Pusser's British Navy Blue Label ABV40 3-Year

In my heyday of traveling extensively through the Caribbean from 1988 to 1996, I drank cheap Cruzan and Appleton rums to save money for all of my trips. Then I happened upon a bottle of this rum from the BVI's one day. I bought a bottle and had absolutely no idea what the Royal Navy daily ration meant. It was so different from any rum that I had tried. However, I soon looked upon this rum as an occasional foray into "finer" rums, as I had yet to learn about the true finer rums. I kept buying this "luxury rum" on occasion for many years until one day the taste changed. I gave up and avoided it for at least 20 years.

Having liked their 15 year old that even made it into my top 10 rums, I finally gave this one another try. My only purpose for buying it was to make authentic Goombay Smashes and Painkillers, both of which are sweet tropical drinks as opposed to sour tiki drinks.

My bottle was created in Guyana and bottled in the BVI's. Since I love demerara rums from Guyana, this was a good sign before I even opened the bottle. It also has only 6 gpl of added sugar to keep it classified as dry, which is another good sign. My first whiff from opening the bottle was caramel. The wonderful aroma of mildly spiced caramel lingers in the snifter. Very complex flavors greet the palate since it is supposedly made from several different Caribbean rums. It is sweet without being overpowering, with oak flavors being very well hidden. The smooth taste goes down with no after burn.

Damn, I found another winner at only $26 per bottle and I don't even have to use it as a mixer. But when I do, I will not feel guilty about using it to make large batches of Goombay Smashes! And yes, it does indeed make a great Goombay Smash!

Update January 5, 2021: It has been years since I had this rum or their much better Gunpowder Proof. So rather than drive almost 200 miles to pick up more bottles of Gunpowder Proof, I picked up another bottle of Pusser's 84 Blue Label locally this morning. The label on the back says that it is a blend of rums from Guyana and Trinidad. It tastes no better than before and still rates as a high 6 for me. The inclusion of the cheaper column still and unaged rum from Trinidad is obviously used to keep the price down. It also keeps the quality down. However, a recommended upgrade to this rum would be to add some Appleton 12 year or 8 year to the mix to suit your tastes.

So go ahead and make your own version of Black Tot that suits your own needs and at a much cheaper cost! I still cannot believe that the British Royal Navy gave their troops a daily ration of such a complex mixture of rum for free. I am almost certain that their daily ration was more like the modern day version of Bacardi Gold vodka disguised as rum. My impression of the current craze over Black Tot is that this is nothing more than another money grab. Fools and their money will soon part! Take my advice and do your research to recreate your own version that tastes much better at a much lesser cost.

Update May 5, 2024: With my last bottle of Pusser's Gunpowder Proof just opened, I needed to by another bottle of this 84 proof version for a comparison test. Because there was a good bit of cheap unaged rum from Trinidad in that blend, I just quit buying it and rated it as a low 6. Well, when I did the comparison test today and read all of the information on each bottle, it was a very pleasant surprise. Both are now comprised strictly of rum from Guyana! The 84 proof version even mentioned that this $21 bottle of rum is what was served to the British Royal Navy sailors as daily rations (before Black Tot Day). I always knew that the cheap rum was served to the sailors while the Gunpowder Proof version was reserved for the officers. Adding water to the Gunpowder Proof brings the taste being very similar to their 84 Proof. Finding all of this out today suddenly makes those who fell for the recent expensive Black Tot "replicas" look like absolute fools.

So, as a result, I now upgrade my rating from a 6 to an 8 and this one has now become my new best buy rum that will most certainly always be available. I also no longer have to drive about 200 miles to get more of their Gunpowder Proof. What a great rum day this has been on Cinco De Mayo!!!