glad this was not just a slightly altered Gosling Black Seal. This rum should have it's own identity but at $50+ it may be a tough sell. Worth a try for sure and I absolutely will continue to enjoy it (as long as it is on the rocks).

80 ocean crossings must have made this young rum very smooth. Actually shocked to see its only a 2 year old rum. Very smooth neat no alcohol burn, not a lot of depth but very easy to drink. Still not sure about only being 2 years old, seems unheard of to be this smooth.

I’m typically not a fan of anything Gosling due to them not openly displaying their after distillation ingredients, however, this was unique enough to spark my interest. On the nose you get caramel, molasses and toffee with possibly a little fruit such as apricot. Tasting is smooth with the continued notes that you smell with the addition of quite a bit of sweetness which makes the think there is sugar added after distillation. I’ve reached out to goslings twice via email but have yet to get a response. I’ll wrap this up by saying that if you have the $70 US to spend it’s certainly worth a try to say you did but don’t expect it to blow you away.

This needs to be tried more than one time to really appreciate it.

The bottle is handsome and nicely heavy. The color is a beautiful deep reddish amber.

The nose:
At first the nose was alcohol with a hint of caramel and oak. Allowing it to rest for 15-20 minutes brings out molasses, baking spices, maybe raisins.

Mouth feel:
It is initially thin and light (which I did not care for) but the first sip is always to prepare your taste buds for the subsequent sips). It is a drier rum, almost bourbon-esque. The higher ABV sucked the moisture from my mouth. But there was very little burn.

Flavor:
Molasses, maybe raisins and, oak.

The swallowing:
The spices leave my tongue tingling. It has a warming, mild burn all the way down and is surprisingly quite smoothly.

The finish is medium, nice and, the caramel aftertaste remains.

I guess the ocean aging process may justify it being slightly overpriced, but the process did give us a tasty smooth rum.

Would I purchase it again? Yes, I believe I would. And, I recommend it to others - please keep an open mind and I think you may be pleasantly surprised.