Rating: 11/23 I've heard that this is one of the best mixing rums out there, so I'll be trying it neat, but also mixed N: Lots of fruit with some real funk, a dry side, plentiful sweetness, and a bit of alcohol coming through. It really reminds me of Plantation Xaymaca with its funky, fruity nose. Just nosing this, I would guess that it had aged in curaçao casks, which I find boggling. There's banana, orange, and pineapple for sure. P: Sweet but full. Fruity then spicy. Funky with a bit of a savory vegetal flavor to it. Banana and orange with perhaps a bit of lime rind. A waft of alcohol, but not too much. F: There's a bit of a clean alcohol flavor here that wasn't in the palate. I find the alcohol flavor to actually be mostly enjoyable here. - Conclusion - Trying this mixed in different cocktails, I've found that when it's good, it's really good. On the other hand, its particular profile clashes in some drinks, making it riskier than a simpler light rum like Bacardi. If you only put one light rum on your shelf and aren't serving knowledgable palates, this might not be the best bet since it stands out so much and costs a fair bit more than the standard options. That said, this rum does excel in a lot of fruity, tropical drinks, especially funky ones. Considering that, I endorse stocking it, but being aware of its risky characteristics when using it. Look, neat this is fine. I mean, I can definitely sip it, but it's like a less good version of Plantation Xaymaca (14). Where this really shines is in cocktails, though my general conclusion is that the Xaymaca is better in most cases there as well (though it does cost substantially more). Neat, I can't justify going above a 12 for this, but it's certainly not lower than a 10. I'd probably go with an 11. I think I might stick to only rating liqueurs and bitters based on mixability since the majority are intended for that use anyway. With regular spirits, I don't want to create confusion by considering some cheap ones for mixability and rating them higher than some more expensive ones that might be even better in a cocktail. For that reason, this gets an 11, but I still recommend it as a cheap(ish) light rum for mixing. That said, my personal preference for a light rum mixer is Wray And Nephew Overproof. It's funkier but a lot more interesting. Not for the faint of heart though. But there are certainly cocktails for which a more standard rum is preferable. With curaçao, I was all ready to write this off in favor of Wray And Nephew (mainly), Xaymaca, and Lemon Hart 151. Then I switched to Hypnotiq. In that case, the normalcy that this provide was highly desirable. Wray And Nephew was a garbled mess. Xaymaca was good, but needed some edges smoothened. Lemon Hart was interestingly different - good, but challenging. So, there's a clear place for this. And picking a mixer is far from simple.