Kraken Black Spiced Rum Original

Hilariously a duplicate of this on here that 19 other people fell for, at no surprise at all. This definitely seems like the type of product that I would normally stay far away from, but a buddy of mine shared a bottle with me during a work trip, and I'll be damned if it didn't mix very well. I probably tried it neat at that time as well, but not under ideal circumstances, so here we go. Since there's really no evidence of what spices were used in this (other than there being a lot of them), it's hard to tell what color is expected of it. It's definitely a black color, somewhere between a stout and dark amber maple syrup. The nose is surprisingly brighter than I expected, likely due in part to the not-so-shabby 94 proof. Molasses is evident, but there's very, very little spice scent, and what's there smells raw and whole. The initial flavor is caramel, but not very sweet. This precedes some of the spices involved, but the blend is very bland, and no one spice can be picked out. The molasses flavor and accompanying sweetness then hits, and almost ruins the palate with the jolt of syrupy sweetness that it imparts. The saving grace is the finish, which is fairly hot due to the proof, which takes away from the scowling sweetness, and gives an almost faux boost to the spice flavor. In parting, this isn't a very tasty beverage by itself, but the high notes of sweetness, along with the decent alcohol content, still give it good reign over being a mixing spirit. Unless you seriously cannot stand tasting ethanol without getting ill, stick to this over the 70 proof version every time. I can only imagine all you get with the 70 proof offering is more sweetness and less spice, which if you're mixing with soda, is only going to make it feel like you're creating a cavity.

Chocolate, sweetness, slight alcohol note, little note of something like cough syrup