Ron Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva Rum

Well well well ... first let me start off by saying I really had to contemplate if I wanted to review this or not. Main reason is that I am by no means "into" rum. I enjoy a boat drink as much as anyone who likes to get hammered now and then but beyond that, I really have not done a lot of tasting of finer rum. Sure I have had spiced rum and coconut rums and they are fun to play with but this my friends is not a rum I would play with. This is a rum to truly appreciate and for that reason, I am reviewing it. See the foreshadowing there? Spoiler alert: I love it! Backstory time: I participated in a Distiller W.O.W. (whiskies of the world) Zoom call having received 10 drams of different whiskies, actually 9 as they snuck this one rum in with the mix. This was a gift for my finance for his 50th so I got each of us a sample box and we joined in the Zoom call together one evening. It was a blast and I am glad we had two boxes as by the time we got to the last few drams my tasting notes got a little suspect as I had a pretty good buzz going! Plus, even with clearing my palette, and sniffing on coffee beans I am sure that my tasting was not as great as it was on those first few drams. We were smart to just share in the first box and save the second back for tasting over a period of a week just to be sure our notes were correct. So I will have a lot of new reviews coming up over the next few days or however long it takes me to get to them - all with this same backstory which I will refer to. This was the first dram we were introduced to and it blew my mind! Yes, this rum is aged in ex bourbon barrels and you can taste it immediately. In fact, my fiancé and I were so eager to get started on our tasting that neither of us really noticed initially that it was in fact a rum we were sampling. As soon as we noticed there was a unique and different flavor to this "whisky", as soon as we looked at the tasting information sent with the package, and as soon as it clicked with us we were in fact not having whisky, the zoom leader (leader? announcer? Headmaster? whatever) said the word RUM and we had our DUH and AH HA moment. Appearance: Amber color Nose: Fruit, papaya, pineapple, some kind of soda pop, Dr. Pepper perhaps, a tad bit of ethanol, toffee. Flavor: Sweet, syrup, fruit leather, vanilla, brown sugar, cocoa covered oranges. We bought a bottle within 2 weeks. We just could not stop thinking about it. Such a departure from those boat drink rums. So much flavor! I would never mix this rum into a drink. It would be sacrilege! Its just too good and while I never would have thought myself to be a rum sipper this is one I will reach for when I want a little bit of that island feel without all the unnecessary mixers. Honestly if someone had told me this was a bourbon I may have almost believed them! Almost. Rating 4.75 as I am sure there is always room for something better but this is the best I have ever had.