Mount Gay XO Extra Old

I like the smell of it . But the taste does not agree with my tastebods.

Deze smaakt eerder naar een cognac of een whisky. Voor mezelf niet zacht genoeg.Twee glaasjes geprobeerd en weggeven.

I finally broke down and spent $41 for this bottle of highly rated Bajan rum from the oldest distiller in the Caribbean. Compared to my Mount Gay Eclipse, the XO is a lot darker and it looks like two entirely different rums which they are indeed. Both have very little aroma and a strong after burn. However, the first taste from this newly opened bottle of XO showed only subtle hints of extra flavors and not enough to justify the price of being more than double that of the Eclipse. I expected this bottle to change over the next few weeks, and it did indeed improve a little. Comparing it to a single malt scotch or fine bourbon is also unfair, and I find no comparisons at all to those. Just because it balances sweetness with dryness does not make it a whiskey.

Update a month or so later: It did not improve in the bottle after only a few sips, so I dock it a whopping five points and can't wait to get it out of my sight. It literally tumbled down. To give you an idea compared to two other rums with no added sugar, I will show what happened before and after my final samples of MGXO. I had just finished a couple of glasses of Ron Del Barrelito 3-Star on the rocks and wanted to save this good rum for another day. I chose to follow it up with MGXO on the rocks due to it also having no added sugar. The MGXO was downright nasty right after the Puerto Rican aged rum. After only one glass of MGXO, I could not take it anymore and switched to Flor de Cana 7 on the rocks at half the price. What an improvement! It looks like my days of buying anything by Mount Gay are over with. Highly over rated!

Update March 7, 2019: The epic downhill slide for this premium rum still has me scratching my head one year later as to why. The bottle is now long gone. It has no added sugar, which is usually the reason for such deterioration in taste. Comparing to two other dry rums may have been it's kill shot. However, it did lose it's initial rating of 8 within a few weeks and wound up as a 7. The last half of the bottle is what caused it's rating to tumble, so oxidation definitely played a part, albeit with no sugar.

Update November 10, 2021: I gave Mount Gay another shot with their MGXO Triple Cask and their 1703 Master Select. If I were still submitting reviews, the Triple Cask would get my rating of 8 and the Master Select would get my rating of 9. Time will tell if these also deteriorate in the bottle.

by far the worst rum i have tasted not worth the money i would be annoyed paying £10 for this avoid at all cost