Gosling's Family Reserve Old Rum

Category: Dark
Country: Bermuda
Aged: Minimum 10 years
Alcohol: 40% (80 proof)
Availability: Extremely Limited
Price: $65-$90 (750 mL)

Appearance (0-5): 5
Aroma (0-25): 23
Taste (0-35): 33
Smoothness (0-10): 8
Body (0-5): 5
Overall Quality (0-20): 20
Machete Grade (0-100): 94

Notes: Gosling's Family Reserve Old Rum is the Maltese Falcon of rums - classic, rare, and perhaps even worth a pricey expedition to find. For starters, the presentation could scarcely be more elegant: a champagne bottle of dark green frosted glass, individually hand numbered, a simple label encircled with a metal band, cork-topped and dipped in thick black wax (the black seal). Gosling's infinitely more attainable - in price and availability - Black Seal is a standard favorite of mine for mixed drinks, but Family Reserve takes the same robust blend to an entirely new plateau. Sturdy, leggy, and deep, dark brown - few rums present with such immediate authority. The aroma is semi-sweet caramel, vanilla, oak, and a soft hint of prunes and dried stone fruits. Tastes are ranging and complex: caramel, molasses, and smoke are first to present, followed interchangeably by baked apples, roasted nuts, vanilla, tobacco, wood, cherries, spice... A velvety yet deceiving smoothness wraps around your tongue and still finds a way to softly kick on its way down - as a proper rum should. Mixing this rum with anything whatsoever would be a travesty; even ice should be avoided as enjoying it warm in a snifter is the only way to appreciate this wonderfully nuanced experience.

Reviewed: January 2008

Website: http://www.goslingsrum.com/