Rum SixtySix Family Reserve 12-Year

Had a chance to sample this excellent Bajan offering from RL Seale, who should be appointed President of Rum or something. King, maybe. Anyway, this is a masterful blend of column and pot still rums which result in a superbly smooth and full-bodied drink which has a little funk and spice in the finish. It is not sweet, so if you're a fan of sugared rums you'll hate this. I love it straight up. Very tasty indeed.

On the complex nose i pick up notes of molasses, chocolate, orange, vanilla, coffee, oak and banana. It open's up real nicely after breathing for a while. On the medium bodied, oily palette I find rounded oak, juicy orange and baking spices. It's refined quality rum, but with a little bite at the same time. The balance is just spot on. The finish is medium long with nice, slightly dry and warming tingles, perhaps imparted by the last 4 years of maturation spent in former Jack Daniel's barrel's. Simply one of my favorite rums. Foursquare know's their stuff.

I actually thought this run was better with a little coke. It helped open the flavors and the spice gave it a nice touch.

Good, nice oakey adventure. healthy level of foliage and a decent underbrush make for a quality tasting experience.

As a single malt and bourbon regular I found this easy drinking. Brown sugar , sweet molasses. A fine starter for ten.

I quite complex rum that tastes vanilla and chocolate but also a little bit spicy. There’s quite lot of pricewhorty rums from Barbados, and this is one of them.
Picture: My Bajan shelf.

A great rum for the price. Smooth and tasty. Will continue to look out for this and grab a bottle when I see it.

Note: I'm a sipper. My opinion is based on sipping characteristics.

After having the entire bottle, I'm leaning more towards 6, but let's be a bit generous here. For a 12-year old, I'd say it does not possess many characteristics that would distinguish it from way younger alternatives, let alone rums in its own league. In fact, I was struggling to find a definitive character in this one. It simply lacks one. A well rounded, totally smooth, sweet and mindbogglingly fruity. That "tropically aged" line stands for something all right. And that's all about it. Felt exactly like way younger and cheaper Ron Esclavo Gran Reserva and in a blind test I'd be struggling to tell the difference. If you are into "fruity" rums, this is a good one. But if you are more of a Flor de Caña type of sipper, there are better alternatives.

Soft in the mouth and the warming power is as you swallow. I like the gentle fire of this rum.

Has the distinctive Foursquare smell and flavour - I don't know how to describe it, except that it's a beautiful balance of brown sugar, cask and some sweetness. Rather than individual flavours, I just get a conglomerate rum-i-ness, that Foursquare does so well.

With this however, I also get what I can only describe as an off note as well. At 40% here in the UK, it's also suffering from the extra dilution.

It's very drinkable, but for the same money, Doorlys 12 is richer and sweeter, if a little one dimensional, and R L Seale 10 is drier and more complex. I would definitely take one of those over this.

I'm still looking for that Foursquare sweetspot, where there's more character and complexity than the three above, but without the expense and challenge of finding one of the ECS range. Not many left to try, but will keep looking, safe in the knowledge that at the very least, everything they make will at the minimum, be very drinkable