Mount Gay Barbados Golden Rum, XO Triple Cask Blend, 70cl

Product Information

The distillery currently features four different types of stills: small Spanish and Scottish pot stills, a Coffey column still, which was introduced in the 1970s, and the most recent addition, an Irish column still.

However, I don’t really give marks to the presentation (it might overall influence things subconsciously). Sipping the rum leads with strong notes of caramelized vanilla and robust fruit flavors of banana, grilled pineapple, red apple, apricots, and raisins. The dog that bites you in the nose is still there (did you think he drank all that cognack and went to sleep :). It's characters of the bourbon barrel are very distinguished and give this rum 90% of its characters. The new version of XO is a blend of copper pot and column still rums that are aged between 5 and 17 years in ex-bourbon, American whiskey, and cognac casks.As the Mount Gay Distillery is the oldest official distillery in the world established 1703 as the label denotes, I don’t think we need to worry too much about the heritage and authenticity of the contents of this Extra Old rum. That means the island has lots of underground water, a key element in what makes Mount Gay unique and why the British decided to focus sugarcane and rum production here in the 17th century. The proprietary yeast strain is based off a captured wild yeast, which Mount Gay’s team then bred for consistency. Much like the Jamaican and Demerara rum’s you get a very definite feel about these Bajan style rum’s. Whilst an ice cube wasn’t necessary due to the smoothness of the spirit I found it opened it up a little.

Before publishing reviews on staples such as Appleton Reserve (8 Year Old) and R L Seale’s 10 Year Old I felt I had to have a good feel for those kind of rum’s. What isn’t addressed is the proportions – based on the taste comparisons made by a number of talented tasters, the new MGXO does not stand up to the old. This version has much more robust fruit flavors that are instead augmented by earthier flavors that create a lighter flavor profile.

This is not to say that the current MGXO is bad – it appears they are saving the honest, good old stuff for the 1703 which is perhaps the finest Bajan rum we have ever experienced, period. Mount Gay Distilleries is the oldest operating distillery in the Americas - producing rum in Barbados since 1703. When I began exploring rums, Barbados Mount Gay XO was one of the first “sipping” rums I explored and studied. But the "collapse of the 'flave' packet" (apologies to all who got that reference and the one fast approaching) represents a quantum let-down that I can't ignore. The majority of barrels are American oak, including some formerly used for bourbon, but you also find rum aging away in ex-Cognac barrels and new ones made from Andean oak, a species only found in Colombia and Panama.