Bacardi Reserva Ocho Rare Gold 8-Year

Decent sipper, fair price. I enjoyed it. Would i try it again? I would.

Nem túl édes inkább kicsit "kommersz" lecsengése van, ittam már rosszabbat is.

A lighter colour in the glass than I was expecting. Surprised me on the taste, enjoyable with some nice body. I can taste sugar but not too much. I think I will buy again, nice! Edit enjoyed over several nights now, improves. 6.5 really

Has a spice profile similar to the Appleton 8-year, but still not quite as good. It's worth the try, but you can definitely find a better rum.

Able to hold its own in a spirit-heavy drink (e.g., a rum old fashioned) and has some good caramel notes. I'd consider it worth the money if this were, say, $20-25 a bottle and going up against Appleton and Kraken in grocery store's liquor section. But this is usually in proper liquor stores, where you should have no problem finding El Dorado, Flor de Caña, Hamilton, or half a dozen other better aged rums at a similar price point.

Not a bad rum, just a little bit to spicy for me for sipping neat. Adding ice or a drop of water, this turns out to be a very affordable and rich rum. Less flavorful than a Diplomático or Dictador, but going in the same direction. For a price of around 15-20$, this is a good deal in my opinion. Similar good value as the Barcadi 1873 Solera, but not a top shelf rum.

Quite sweet, caramel-heavy. Not the first choice for an 8 year old rum, but not terrible either.

Deep caramel, werthers, plus vanilla. Classic Cuban style rum.

After the Cuatro it is time to check out on the Ocho. The nose starts out pretty alcoholic but that tones down in a couple of minutes. It isn't replaced by much but the sour berries remain, some sweetness and some wood are detectable; recognizable Bacardi, just like the Cuatro.

On the palate the influence of wood is clear right away, just like the added sugar; it is not overly sweet and it helps softening the typical Bacardi sharpness but for me they could have done without. It has the same 'problem' as the Cuatro; the original distillate has so little depth left that it has become a bit generic and characterless. This is clearly meant to keep seasoned Bacardi drinkers 'in the house' and not to interest rum-explorers. It is made with care but it seems a bit a waste of time; at half the money more interesting spanish style solera rums are available.

Easy to drink but not giving any fulfilment and way too expensive for what it is despite its moderate price-tag.

I'm posting these mostly so that I know what to buy again and what to avoid. This is the latest in my adventure to try what's on sale for the month. This is my first Bacardi. I'm somewhat leery of the brand, given how hard it get panned here, but it's on sale and supposedly a cut above their rack grade grog, so what the hell...

I like molasses, and this has a good taste of it. Similar to the Captain Morgan Deluxe Dark, but overall smoother with less bite and none of the ethanol taste. Not much for aroma, but my nose isn't all that keen anyway. I'll buy it again as a good all purpose rum.

Edit: Going back to this one I can now certainly taste the added sugar. I'm going to knock a point off and probably won't buy again.
Funny how quickly the palate evolves. I really do prefer a dry Jamaican style rum for sipping