Kraken Black Spiced Rum Original

The Bottle: How can you not like this bottle? It's old-school-parchmenty-sea monster-shiver-me-timbers. I've seen it done a few different ways, but this review is specifically on the standard glass bottle. I love the double-loop handle and the art that backs up the font and the Architeuthis dux. That's right... They seriously put the scientific name for giant squid on here... You get it, I'm a fan. In the Glass: Very dark brown. If you hold it up to the light, there are some red hues in it; but this plays as a typical black rum. I'm sure that it's supposed to play off of the squid/ink nature of the branding. On the Nose: Cola, brown sugar, spices and alcohol (this stuff is 47% ABV, so it would be hard to hide from that). The predominant spice notes are of clove and allspice. There's probably some cinnamon notes tucked in there too, but I don't personally get a lot of that. Taste: Sweet and spicy. This is surprisingly drinkable neat, even with the high ABV. It may be a bit too sweet for some, so I'd look elsewhere if you are interested in a more savory take on this kind of spirit. There isn't a lot of complexity here, it's mostly just cola sweetness and the aforementioned baking-style spices. I'm sure that it would be great in cocktails that call for any kind of darker or spiced rum. This is not an aged/refined/pretentious rum. This is an affordable, go-to, cocktail rum that smashes anything Captain Morgan that I've had in this price-point. Couple the sweet & spicy style with the fantastic packaging and you have something that's really quite characterful and worthwhile in the sub-$30 category. I'd love to see these guys try their hand at a more grown-up version of this, the way that Gosling's does with their Family Reserve Black Seal rum.