Mount Gay Rum Twitter Tasting

I’ve been lucky enough to be on a Mount Gay twitter tasting tonight… I’m still quite new to rum, I know I like it, but I haven’t tried many varieties, so it’s great to try a few new ones from this range that I’ve not tried before!

Mount Gay is a fairly small producer, making around 500k cases a year. They mature everything in ex-American whiskey oak barrels.

Traditionally, Bajan rum are blends of pot and column distillates made from molasses.

Without further ado let’s dig in to the goodies…

Info: Mount Gay Black Barrel. Launched in the UK in 2015. Finished in heavily charred ex-Bourbon casks. 43% abv.
Nose: Fairly sweet, obvious sugar background, however fairly spicy, slightly herbal, maybe a little bit of black pepper. Hints of red or dried apple.
Palate: Fairly thick, easily introduced to your mouth with some peppery herbs and spices intermingling with all the lovely rummy sweetness. Nicely summery, but with enough weight behind it to make it more interesting. A nice vanilla note running through the whole thing.
Finish: The finish is balanced, with sweetness, a touch of herbs, and something really quite fresh at the end which is nice.
Thoughts: I know this is great for making a cocktail… but it’s also great on it’s own as an easy going sipping rum.
Available: Master of Malt – £31.45

Info: Mount Gay Copper Column. Part of a 35cl twin pack (the other below) which compares the two types of distillation methods that are used to make the Mount Gay blend. The maturation being the same for both. 43% abv.
Nose: Fairly light, with sweet vanilla caramel notes there, but in a more restrained way.
Palate: Still quite oily, but very light, although spices still come through easily. Vanilla, coconut and gentle oaks.
Finish: The finish is surprisingly longer than I imagined, with the coconut type notes winning out and staying around for quite a long time with youngish oak notes lasting out.
Thoughts: Lighter than you might be used to with the normal blend, but a really good insight to this particular element that is then married with the pot still distillate.
Available: The Whisky Exchange – £68.95

Info: Mount Gay Copper Pot. Part of a 35cl twin pack (the other above) which compares the two types of distillation methods that are used to make the Mount Gay blend. The maturation being the same for both. 43% abv.
Nose: Much more spirity, more ethereal, floral and herby. Deep and bassy compared to the Column.
Palate: The palate is really quite different here to the Column, deeper, more bassy, herbal, floral (the kind of floral where flowers are maybe past their prime), and in general quite a lot less sweet, nearly some sour tones to it.
Finish: The finish is long, oily, smooth, kind of damp, almost mouldy (in a good way). It’s great.
Thoughts: The Column is much more easily accessed, and maybe more recognisable to a whisky person like me. But, give this two seconds and I’m totally in love with it, banging run full of life and character.
Available: The Whisky Exchange – £68.95

Info: Mount Gay XO Cask Strength 50th Anniversary Release. On November 30th 2016 Barbados proudly celebrated its 50th Anniversary of Independence. XO is a blend of rums matured for 8 years to 15 years. Limited edition, 3000 bottles worldwide. 63% abv.
Nose: Rich and strong on the nose, don’t breath too deeply! Packed full of melted brown sugar notes, milk chocolate, gentle herb hints… but is it a little closed at this strength and needing a drop of water maybe?
Palate: Rediculously easy to drink at this high strength, you’d hardly know it’s so strong as it takes your tongue quite a long time to tingle. There’s definitely more oak notes here, something whisky drinkers would easily see parallels with. Hints of mushed up fruits and chocolate.
Finish: Oily, warming, and long… really rather special. Gentle sweetness sticks on your palate, with a hint of oaks to balance it out.
Thoughts: Wowsers! I wasn’t entirely expecting it to be *this* good. What a rum, easily on a par as a great quality sipping rum as any a good Scotch.
Available: The Whisky Exchange – £140

Overall Thoughts: Great rums, and a fab insight into the two types of distillate. Mount Gay has always been a favourite for me, and this twitter tasting just helps to underline that!

Thanks to TheFloatingRumShack and Mount Gay for the samples.

Comments or questions? Why not come and find me on twitter @steveprentice.