In this, my 300th (!!!) tasting note/review/taste/whatever we're calling them these days, I must make a confession: I never wanted to be a pastor growing up. No, I wanted to be a pirate. I still do; the hardest part of the demise of my old iPad last year was losing the ability to play Sid Meier's Pirates! whenever I needed an escape from reality. So, I just got it for Mac instead...not quite the same (fencing on a touchscreen is super cool), but still, I'll take the Spanish Main however it comes to me. Perhaps, then, it's fitting, that I begin my fourth century of spirit notes with an exceptionally pirate-y libation. Plantation OFTD (Old Fashioned Traditional Dark) Overproof is most certainly all of those things. Plantation? It rings true to the house style of Plantation rums - no added sugar, blended (in France) from fine rums produced all across the Caribbean, excellent quality. Old Fashioned? Yep, as far as I can tell this eschews novelty for tried-and-true stylings. Traditional Dark? Oh yeah. This is all about that funky, thick molasses-and-minerality mixed with coffee, dried fruit, ripe banana and pineapple thing that dark rum (especially Jamaican) bring to the table. And Overproof? Sweet Jesus. At 69% ABV, I could run my car on this stuff...but that would be a waste. Even at such an eye-popping proof, there is a smoothness here that reveals the quality of the spirits selected here and an attentiveness to their aging. Granted, "smooth" at 138 proof will still stand up and slap the tar out of you, but there's a lot more going on here than simply boozy heat. I still wouldn't drink this neat (though, at a more modest 50-55%, you could and would find a complex, compelling dram), but as the base for a spirit-forward rum cocktail like a Planter's Punch, this is DYNAMITE. Fresh lime juice, a little brown sugar, some Angostura and orange bitters, ice, and plenty of this good rum with just a little pineapple-orange-banana juice? Hard to beat if you're feeling tropical. Cheers, fellow spirit lovers and boozehounds! It's a pleasure to share the journey with you.