Smith & Cross Traditional Jamaica Rum

Neat. Lovely dark brassy color. Nose is bright, fruity and funky. Banana candy, pineapple, leather, and solvent (in a good way. Taste is sweet molasses, tobacco/leather, pineapple and other tropical fruits, cherry candy, and woo.. all kinds of funky esters... I think I got a little new car smell/taste as well. Words fail this review. It's an absolute experience for the flavor adventurous if sipping. Where I see this shining is as a mixer. It combines high proof rum with bitters or an apertif It would turn the simplest fruit juice into a complex tropical drink.

Holy moly this drink is flavorful! The nose is strong alcohol, but has wood-like ripe fruit scent to it, warm, spicy and almost a bit bitter. The taste is super complex. Depending on what you may have eaten or drank before, the tropical ripe fruit comes through, I get lychee, banana, pineapple, it’s hot but not too spicy, and you can also get salted caramel type of savory sweetness, and also almost a bit of smokiness and almost peatiness in the end. Super interesting. The high ABV does pack a punch. Lovely!

Gnarly

Drank neat from glencairn glass Nose: burnt sugar, molasses, over ripe bananas, and slight ethanol. Palate: opens with dark caramel, burnt sugar, and molasses notes. It's definitely hot but I'm not mad about it. Middle is slighty astringent (plenty of that "Jamaican funk") with notes of bananas. It finishes with strong banana. Seriously one of my favorite rums. Normally I'm a big/bold bourbon guy so the proof doesn't bother me (but it is strong). This is the perfect rum for all your jamaican rum cocktails or neat with a splash of water.