Plantation Xaymaca Special Dry

Funky and fruity

An excellent rum! Interesting nose, I'd describe it as banana and nut. Finishes dry as stated with a bit of brown sugar lingering. Background notes of dried fruit. Very smooth over ice, but I prefer to sip it neat. Can't go wrong either way.

Tropical fruit sugar cookie Nose after 10 min rest: Expressive bright fruit notes with pineapple and apple dominant. Vanilla, caramel, butter, papaya, butterscotch, molasses, banana Taste: begins with a crisp tropical fruit note that hangs out- pineapple, papaya, and banana- while the darker sweeter notes go through the palate. Cane sugar, butterscotch, then bubblegum, caramel, and ending on a buttery caramel with residual tropical fruit and spice. Moderately long finish complex and delicious.

Lighter on the funk than the rums Erin hates, and also no burn from alcohol. "Smooth A.F." - Erin, 2020

If you need the funk, if you gotta have that funk, this is the rum for you. Massive hogo funk on the nose, which is tamed slightly by time in the glass, but still hefty. There’s molasses, caramel and ripe bananas too. Rich on the palate with caramelized brown sugar, honey and muted tropical fruits. Short finish is woody with a slight bitterness.

Rating: 14/23 N: Vibrant funk, sweet fruit, wow! It doesn't smell mature, but it smells vivacious! There's a bit of wood leading into fireworks and burnt sugar, but the fruit is what really stands out. There's lots of orange, banana, mango, passionfruit, pineapple. It's definitely edgy, but the smells all fit together. P: The flavors mix together more on the palate than they do on the nose, bringing out more richness. The fruit flavors are all still there and so is the caramel and kind of funk. There are even faint hints of garlic and soy sauce. It's good, but the youth does show itself a bit at times with fresh vegetal flavors and a clean creek water presence. Still, it's a very good palate. It makes me think a bit of a youthful version of Plantation Trinidad. F: There's a youthful sharpness here that stays. I wouldn't call it harsh, but it definitely highlights the youth. There's lots of tropical fruit still, along with that interesting garlic soy sauce flavor. It's a bit more muddled and youthful and less interesting than the palate, but it's still solid. This is very good, especially at the price. I'm happy sipping this, but I wouldn't be afraid to throw it in a light cocktail either. It's sort of the opposite of Appleton Estate 12, but I think I generally like this approach better. The two are similar in quality. During the summer, I'd give the win to the Plantation with its refreshing vivacity; during the winter, I'd give it to Appleton with its warm richness and maturity. Doorly's 12 is better than either though. This seems like a 14 to 15 - essentially on par with Appleton Estate 12, but for a very different reason. The Appleton has a refined maturity that contrasts greatly with the Plantation's youthful funk. For the money, I'd definitely go for this, but overall it's a much tougher question. I was about to give this a 14, but the last sip I took convinced me to up it to a 15, but then the finish changed my mind again. So it's a 14, but very borderline.

Rating: 15/23 I'd been interested in this because it sounded interesting and had incited some controversy. Also, Plantation has a solid track record. Then this won best rum in the world at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Now, I put very little credence in these spirit tasting competitions because I myself have tried sipping and spitting numerous spirits in one day and it very quickly burned out my palate. Also, Jim Beam Black won the International World Spirits Competition a couple years ago. While Beam Black is a fine bourbon, it is far from the best in the world and I can think of numerous that blow it out of the water (RR SiB, Joseph Magnus, WT MK Revival, RR 10, Eagle Rare, Dickel BiB, WT RB, 1792 Full Proof, GTS, Belle Meade Cask Strength, Weller 12, WLW, McKenna 10, Corsair Grainiac, Booker's, Blanton's, Elijah Craig, E. H. Taylor, ...). Oh, but I was supposed to be tasting Plantation Xaymaca? Right. N: It's kind of brash with a lot going on. Young, but not in a way that is necessarily bad. Fireworks, lots of tropical fruit (pineapple, banana, mango, orange, hints of lime, maybe passionfruit?), wood (young and old), some vague baking spices that I'm having trouble capturing - probably largely allspice. I eventually get some vanilla in a floral waft that the fruit overpowers most of the time. It smells tart in a way that is young but also balances out all of the fruit. There is sort of a mild toffee richness. I can tell that there's other stuff going on here, but that's all I can get right now. Just take this away: young and brash, with fantastic tropical rum complexity. P: The youth and alcohol are certainly present. Fireworks, of course, but they aren't the most dominant flavor. I get a light caramel, but it blends right into the juicy fruits, which bring in vanilla and gradually meld into wood and even a hint of bittersweet African chocolate. There are some bitter herbal and lightly minty qualities as well and some richer sugary quality like molasses perhaps does eventually come out. This is just full of flavor, a true contrarian to the standard Jamaican formula set by Appleton Estate. The tartness exacerbates the youth a bit. Arguably, it makes this a great palate for a mixed drink though since it's so brash and flavorful. F: More fruit continues coming out. The fireworks are there. Yeah, it's quite similar to the palate. I initially thought that this was just brash but interesting. It's grown on me though. I really enjoy drinking this rum. It's just so full of life and flavor. Like with tequila, sometimes a young spirit is great. Still, although it might be a step in the wrong direction, I'd be interested to try this aged a bit longer. I think Plantation has done a great job balancing out a large number of flavors that are very opinionated and should be at odds. It's a tad harsh, but worth it. It's a great choice if you've been drinking bourbon since it has such a strong flavor, so it holds up well. This is really good. It's up there with Appleton Estate 12 and Doorly's 12. I'd probably put it above Appleton Estate, but below Doorly's. This is one that I'll be keeping stocked going forward.

Distinctive musty, vegetal character that grand your attention.