Panamá-Pacific Rum 23-Year

The Bottle: Fairly restrained, as far as most rums go. It has some "hand-written" elements on the label that give it an upscale feel, but you could be forgiven for overlooking it on the shelf. In the Glass: Amber with a touch of orange. On the Nose: Brown sugar sweet. A little bit of orange peel and clove. If they made bourbon in the Caribbean, this is what I would expect it to smell like. This is like Baker's Panamanian cousin. Taste: Smooth and sweet. The brown sugar comes through, but it isn't cloying. I believe that there are local laws preventing it, but Panama-Pacific doesn't add sugar to their hootch; and it's the better for it. The development is burnt sugar and more orange with the typical litanny of "baking spices" hanging around in the background. This isn't spiced rum, mind you, so I we aren't getting a liquid pumpkin pie. There is some burn on the finish, but it isn't unwelcome. The sweetness dominates the finish, juxtaposed to some astringency. It's all-around a great sipping rum. I find myself craving this stuff in a way that's completely unreasonable for this kind of thing. It's extremely pleasing to both the palate and the wallet. The only extra note that I have is the "age statement" that this carries. When dealing with rum, take age statements with a grain of salt.... There aren't nearly the same kind of rules at play that the Scotch Whisky world has in place. That-being-said, I really don't care. As long as they keep making it taste this good...I'm a customer. I hope to follow this up in the near future with a review of their "9 year old" to see how they compare.