I want to combo break from the Dominican Republic again, because I think I may have found a rum competing to be my favorite, again. I have two variants of Doctor Bird. The original one you can get anywhere, and the blend exclusive to The Inferno Room, a tiki bar in Indianapolis. > Note: It carries NAS, but The Fat Rum Pirate says that Zan Kong (marketing manager at WP) told them that Doctor Bird is a blend of rums, some of which are aged 6 years. Two James then finishes the blend in Detroit in Moscatel casks. Review Smell This thing is fantastic. You take the cap off, and the rum fills the room. Very strong pineapple, banana, sweet, fruity, tropical. Taste Pineapple, banana, blueberry, and it melts into a caramel and buttered popcorn. It's such a nice pure Jamaican funk, with none of the industrial notes that I get from some of the more complex Hampden marks like C\H, but it's not as oaky and vanilla as Smith & Cross, it's actually very light and crisp. Is it the perfect daiquiri rum? I made myself several daiquiris. Doctor Bird, Inferno Room, Smith & Cross, and DOKTOK split base 1:1 with Diplo Planas as DOK tends to overwhelm. Well, maybe I am just becoming a dunderhead, but DOKTOK split with Planas was my favorite daiquiri of the bunch. But it was veeery close. Honestly I should have also split base for Inferno Room because it's challenging to drink a daiquiri that is 2 parts rum, 1 part lime, and 1 part syrup, when the rum is a 60% ABV funk bomb. But they are all delicious. I can't emphasize enough what a fantastic break this is from so much Dominican rum. I would put Smith & Cross and Doctor Bird tied for 2nd to DOKTOK in the daiquiri tasting, and honestly, I feel like I still need to find the right cocktail for Doctor Bird Inferno Room, because the sherry flavor doesn't really work quite as well in a daiquiri, even after compensating for the overwhelming ABV and funk. Verdict {rating}/10 When I was trying it, I was convinced that it was a hampden. I pulled out my 8 marks and was tasting them... maybe it's a blend of LFCH and \H? It's so hard to tell because it's also definitely aged and my marks are all unaged! But dead on, it gave me hampden vibes. I was stunned when I read that it was Worthy Park, because I associated Worthy Park with that really grassy weird flavor like in Worthy Park Overproof, 109, and Hamilton Pot Still blends. Not that I don't like Worthy Park, but I always assumed that it had this one specific profile, but that might just be a particular mark that they use in those rums but they don't use in Doctor Bird, because this blows every other WP I've had out of the water. But regardless, my conviction that this was a Hampden just goes to show how good this rum is. Crazy fruity, crazy funky, and it's incredible that it goes for the same price as Smith & Cross. For $30 I now have a choice of two 8.5/10 rums that are quite different but fantastic in their own way. It's an insane daiquiri.

Alright, I am back from the Dominican Republic. Yet again, my plans to visit Barceló have been dashed by circumstances beyond my control. So I will stop delaying and just go through the Barceló rums that I have tried. Review Smell A nice nose of oak, vanilla, and wood. A bit of harsh alcohol as well. Taste It goes down smoother than the nose would suggest. Notes of vanilla, woody oak, and it's noticably sweet but not overwhelmingly sweet. There's also a slight sourness to it that I notice some cheaper rums have and I don't quite know what it is that I'm tasting. It's got an okay body, not very complex, and overall not really a big departure from Brugal. In fact I think it's very comparable to Brugal XV and Doble Reserva. I made a daiquiri with it, and it wasn't that bad, aside from being kind of woody. Definitely not as good as a Havana Club daiquiri, or even a Brugal Anejo daiquiri, but it's alright. It's much better in a rum old fashioned. But, still, it just doesn't quite excel at anything. Verdict {rating}/10 This is a pretty archetypical Dominican rum. Not much going on in terms of crazy flavors, since it's basically aged neutral spirit. It's not as good for sipping as something like Brugal 1888, and it's not as flavorful for mixing as Brugal Extra Viejo. It's pretty forgetable, aside from being sort of the compass against which Dominican rum gets judged, since it's so affordable, widely available, and half decent. 5.5/10

I have been reviewing a lot of rums from the Dominican Republic. I love the country and I have tried a lot of their rums. Lately I've been reviewing Oliver & Oliver, and yeah, it's bad, but I promise it does get better. However, for now, I want to take a little break. I am once again in the Dominican Republic to celebrate my 30th birthday, so let's take a small break and do some non-dominican reviews that I've been sitting on. So I was at a NY Rum Club meet last month, and someone said that someone from Guatemala is bringing a Guatemalan rum. I joked that they would bring Zacapa, but, sure enough, they brought Zacapa. La Pasión, to be specific. Of course, I asked them about it, since it's a bit of a controversial rum in enthusiast circles, but they told me how much they love their rum and how it's the pride of their country. Of course, I asked for an ounce or two of it to go, and gave it a full review at home. Review Smell Oaky, with vanilla and red wine. It actually smells less sweet than the original Zacapa 23. Taste It's rich, deep, with honey notes, sweetness, wine, oak, and vanilla. Though, it's not super sweet. It's quite similar to the regular Zacapa 23, though, with the PX cask finish, I actually expected La Pasión to be sweeter than the original, but it actually comes off as dryer. Significantly dryer, actually. And maybe a touch smoother. The finish is nice. Not super long, but with floral notes that remind me of a cuban rum. Verdict {rating}/10 The improvement is not large, but it's noticable. Zacapa 23 is almost too sweet, while La Pasión is right in the "just right" zone for me. I sweeten my foursquare rums, so if you like your rums bone dry, this still isn't for you, but it's tastefully sweet, and a small, but meaningful, improvement over the original. I have not had Zacapa XO side by side with either La Pasión or the original, so I don't know exactly what effect the cognac finish has, nor if it likewise makes an improvement, because honestly these are indeed pretty similar, but hopefully I can do that with XO and draw a firm conclusion. Yes, it probably is sweetened, and yes, they have histocially been caught using glycerin (though it's been a while and I don't know if things have changed). With that said, it's still a great rum, and one that I enjoy sipping on.

Rum for Connoisseurs. The best preface I can give you for this review is to just ask you to read my previous reviews on Oliver & Oliver rums. Story The giant XOX on the front lets us know that this rum is very old and very good, and the giant 50 right below it means it's 50 years aged. Well, not really. They write "Aniversario" in such small cursive font that it's hard to read without the bottle being right in your face, and I think that's intentional. I don't like it when liquor brands put a large number on the front to heavily imply an age statement when it's not. My least favorite number is 23. I mentioned a few reviews ago that I will name and shame Taíno Gifts in Punta Cana. Well, here goes. Originally, I was going to go to the Barceló center to see how they make rum. Sure, Barceló mostly contracts out stills, but I was still interested, and they make decent rum. Anyway, our tour company screwed us over so many times, that my aunt (who sort of does all of the vacation planning) canceled everything we had booked because the company was just unbelievably bad at their job. And, included in what was canceled was my trip to Barceló. So, to make it up to me, she booked me to.... the Oliver & Oliver gift shop. I mean, look, I get it, she was trying to fix a bad situation, and I do appreciate that. But man, Taíno Gifts, which is the Oliver & Oliver gift shop in Punta Cana, is suuuuch a tourist trap. The prices are insane. To be honest, I was only looking at the prices of the rum, because that's what I am into, but Puntacana Club Tesoro was $129. Its literally less than $40 in the US, at a liquor store here in NYC— not just on the liquor store's website that might be out of date, I saw it on a shelf for $38. Likewise, Taíno is selling E. León Jímenez 110 Aniversario for $250. Punta Cana airport duty free, which doesn't exactly have the best prices, has it right now, on shelves, for $150. The four rums we tasted. Notice that Unhiq XO is definitely the darkest. A facebook advertisement simply claiming 25 years old. But I was booked for a "rum education and tasting", and so I went to it. The teacher legitimately was just saying things. He said that the first country to distill rum was Jamaica, said that Spanish-style rum is always sweet because it's based on Cuban rum. When presenting our first rum (Puntacana Club XOX), he said it's a 25-year-old rum. I exclaimed "wow, 25 years old?" and he quickly corrected himself— 25 year solera. He told us how the best rum has lots of legs when you swirl the glass, and is dark when you hold a sheet of paper behind it, and then legitimately tried to convince us that Puntacana Club XOX was the darkest of the bunch, even though it was abundantly clear, and everyone in the class agreed, that Unhiq XO was the darkest rum. The class was murmuring about this, so I raised by hand and said that to me, Unhiq XO looks the darkest, and he clarified that darkness is not about the color of the rum, but of the age, and Puntacana XO is aged 25 years, therefore it's the darkest. What a joker. To be fair, the Taíno gift shop very frequently simply calls these rums "25-years-old", full stop, so it's not just the teacher getting it wrong. He also made it a point that swirling a rum around and seeing the legs shows that it's a quality aged rum because it's been aged more. There's a lot to break down there, and I made a post about this recently, but the long and short is that sometimes the legs are more pronounced from being more mature, sometimes, it's from higher ABV, and sometimes, it's because glycerin and sugar are added. Knowing what I know about how my 1-3 year old Puntacana Club Silver Dry had very well defined legs... I am not inclined to believe that the legs of Puntacana XOX necessarily prove anything. Anyway, I got a sheet with a description of the rums, and this is what it said about Puntacana XOX, translated to English: >This complex, contemporary rum is a connoisseur's fantasy. From the visual impact of the fiery tears gliding down the glass to the sweet, subtle bouquet of Port wine—the spices, the smoked wood, and their sensual persistence combine to form an authentic symphony. On the palate, it offers a very comfortable entry, with a smooth, unctuous flow, volume, and body. The Malvasia grape bestows upon it a delicate sweetness, while the finish reveals an elegant tannic note. Notes: Price: The price for this rum in US liquor stores is around $60, but at Taino gift shop, it's around $160. Base fermentable: Some retail sites say molasses, but their official site says miel de la caña (sugarcane honey) which is a sugarcane juice syrup. Since they buy bulk rum from Trinidad (definitely from Angostura, which is molasses) and from Panama (highly likely from Varela Hermanos, which is sugarcane juice), as well as from various other countries, it's probably a blend of both. Origin: Cask Cartel says that it's a blend from five countries. My guess is the same as the rest of the Puntacana Club lineup: bulk rum from Nicaragua, Colombia, Panama, Trinidad, and the Dominican Republic. Aging: The claim is that it is aged in a solera style in American and French oak casks, then finished for 3-6 months in port casks, with either the oldest portion 25 years old, or 25 years is the actual age statement. Claims differ. Please take the above information with a very large grain of salt, as Oliver & Oliver is not known for their transparency in terms of their ingredients, additives, and production, and retail sites and their distributor have wildly different claims about how it's made and what's in it. Not a good sign. Review Smell Pretty light on the nose. Vanilla, caramel brown sugar, but it's hard to nose it because it's so light. Taste Again, very sweet. I get a nice rich oak, vanilla, a slight bit of wine, and it's smooth and doesn't burn very much. I actually snuck in a small bottle of Barceló Imperial, because I thought that I was going to the Barceló center this morning, so I wanted to use that as my litmus test during taste testing. But, I get to use it here instead. And compared to Barceló Imperial, Puntacana Club XOX is about equally woody, has a bit more of a wine taste, and is way sweeter, to the point where I think it's hiding the flavor of the rum itself. But, I do like that there's a bit more of a deep, rich, caramelly taste. Verdict {rating}/10 In cognac, XOX means that the eau-de-vie was kissed by the master blender so that it knew that it was loved. Jokes aside, your guess is as good as mine as to what XOX means here. Overall, between XOX and Barceló Imperial, it's hard to pick which I like more. And that's the most frustrating part of this entire exercise. Puntacana Club XOX tastes like a slightly deeper, richer, better rum than Barceló Imperial. The oak is there, the wine finish adds a nice touch... it's genuinely pleasant. But, that rum is buried under 19g/L of added sugar, and who knows what else, designed to make it "smooth" for a tourist's palate. Oliver & Oliver has proven with this rum, as well as with Tesoro, that they can source and blend a spirit with real potential. They can source good quality stock and age it well. But they don't trust you to appreciate it... they want you to drink the sweet, smooth, adulterated version (aka the version that's easier to sell to someone on vacation who doesn't know any better). So, they drown it in additives, put it in a stunning bottle, slap a huge number on the front, and charge a premium meant to trick you into thinking that you're buying luxury. Oliver & Oliver isn't rum for connoisseurs— it's rum for gullible tourists. The entire brand goes out of its way to ensure that no actual connoisseur would ever want to drink it. So how do I score this? I'm conflicted. The rum here genuinely is good. It's not fantastic, but there was some real depth and richness. If it was bottled at 43% and 0g added sugar, it would easily be a 6.5/10. But with the sweetness masking the nuance, I honestly don't know if I would choose this over Barceló Imperial. Maybe by just the tiniest bit. 5.75/10. Also, let's talk value. $60 in the US is already overpaying for this rum. If you like smooth sippable solera rums, for this price, I'd rather you go for Santa Teresa 1796 (or even Zacapa 23). Both are much better. Regardless, the price at this gift shop is just bonkers.

I really wanted to give this an impartial review, and I got to taste some Puntacana Club rum in the Dominican Republic, and my thoughts were that it's a sweet mediocre rum that is way more expensive than its quality calls for. But it's, in their words, Rum for Connoisseurs. These two rums are pretty similar, so I decided to combine their review. I also wanted to quickly share the description of Tesoro from their website: >A formidable reserve with an attractive dark golden color and mahogany nuances, with a harmonious aroma and notes of oak, toasted caramel and syrup. Oh, wait. They just copied Ron Viejo again. Oops. I would pull a description from the spec sheet as well, but Tesoro actually doesn't have a spec sheet. Story Finally. Finally. Puntacana has decided that this rum is elegant enough, supreme enough, worthy enough to meet the bare minimum ABV requirement in the country. Still below the bare minimum in the US, mind you, but it's finally at the bare minimum ABV for the Dominican Republic and most countries in Europe! Once again, I want to call them out for making the bottles out of thick glass where the rum portion is completely in the little window in the box, and everything obscured by the box is just glass and air. And, the volume and ABV were completely obscured in the black box. At least these ones hit the bare minimum ABV... barely. While 50mL is not a huge amount, at least it's enough to get a good sample. Pour it in my NEAT glass, get a good nose, take a sip, and use the rest for one or two half-size cocktails. But 20mL? God forbid I can actually get a decent sample of your severely watered down rum! This is some advanced tourist entrapment! The best scientists at Oliver & Oliver must have put in overtime to come up with this trick! The gift box hiding the ABV and volume. Also, I don't want to overlook the fact that Puntacana Silver Dry very obviously had artificial flavors added and almost certainly a heavy addition of glycerin. So, I have no doubt that they have zero issues with adulterating every rum they produce in any way they think they can. It's like learning that your chef spat in your food last time, and now you are brought another dish from him. Would that color how you view the food? I will be comparing the rums today against Brugal Añejo, but, since they are now 38% ABV, I will not be watering it down for today's test. Notes: Price: The price for this rum in US liquor stores is around $60, but at Taino gift shop, it's around $160. Base fermentable: Some retail sites say molasses, but their official site says miel de la caña (sugarcane honey) which is a sugarcane juice syrup. Since they buy bulk rum from Trinidad (definitely from Angostura, which is molasses) and from Panama (highly likely from Varela Hermanos, which is sugarcane juice), as well as from various other countries, it's probably a blend of both. Origin: Cask Cartel says that it's a blend from five countries. My guess is the same as the rest of the Puntacana Club lineup: bulk rum from Nicaragua, Colombia, Panama, Trinidad, and the Dominican Republic. Aging: The claim is that it is aged in a solera style, then finished for 4 months in single malt Scotch whisky casks from Scotland's Tomatin distillery, with either the oldest portion 15 years old, or 15 years is the actual age statement. Claims differ. Please take the above information with a very large grain of salt, as Oliver & Oliver is not known for their transparency in terms of their ingredients, additives, and production, and retail sites and their distributor have wildly different claims about how it's made and what's in it. Not a good sign. Review Smell Actually a big difference this time. It still smells sweet with vanilla and oak, but the oak scent is much richer and it has this pleasant toasted caramel scent to it. Taste Whoa. Finally some decent flavor. Vanilla, rich oak, toasted caramel. It's noticably darker than Espléndido, which doesn't mean much normally, but it is significantly more flavorful. We're back to being at least as flavorful as Brugal Añejo, while being quite smooth, and as sweet, almost grossly sweet, as Espléndido and Black. Maybe this rum would genuinely be enjoyable if it wasn't so sweet. There's greater depth of flavor— maybe not to the level of Brugal 1888 or Extra Viejo, but it's getting there. A bit longer on the palate too, finishing with nice floral notes. What a shame. I feel like there's actually something decent in this bottle. Side by side with Barcelo Imperial, it's almost the same in terms of wood, depth, and richness, but Tesoro is just incredibly sweet. Verdict {rating}/10 This is not a great rum, but I want to congratulate it for being the first and only rum in my sample pack to break 5/10. The oak is richer, and there's a caramel flavor that reminds me of a crème brûlée. There's actual depth and complexity here... just a bit. In a side-by-side with Barceló Imperial, it comes close, but it's just so sweet. They finally gave me an above average rum at an almost average ABV, and they buried it under additives just to make sure that it's smooth. I would say Tesoro is a bit more flavorful than Brugal XV and a bit less flavorful than Extra Viejo, and since Extra Viejo is aged 3-8 years, and XV is a blend of rums aged 3-8 years and 2-3 years, I'd say that it tastes like a rum that's approximately 3-6 years old on average. In cognac, XO means that the eau-de-vie was aged for a minimum of 10 years. In rum, XO doesn't mean anything, and I would actually bet a good deal that the average age of this rum is far below ten years. Yes, it's darker and more flavorful than Espléndido, but I still believe that the color mostly comes from caramel. So is this rum good? It's good, but oversweetened, overpriced, and why would I buy this when Barceló Imperial, Brugal Extra Viejo, and Brugal Añejo are half the price and better in every way? Half the price in the US, by the way. At Taino gifts, a 700mL bottle will set you back $129.

I really wanted to give this an impartial review, and I got to taste some Puntacana Club rum in the Dominican Republic, and my thoughts were that it's a sweet mediocre rum that is way more expensive than its quality calls for. But it's, in their words, Rum for Connoisseurs. These two rums are pretty similar, so I decided to combine their review. I also wanted to quickly share the description of Espléndido from their website: >A formidable reserve with an attractive dark golden color and mahogany nuances, with a harmonious aroma and notes of oak, toasted caramel and syrup. Oh, wait. They just copied Ron Viejo again. Oops. Let's get it from the spec sheet. >Puntacana Espléndido is a 12-year-old Solera rum that combines elegance and complexity. Aged exclusively in François Frères French oak barrels, these casks lend a unique structure thanks to their high concentration of tannins. During the slow maturation process, the tannins evolve, transforming initial astringencies into delicate floral and citrus aromas, evoking the paradisiacal landscapes of the Caribbean. Story Finally. Finally. Puntacana has decided that this rum is elegant enough, supreme enough, worthy enough to meet the bare minimum ABV requirement in the country. Still below the bare minimum in the US, mind you, but it's finally at the bare minimum ABV for the Dominican Republic and most countries in Europe! Once again, I want to call them out for making the bottles out of thick glass where the rum portion is completely in the little window in the box, and everything obscured by the box is just glass and air. And, the volume and ABV were completely obscured in the black box. At least these ones hit the bare minimum ABV... barely. While 50mL is not a huge amount, at least it's enough to get a good sample. Pour it in my NEAT glass, get a good nose, take a sip, and use the rest for one or two half-size cocktails. But 20mL? God forbid I can actually get a decent sample of your severely watered down rum! This is some advanced tourist entrapment! The best scientists at Oliver & Oliver must have put in overtime to come up with this trick! The gift box hiding the ABV and volume. Also, I don't want to overlook the fact that Puntacana Silver Dry very obviously had artificial flavors added and almost certainly a heavy addition of glycerin. So, I have no doubt that they have zero issues with adulterating every rum they produce in any way they think they can. It's like learning that your chef spat in your food last time, and now you are brought another dish from him. Would that color how you view the food? I will be comparing the rums today against Brugal Añejo, but, since they are now 38% ABV, I will not be watering it down for today's test. Notes: Price: The price for this rum in US liquor stores is around $60, but at Taino gift shop, it's around $160. Base fermentable: Some retail sites say molasses, but their official site says miel de la caña (sugarcane honey) which is a sugarcane juice syrup. Since they buy bulk rum from Trinidad (definitely from Angostura, which is molasses) and from Panama (highly likely from Varela Hermanos, which is sugarcane juice), as well as from various other countries, it's probably a blend of both. Origin: Cask Cartel says that it's a blend from five countries. My guess is the same as the rest of the Puntacana Club lineup: bulk rum from Nicaragua, Colombia, Panama, Trinidad, and the Dominican Republic. Aging: The claim is that it is aged in a solera style in François Frères french oak barrels, with either the oldest portion 12 years old, or 12 years is the actual age statement. Claims differ. Interestingly, Tastings.com, in their review, listed it as "aged 3 years or less" likely due to the fact that it can't claim an age statement. Please take the above information with a very large grain of salt, as Oliver & Oliver is not known for their transparency in terms of their ingredients, additives, and production, and retail sites and their distributor have wildly different claims about how it's made and what's in it. Not a good sign. Espléndido spec sheet(https://licorec.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Ayudaventas-Ron-Punta-CanaRon-Esplendido.pdf) (but take this with a grain of salt too) Review Smell Notes of sweetness, vanilla, and oak. Pretty much the same smell as Ron Viejo and Ron Muy Viejo, except I notice that the floral, perfumey smell is gone. Taste Oh my god it's so sweet. I finally get a bit of warmth in my mouth (God forbid!!). So, to compensate for the staggering 38% ABV, it seems like they put in way more sugar, and who knows what else? I will say that it has some ok rum flavor, though about the same as Muy Viejo. But let me point out: we have gone from 32% to 38%, so now I am comparing it side by side with Brugal Añejo 37.5%, and of course with less dilution, now Anejo pulls out ahead of Esplendido in flavor. Verdict {rating}/10 Heyyy they did it! They hit 38% ABV! A genuine achievement for this lineup! So what did they do? They drowned it in sugar, of course. It has less burn than Brugal Añejo, yes, but it has less everything. Brugal Añejo actually has character, and its flavor can punch through in a cocktail. All Espléndido offers is Puntacana Club Black levels of sweetness. In rum, VS doesn't mean anything, and this rum proves it. Brugal Añejo kicks its butt at half the price. Half the price in the US, by the way. At Taino gifts, a 700mL bottle will set you back $78.

I really wanted to give this an impartial review, and I got to taste some Puntacana Club rum in the Dominican Republic, and my thoughts were that it's a sweet mediocre rum that is way more expensive than its quality calls for. But I only got to try a few, so I bought some sample bottles at a gift shop. It's, in their words, Rum for Connoisseurs. I would like to share the description of the Ron Muy Viejo from their website: >A formidable reserve with an attractive dark golden color and mahogany nuances, with a harmonious aroma and notes of oak, toasted caramel and syrup. Oh, wait. They just copied Ron Viejo. Oops. Let's get it from the spec sheet, then. >Puntacana Muy Viejo stands as the crown jewel of Caribbean rums. It undergoes an average maturation of 7 years in freshly charred American white oak barrels. The uniqueness of Puntacana Muy Viejo lies in its innovative triple-aging process. By utilizing three distinct barrels with varying levels of toasting (light, medium, and medium-heavy), this rum achieves a harmonious blend of flavors. Each toasting level imparts different characteristics, creating a multifaceted profile that delights the senses. Now, contrast this with their description of Puntacana Club XOX: >PUNTACANA CLUB XOX 50th ANNIVERSARYTHE JEWEL OF THE OLIVER FAMILY So are they both jewels? I mean... I guess that makes sense. I also have two "family jewels". Story Did you really think that Ron Muy Viejo, the crown jewel, now entering their premium range of rums, would finally be a bit more than the frankly embarrassing 32% ABV? Think again. I guess Oliver & Oliver wants to disguise the harshness of even their "7 year aged" rum. And they do take every opportunity to assert that it absolutely is aged 7 years. I'll reiterate about the packaging trick. Thick glass, rum only in the tiny window, everything else is just air hidden by the box. They even hid the volume and the embarrassing 32% ABV label. Even the weakest rums in the US are a full 25% stronger than this liquid, and while 50mL is not a huge amount, at least it's enough to get a good sample. Pour it in my NEAT glass, get a good nose, take a sip, and use the rest for one or two half-size cocktails. But 20mL? God forbid I can actually get a decent sample of your severely watered down rum! This is some advanced tourist entrapment! The best scientists at Oliver & Oliver must have put in overtime to come up with this trick! The gift box hiding the ABV and volume. Also, I don't want to overlook the fact that the last rum I reviewed, Puntacana Silver Dry, very obviously had artificial flavors added and, I strongly suspect, a heavy addition of glycerin. So that rubicon has been crossed, as I have no doubt that they have zero issues with adulterating every rum they produce in any way they think they can. It's like learning that your chef spat in your food last time, and now you are brought another dish from him. Would that color how you view the food? So look, I will be comparing the rums today against Brugal Añejo, but, to make it more fair, I will water it down from 37.5% to 32% ABV. Not that I have to do that to make the test fair, if we're being real, but I want to give these two the best shot. I am actively trying hard to overcome my bias, knowing that this company puts out slop. Notes: Base fermentable: Some retail sites say molasses, but their official site says miel de la caña (sugarcane honey) which is a sugarcane juice syrup. Since they buy bulk rum from Trinidad (definitely from Angostura, which is molasses) and from Panama (highly likely from Varela Hermanos, which is sugarcane juice), as well as from various other countries, it's probably a blend of both. Origin: Cask Cartel says that it's a blend from five countries. My guess is the same as the rest of the Puntacana Club lineup: bulk rum from Nicaragua, Colombia, Panama, Trinidad, and the Dominican Republic. Aging: The claim is that it is aged in a solera style in ex-bourbon barrels, with either the oldest portion 7 years old, or 7 years is the average age. Claims differ. Please take the above information with a very large grain of salt, as Oliver & Oliver is not known for their transparency in terms of their ingredients, additives, and production, and retail sites and their distributor have wildly different claims about how it's made and what's in it. Not a good sign. Muy Viejo spec sheet(https://licorec.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Ayudaventas-Ron-Punta-CanaRon-Muy-Viejo.pdf) (but take this with a grain of salt too) Review Smell It smells sweet, with vanilla, oak, slightly floral notes, and kind of perfumy. Taste Notes of vanilla, caramel, and actually the slightest hint of an aged floral taste that I typically associate with cuban rums. I would say that this rum is on par in taste with 32% Brugal Añejo, in terms of vanilla, oak, and floral taste, but burns slightly less. The flavor is not exactly the same, as Brugal has a floral green apple taste that is uniquely Brugal's, while Muy Viejo noticably has a floral taste that reminds me more of Ron Santiago de Cuba, but, again, don't mistake this for me saying it's anywhere near as good as a Cuban rum. It's still extremely diluted and anemic. Verdict {rating}/10 This rum almost has something. If I try hard, I can detect a hint of the aged floral character that makes Cuban rums interesting. It's faint, barely there, but it's a step up from Ron Viejo. But we're setting the bar pretty low to the ground. At 32% ABV, it's still anemic, and at this sweetness level, it's still masking whatever nuance might exist underneath. If this were bottled at 40% with no added sugar, it might genuinely compete with Bacardi, potentially even Brugal Añejo. But it's not— it's a 32% ABV product claiming "solera aged 7 years" that's defeated by a watered down 2-5 year old rum. Disappointing. 4/10.

I really wanted to give this an impartial review, and I got to taste some Puntacana Club rum in the Dominican Republic, and my thoughts were that it's a sweet mediocre rum that is way more expensive than its quality calls for. But I only got to try a few, so I bought some sample bottles at a gift shop. It's, in their words, Rum for Connoisseurs. I would like to share the description of the Ron Viejo from their website: >A formidable reserve with an attractive dark golden color and mahogany nuances, with a harmonious aroma and notes of oak, toasted caramel and syrup. Story I'll reiterate about the packaging trick. Thick glass, rum only in the tiny window, everything else is just air hidden by the box. They even hid the volume and the embarrassing 32% ABV label. Even the weakest rums in the US are a full 25% stronger than this liquid, and while 50mL is not a huge amount, at least it's enough to get a good sample. Pour it in my NEAT glass, get a good nose, take a sip, and use the rest for one or two half-size cocktails. But 20mL? God forbid I can actually get a decent sample of your severely watered down rum! This is some advanced tourist entrapment! The best scientists at Oliver & Oliver must have put in overtime to come up with this trick! The gift box hiding the ABV and volume. Also, I don't want to overlook the fact that the last rum I reviewed, Puntacana Silver Dry, very obviously had artificial flavors added and, I strongly suspect, a heavy addition of glycerin. So that rubicon has been crossed, as I have no doubt that they have zero issues with adulterating every rum they produce in any way they think they can. It's like learning that your chef spat in your food last time, and now you are brought another dish from him. Would that color how you view the food? So look, I will be comparing the rums today against Brugal Añejo, but, to make it more fair, I will water it down from 37.5% to 32% ABV. Not that I have to do that to make the test fair, if we're being real, but I want to give these two the best shot. I am actively trying hard to overcome my bias, knowing that this company puts out slop. Notes: Base fermentable: Some retail sites say molasses, but their official site says miel de la caña (sugarcane honey) which is a sugarcane juice syrup. Since they buy bulk rum from Trinidad (definitely from Angostura, which is molasses) and from Panama (highly likely from Varela Hermanos, which is sugarcane juice), as well as from various other countries, it's probably a blend of both. Origin: Cask Cartel says that it's a blend from five countries. My guess is the same as the rest of the Puntacana Club lineup: bulk rum from Nicaragua, Colombia, Panama, Trinidad, and the Dominican Republic. Aging: The claim is that it is aged in a solera style in ex-bourbon barrels, with either the oldest portion 5 years old, or 5 years is the average age. Claims differ. Please take the above information with a very large grain of salt, as Oliver & Oliver is not known for their transparency in terms of their ingredients, additives, and production, and retail sites and their distributor have wildly different claims about how it's made and what's in it. Not a good sign. Ron Viejo spec sheet(https://licorec.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Ayudaventas-Ron-Punta-CanaRon-Viejo.pdf) (but take this with a grain of salt too) Review Smell It smells sweet, with vanilla, oak, slightly floral notes, and kind of perfumy. Taste Notes of vanilla, caramel, but pretty much very little flavor. Very smooth and little burn. Brugal Añejo watered down to 32% burns maybe slightly more, but still has far more flavor. More vanilla, more oak, more of that slightly floral taste. Ron Viejo is just like water with a hint of rum. It's water that has more sweetness than it does rumminess. Verdict {rating}/10 There's nothing to this. It's smooth, it doesn't burn; makes sense, water is smooth and doesn't burn. The one positive side is that there's no bad flavors, since there's no flavors at all. It's not oversweetened like Black is, but I still only give it 3/10. It's the Natty Light of rum.

I really wanted to give this an impartial review, and I got to taste some Puntacana Club rum in the Dominican Republic, and my thoughts were that it's a sweet mediocre rum that is way more expensive than its quality calls for. But I only got to try a few, so I bought some sample bottles at a gift shop. I figured it's a serious enough rum company to actually warrant me to sit down and give them a review. I've seen their rums in the US! It's, in their words, Rum for Connoisseurs. I also wanted to quickly share the description of the rum from their website: >An absolutely crystal-clear white wine. A clear, clean aroma with character. It has tropical notes, pleasant and smooth. Perfect for sipping neat or in cocktails. Story You know what? When they call it a white wine, I believe it. 32% ABV? Are you kidding? And in case any of yous think this is just the samples being lower ABV to fool tourists into thinking that the rum is smoother than it actually is (which is something that absolutely crossed my mind!) just look at their own website(https://ronpuntacanaclub.com/product/silver-dry/). It's a bit blurry, but you can absolutely see it says 32% ABV. Likewise, for the Puntacana Club Black that I reviewed yesterday, the full-size product is also genuinely 34% ABV(https://puntacana.shopping/catalog/alcohol/rum/temnyeromydo20tiletpremiumvyderzhka/33387/). I will give them credit for one thing, though. This time, they got the color right. This actually looks like a silver rum. Complete side note, but what is up with that URL? temnyeromydo20tiletpremiumvyderzhka is literally the transliteration from Russian of темные ромы до 20-ти лет премиум выдержка. This is bizarre. This is the official gift shop for Oliver & Oliver products in Punta Cana, by the way. The gift box hiding the ABV and volume. Once again, same old tourist trap packaging: thick glass where the rum only shows in a little window. The rest is just dead space disguised by the box. ABV and fill level conveniently hidden. Even the weakest rums in the US are a full 25% stronger than this liquid, and while 50mL is not a huge amount, at least it's enough to get a good sample. Pour it in my NEAT glass, get a good nose, take a sip, and use the rest for one or two half-size cocktails. But 20mL? God forbid I can actually get a decent sample of your severely watered down rum! This is some advanced tourist entrapment! The best scientists at Oliver & Oliver must have put in overtime to come up with this trick! Notes: Base fermentable: Some retail sites say molasses, but their official site says miel de la caña (sugarcane honey) which is a sugarcane juice syrup. Since they buy bulk rum from Trinidad (definitely from Angostura, which is molasses) and from Panama (highly likely from Varela Hermanos, which is sugarcane juice), as well as from various other countries, it's probably a blend of both. Origin: Cask Cartel says that it's a blend from five countries. My guess is the same as the rest of the Puntacana Club lineup: bulk rum from Nicaragua, Colombia, Panama, Trinidad, and the Dominican Republic. Aging: The claim is that it is aged in a solera style in ex-bourbon barrels, with either the oldest portion 5 years old, or 5 years is the average age. Claims differ. Additives: European retailers indicate that it contains 8g/L of sugar. So, is it dry? Well, it's the least sweetened product that Puntacana Club offers, so, I guess? It is also triple chill-filtered, filtered through activated charcoal, and filtered through plates of cellulose. Please take the above information with a very large grain of salt, as Oliver & Oliver is not known for their transparency in terms of their ingredients, additives, and production, and retail sites and their distributor have wildly different claims about how it's made and what's in it. Not a good sign. spec sheet(https://licorec.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Ayudaventas-Ron-Punta-CanaSilver-Dry.pdf) (but take this with a grain of salt too because the ABV doesn't even match) Review Smell A very light smell of vanilla, and that's pretty much it. Taste Very sweet. This is dry? I refuse to believe it. It is grossly sweet. And grossly artificial vanilla flavored. If the sugar results say 8g/L, then they are adding something else to it to sweeten it more. It's sweeter than Barceló Blanco, which, according to Alko, is 13g/L. Like, I can taste that Barceló Blanco is sweetened, but it's still within my limits because I like my rum a bit sweeter. Puntacana Club Silver Dry is like candy. It's like I am drinking vanilla candy. In a daiquiri, ew. Gross. I feel zero alcohol. All I feel is the disgusting mixture of artificial vanilla combined with limeade. I actually don't want to finish my drink. Verdict {rating}/10 I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I like rums with a bit of sweetness. I like to add a few drops of syrup to my Foursquare rums to make them more enjoyable. So when I tell you that Puntacana Club Silver Dry is disgustingly sweet, I mean it. Official sources say it has 8g/L of sugar, but I don't believe it. Either that number is wrong, or they're adding something else— glycerin, artificial flavors, who knows? Because this drinks like candy, not rum. I also put it in my NEAT glass and swirled it... sure enough, legs. Based on my research, this rum is at most 1-3 years old, likely closer to 1. Now, I did a whole post about this recently where I broke down how legs developed from additives, and I am not 100% saying that there is no way for the legs to form except by glycerin, but, given everything else about this rum, I am highly confident that this rum is heavily adulterated. The vanilla flavor is so strong that it drowns out everything else. This rum is actually disgusting. I couldn't even finish my daiquiri. Congrats, Caribaya white rum, you have an equal. 1/10 avoid at all costs.

I really wanted to give this an impartial review, and I got to taste some Puntacana Club rum in the Dominican Republic, and my thoughts were that it's a sweet mediocre rum that is way more expensive than its quality calls for. But I only got to try a few, so I bought some sample bottles at a gift shop. I figured it's a serious enough rum company to actually warrant me to sit down and give them a review. I've seen their rums in the US! It's, in their words, Rum for Connoisseurs. I also wanted to quickly share the description of the rum from their website. Keep in mind that they also have a 25 year rum (or rather, "25 year", in quotes, rum) and yet this is what they say about their Kraken knockoff: >The house of Oliver’s most daring rum. The most unique and exclusive rum in the whole range, everything about this rum is an accomplishment. Aged in oak barrels that contained Amontillado sherry, the special way it was made make it a unique product in the rum category. Aimed at those who seek exclusivity and uniqueness. Story Oh boy. What can I say about this rum? First off, look at the bottle. Looks really black, huh? I actually went and got my bottle of Kraken to compare this rum to, since I figured it was going to try to copy Kraken. But then I actually took my black rum out of the sample box and, well... you ain't black! It is of an amber hue that is pretty much the same as all of the other rums from Puntacana. Or could it be a confession that all of their rums are equally dyed? And as if that wasn't enough, they disappoint you again by only making the rum 34% ABV. So, regardless, it wouldn't be a good comparison to Kraken. At 47% ABV, it's a full 38% higher in alcohol content. 34% ABV is... not even legally rum! 37.5% ABV is pretty anemic, but I guess that wasn't watered down enough. God forbid the stupid tourists that buy this crap (and I am not excluding myself from this category in any way) think that it's not "smooth". The gift box hiding the ABV and volume. Oh, and just to even things out, they bamboozle me again by making the bottles out of thick glass where the rum portion is completely in the little window in the box, and everything obscured by the box is just glass and air. And, the volume and ABV were completely obscured in the black box. I consider myself more informed and careful than average, and this totally blindsided me. 50mL is not a huge amount, but at least it's enough to get a good sample. Pour it in my NEAT glass, get a good nose, take a sip, and use the rest for one or two half-size cocktails. But 20mL? God forbid I can actually get a decent sample of your severely watered down rum! This is some advanced tourist entrapment! The best scientists at Oliver & Oliver must have put in overtime to come up with this trick! Also I will name and shame. I got my whole Oliver & Oliver experience at Taino Gifts in Punta Cana, and there's more to the story in later reviews... Notes: Base fermentable: Some retail sites say molasses, but their official site says miel de la caña (sugarcane honey) which is a sugarcane juice syrup. Since they buy bulk rum from Trinidad (definitely from Angostura, which is molasses) and from Panama (highly likely from Varela Hermanos, which is sugarcane juice), as well as from various other countries, it's probably a blend of both. Origin: Rums from Nicaragua, Colombia, Panama, and Trinidad, aged and blended in the Dominican Republic by Oliver & Oliver Internacional with, supposedly, a 25 year old mother rum. This part seems the most consistent across all sources. Aging: The claim is that it is aged in 12-year solera in French oak that have been charred at 200C for 10-15 minutes, and finished in PX casks, blended with rums aged 1-10 years from Nicaragua and Colombia, as well as older rums from Panama and Trinidad. But this is the one where the information is the most inconsistent. I've seen some claims of Amontillado casks, for instance. I am not sure why the bottles at the store say "15 year solera" when they don't even claim that in the marketing or the spec sheet? Tastings.com, in their review, listed it as "aged 3 years or less" likely due to the fact that it can't claim an age statement. Additives: European retailers indicate that it is colored with caramel, and contains vanilla, herbs, spices, and sherry. So it's almost a mamajuana? And their own site says that it's triple chill-filtered. No information on sugar. Please take the above information with a very large grain of salt, as Oliver & Oliver is not known for their transparency in terms of their ingredients, additives, and production, and retail sites and their distributor have wildly different claims about how it's made and what's in it. Not a good sign. spec sheet(https://licorec.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Ayudaventas-Ron-Punta-CanaBlack-Rum.pdf) (but take this with a grain of salt too because the ABV doesn't even match) Review Smell Brown sugar, caramel, and oak. Not much too complex happening on the nose. Taste Extremely sweet. Overwhelmingly sweet. I can't taste if there's herbs or wine in the rum. I am pretty sure there isn't. My bet is that the listing that says there's spices and sherry added is incorrect. It honestly tastes like Puntacana Club Muy Viejo, but with even more sugar. Which is unfortunate, because maybe the underlying rum flavor could very well be almost average, but it's just drowned in sugar. The positive, I guess, is that it's not actively gross like Kraken. But, it's anemic, overly sweet, no body, no finish, barely any flavor or complexity. Verdict {rating}/10 I wonder what fraction of a teaspoon of that claimed "25 year old mother rum" actually makes it into a 700mL bottle of Puntacana Club Black. Probably about as much as the fraction of this "Dominican" rum that actually came from the Dominican Republic. Cynicism aside, at 34% ABV, it's already starting in a hole. Water down Bacardi Gold, add a ton of sugar, and you might get close to this, except Bacardi would still have more flavor. The rum underneath is not complex, not interesting, just... sweet. And I say that as someone who enjoys a sweeter rum. It's not disgusting, it's not undrinkable, it's just kind of pointless. 3.5/10

And now we are onto our last rum from Brugal... Añejo Superior. Yes, there's also Brugal Especial Extra Dry/Blanco Supremo/Extra Dry Supremo/Blanco Especial... wow this rum went through a lot of names! Anyway, yes, this rum does exist, and I see it everywhere in US liquor stores, but for some reason I never saw it for sale in the Dominican Republic. Weird. Also, it's so much darker than XV, yet it's aged for less. Something tells me that they use a bit more color than just for consistency. Review Smell Vanilla, oak, sweet, but with a strong alcohol smell. Taste I get a great "rummy" taste, kind of that coconut vanilla that you get from Bacardi gold, but with significantly less burn. It still burns enough for it to be well and truly a mixer, but I already prefer it to Bacardi gold. It's pretty dry, but has a hint of sweetness, and it's a bit floral on the finish, like I get from a lot of cuban rums. In a daiquiri it really shines. It is surprisingly flavorful and punchy. Is it as good as Havana Club 3? No, but it's not worlds off. Likewise, it's definitely better than Bacardi, but not far and away. Verdict {rating}/10 In a lot of ways Brugal in general is like a bridge between Bacardi and Cuban rum. If you're looking to pick this up and you're not in the US, I would still say that Havana Club 3 is a big improvement over this rum, but if you're in the US and you're looking for a Spanish-style gold rum in particular, I would definitely skip the Bacardi and go for this. 5.25/10

Continuing on with the Dominican Republic. Let's talk about Brugal XV. The name might make you think it stands for "Xtra Viejo", but so far, the two have coexisted without XV being an outright replacement for Extra Viejo. Review Smell Vanilla, oak, sweet, but with a strong alcohol smell. Taste The taste is predominantly alcohol burn. There's some vanilla, oak, and caramel taste, with a similar flavor profile to the other Brugals, but you can really taste that this one could use some more time in the barrel. There's also a slightly sour taste, I am guessing that's some sort of wine influence. I would say that it's about as flavorful as Bacardi gold, but it does burn less than Bacardi gold, though I would say that both of them belong to the mixer category. I do not enjoy sipping XV. In fact, I think that, side by side with Brugal Añejo, the flavor and burn level is pretty similar. Of course, this rum has no real body or complexity. We have entered the territory of gold mixer rums. It makes a pretty mediocre daiquiri. Barceló Imperial beats it, and actually, even Añejo beats it. I tried it in a rum fashioned, and Barceló Imperial, Brugal Doble Reserva, and Havana Club 7 easily beat it. Verdict {rating}/10 I don't understand this rum's existence. It is the price of Extra Viejo and Doble Reserva, but significantly worse as a sipper, and it's more expensive and not as good as a mixer compared to Brugal Añejo. What's a positive? I like it better than Bacardi gold. It is less harsh sipping it compared to Bacardi, but, again, I wouldn't recommend sipping either. If you are in the Dominican Republic and want the best mixer, get Havana Club 3. If it must be Brugal, then get Añejo. If you want the best sipper and your budget is only around 800 pesos, get Extra Viejo.