Montanya Oro Dark

Tastes like young whiskey. Not bad if you do not expect aged smoothness.

Immediately upon pulling the cork - the butterscotch is wafting up from the glass. A much more pronounced vanilla is in the air. The initial taste, vanilla for sure, a sweetness that lasts longer. Almost a honey flavor that marries with the smokiness of the Oak. This is a real sipping rum, although I can think of one or two drinks that would benefit from it as a mixer. This is not going to last long behind my bar.

It has a lot of chocolate... more like eating chocolate than baking, sweet and syrupy almost.

What is fascinating with this rum is that the production in Colorado which location definitely does not favour rum production.

The rum tasted of burnt charcoal and liquorice ...barrel notes due to the year but still felt like it was lacking any real depth ...

Decent but grossly overpriced vs alteratives. Fairly balanced, not too sweet and worth a try with a cube or 2.

Bought a bottle of Montanya Oro while vacationing in San Diego. Fairly plain and cheap looking bottle and label design. Light golden color. Strong alcohol mixed with plenty of vanilla, butterscotch and oak to the nose and palate. Strong burn at the end. Not the best artisanal rums hailing from the US.

Recently saw that this took a medal at SF World Spirits so bought a bottle. It is not sweet, which I love. Aged 12 months with no sugar caramel to sweeten, so surprisingly smooth and complex. Love the finish of spice. All around a great American rum.

Had a bottle and it went very fast!! Loved it and found myself getting lost in the moment while drinking. My bottle looked different so I might have had a different blend. I will be buying another bottle soon and will upload some pics.

This rum is very interesting! (And also somewhat polarizing, based on the ratings.)

It starts with a very unusual nose. Immediately spicy, but not at all like a "spiced" rum. I really struggle to describe it... mountain spices (?), pine, red pepper, juniper. Woody despite its young age (new oak?), and slightly funky thanks to the pot-still production. All in all, very complex, with a flavor to match. Slightly bitter finish. Did I mention the spice?

Super interesting, and not at all unpleasant. This would be a fun one to share with friends. If you had access to other American craft rums (which I think tend to be on the young, oaky, and expensive side), this would be a fantastic addition to a side-by-side comparison. I have no idea how much this bottle goes for, but I think this would be very interesting to mix with, if you're one to craft your own cocktails.

As a side-note, while I was tasting this and remarking on how unusual I thought it was, there happened to be a fellow next to me who had tasted over 700 rums. Despite this great number, he remembered Montanya Oro; it's among the relatively few that left an impression. It may not be super premium, but it's certainly a stand-out.

7+ on its own, but because it's so interesting, and Montanya is really blazing their own trail, I'm upping my rating to an 8- :)