Barbancourt 5 Star Reserve Especiale 8-Year

This is my first French style rum. It's ok. Mostly just spicey.

In cocktails, this does an OK job. Neat, however, this rhum does not have a pleasant nose and the first sip is pretty overwhelming with a medicinal/chemical taste. Second sip is not as bad, but still not great. Wouldn't buy again.

I'm not always into Agricoles but this one was drinkable. Although hella affordable, I probably won't be getting this again for sipping- but would definitely not say no if someone offered it.
It was good I just can't put my finger on anything that WoW'ed me.

Vanilla and caramel aroma, cocoa, coffee and wood barrel in the palate. Decent burning ending.

Smoky taste. Sweeter with time but nothi'g exceptional.Not my kind of rum.

UPDATE: Whenever I drink rum I let them breath in the glass for about 10 minutes. I did the same when I originally posted this rum and the initial results were such. However I had a feeling something was wrong with this batch as a whole, like the factory missed a mixing step. The smoke flavor was just way too high to be normal. I figured to get the smokey taste out would be just to stir it. So I poured the whole bottle in a pryex glass and put it on the stirrer and stirred for about 20 minutes. After having the whole room smell like a burning log I took it off the stirrer and tried it. MUCH better, the flavors are all there like they should be. Definitely can get the argicole taste now. And doesn't taste like a burning log anymore. Still not that good but enough to be enjoyable in a rum and coke.
I'm leaving the original review below \/
This is bad rum at all points. Opening the bottle it smells OK at best (kind of like a failed pusser's batch). Drinking it straight is okay for a millisecond (imagine a better tasting bacardi gold) and in comes a whoosh of harshness with so much smokey/tabacco flavor you mine as well suck the tail pipe of an 84' ford, there is only a faint hint of the grassy agricole part but that flushed out by the smokey too. In coke its much the same, it is less harsh but there is so much smoke flavor its not very good. It's not even a pleasant smoke like smoked jerky. It's more like the new guy left the space heater too close to the barrel and it caught them all on fire and they said "screw it we waited 8 years we are going to sell it anyway". Clement makes 100x better agricole. This could be good to marinate foods in for a smokey taste.

I got to try this as part of my Rum Ratings Club membership. I prefer their 15 year, which I'm not such a huge fan of either.

A relatively dry rum, which smells and tastes of oak and leather, with light floral notes. Nothing too exciting to me.

Light and fruity, but with a peppery sting of alcohol. I expected it more balanced after 8 years in limousin oak. Pepper, pepper, pepper.

Not quite sure what to make of this, but it's going down fairly fast!
The smell and taste seems very distinct, and unlike either Agricole or molasses based rums, but it's own thing.
Smells kind of floral, with an undercoat of solvent, and something darker but indistinct.
Taste is remarkably lacking burn for something so young, with the floral vibe adding the French oak, and then the modest burn coming in on a dry oak finish.
When I first opened this, it didn't offer much, but it's come out of its shell over time without ever bringing anything complex to the table. Overall, it's very easy drinking and reminiscent of Spanish style rum, but with a French oak, cognac like, vibe too.
For £35, it's decent and very drinkable. I quite like it in it's own way, but I imagine wanting to try something different rather than buy more of this again

I'd never heard of this rum before. It has a nice color, but not as bold as other 8 year rums I've had.