Rating: 10/23
I had this back in the day, before I started writing reviews. I was pretty sure that I didn't want to buy another full bottle of it, but I was lucky enough to stumble upon a sample.
E: Surprisingly light in my glass. Not a good sign.
N: Not much action here. I get some burn sugar and orange peel. The alcohol is also showing through here.
P: Pretty smooth. A bit of a burn and some harshness toward the end though. There's plenty of burnt sugar mixed with a bit of what must be barrel tannins with perhaps a hint of clove, but there's also a nice tropical note I get plentiful oranges with perhaps hints of pineapple, mango, and banana. I do get a little of the alcohol at times.
The palate is not very full and it actually isn't as boldly bitter as I might have made it sound. The complexity is really not there, but the balance is adequate. This is actually substantially more pleasant than I'd expected based on the nose.
F: Bitter, a tad numbing, alcohol, generally light. Forgettable and almost missable even while I'm experiencing it.
- Conclusion -
This doesn't have enough force to be a great mixer, nor does it have the fullness and/or complexity to be an enjoyable sipper. It's super bland, but not exactly objectionable.
Is it below a 12? Yes. Is it worse than Don Q Añejo? Yes, but not as much worse as I'd expected. I could go for a 9 or 10 for this one. I appreciate the substantially increased fullness of Plantation 3 Stars relative to this, which is what pushes that over the line into the better sipper category for me. I did briefly consider giving this an 11, but I'm going to land on a 10 here.
18.0
USD
per
Bottle