Gosling's Black Seal

Tasted at Laka Lono on 10/17/21. Pours a dark brown color. Aroma of brown sugar and synthetic caramel coloring. Slightly roasted with just a hint of mint (?). A dessicating finish. Whaler's Black is far better.

I got a bottle cheap on a whim and I really enjoyed it. Drinking it neat, Black Seal has an excellent flavor with a lot going on - fruits, nuts, spice - like a fruit cake. It's relatively smooth but with just enough burn. Not "alcohol-y" at all, and not overly sweet. Description is "well balanced" and I definitely agree with that. For an inexpensive dark rum, this is one of my favorites.

Gosling's is perfectly acceptable, and I get that they have the copyright but when making your Dark n' Stormy... you can do better. Far more bland than the color would suggest, Gosling's makes a perfect companion to top-quality ginger beer... since it tastes like hardly anything. For when you want the ginger to shine through. This is one that will live on my bar for a long, long time, as it's one of the last rums I'd grab.

Perfect as a mixer as advertised.
Drinking neat no thanks but I appreciate the molasses, vanilla and cocoa flavors I pick out.

Bought it with the single purpose to make Dark'n'Stormy with the original ingredients, but it turned out as an utter disappointment. A pretty flat and generic rum with better alternatives.

Might be better chilled, but I doubt it. Tasted like curry.

My first <> black rum. I like the spice notes. A little too much added sugar. Nothing a couple of ice cubes can’t resolve.

This is the rum for the original dark and stormy. Very sweet and not a ton of depth. Overall decent stuff but not incredibly versatile.

Very pleasant. Have yet to to try it in a dark and stormy, but I imagine it will be very good. Neat it is quite heavy

Not intended for sipping, though you could do worse. Some nice notes of citrus, for me orange in particular, and baking spices, lightly sweet. Very pleasant on the nose, not the most flavorful on the palate, but it does mix well, and makes for a nice float in a lot of cocktails. Short finish, light body.Definitely worth the price.