AND WHAT BE A PIRATE’S FAVORITE BARREL? Rum? AYE, YOU’D THINK THAT. BUT IT’S ACTUALLY FIRST FILL AMERICAN OAK THAT’S BEEN CHARRRRRRRRRRRED. This is the rum barrel finished bracket of my finished bourbon experiment. Tonight is a blind taste test between Jefferson’s Reserve Old Rum Cask Finish and Blood Oath Pact 5. Though I preferred the nose of Jefferson’s, BOP5 won out big on body and finish. I respect the way both drinks approached rum barrel finishing, and I think those approaches were different. BOP5 requires more discipline to really see what it has to offer than JR does, but if you put in the effort, there’s simply more reward there. Next blind taste test is between Borough and Barrel Dovetail (big thanks to Andrew-Nguyen1 for the Dovetail!) The tasting of Jefferson’s Reserve Old Rum Cask Finish: The nose is the best part of this drink. I could sniff this all day. I normally don’t care for this Jeffersoniness in my whiskey, but this is the best I’ve ever seen this scent profile done. There’s the grape jelly, but it doesn’t smell sickeningly sweet like it can. There a cherry sweetness there too. There’s a bitterness in the nose that balances. I get salt, lemon, brine. Body is an honest extension of the nose, but that overly sweet mouth feel is still there. Sweet grape jam and cherries dominate the body. Finish is where the saltiness and brine kick in. I think somewhere hidden in that transition is where I was detecting a bitter lemon scent, but the flavor isn’t detectable for me. I just recall the mixture of brine and sweetness doing that to my taste buds in the past. There’s chocolate there. I get leather, oak, baking spices too. Pick one = chocolate. I don’t hate this drink. It’s one of my favorite Jefferson’s to date because they dialed back that grape jelly nonsense a bit with the salt and brine. I think the rum influence also did some interesting stuff with the sweet body, almost creating a tropical vibe. Still, I’d put this more into the “interesting” category of drink than the “enjoyable” category. At this price, I definitely will not buy again.