Old New Orleans Amber

Tried it and was not that impressed. Had it on the rocks. Might work as a mixer.

Definitely a solid mixing rum. Good mouth feel and an ok mix a fire and flavor.

From home town

At a recent Rum tasting my Nephew brought this as a gift. It was a hit! Now interested in tasting the whole line.
The aroma is very pleasing. Yes some woody overtones but a wonderful butterscotch touch. Good old brown sugar too.
Taste - Many amber rums reach out and grab you - this is seductive, like a New Orleans woman. Very little tongue bite, smooth in the mouth. It has a sweet/wood flavor and a real smokiness that I like a lot.
This rum is great to experiment with. It will stand up wonderfully with any mix, in a glass with a ice rock or two - even a splash of water. It will be hard to pick one below.
A 9 all day

Quite a bit of an alcohol taste, but smooths out with coke. Good oak flavors, vanilla, spices. Taste does not linger at all.

This is a typical mixing rum, good for cocktails. A nice feature on all Old New Orleans rums are the prints on the backside of the label with a print of paintings of historical and beautiful Nola houses.

one of the first good rums I tried several years ago. Hard to get where I live, but had a friend pick up a bottle while traveling in Louisiana. Not as good as I remember the alcohol burn is a bit overpowering and the favors are overshadowed.

A good mixer, but too much vanilla to have neat or straight up.

I managed to snag three of the four Old New Orleans rums while...yes...in New Orleans. The first one I tried was the spiced rum and it was one of the best spiced rums I have ever sampled. So several days later I finally get around to trying another one...their amber rum. And boy, I was NOT disappointed. I almost gave it a 9 but settled for an 8 albeit in my mind it's like an 8.95....oh, so close.

First off...the obvious...

It's amber.

Duh!

The aroma is simply wonderful. Both in the bottle and in a snifter I get definitive vanilla with very little astringency. This is interesting because according to the label this is a "blend of rums aged UP TO 3 years" (emphasis mine). No mention of what percentages but whatever it may be, this rum is definitely smooth and has a rather pronounced vanilla overtone to it with only a mild oak tone. No real burn but a nice warmth tickling the throat with a distinct vanilla finish. As you can see via others' reviews, the vanilla is not everyone's cup o' tea but I like it. The only reason I didn't give it an outright nine is that my bottle had a slight strange unpleasant bitter flavor I couldn't really identify. It wasn't whatever it was aged in but some little bitterness just on the peripherals. Perhaps something in the oak? Not enough to spoil it for me but just enough to be noticeable and just a tad annoying. Sort of like a small paper cut on your finger that you keep bumping into stuff. I will leave the possibility that this was just a fluke for this particular bottle because when I get the change to go back to NOLA I plan on buying TWO bottles of each of Old New Orleans rums (one for me and one for some friends of mine).

This qualifies as sipping rum in my humble opinion but if strong vanilla flavor turns you off then I suggest you not get this. Otherwise seek out this rum at your earliest opportunity. Awesome stuff! Deserves wider recognition. Highly recommendable as a mixer as well.

This comes out of, allegedly, the oldest rum distiller in the United States, ~20 years old, and well I really was not impressed. It lacks complexity and came off really flat to me. Its not terrible, but there are so many better choices.