Primarily been using this as a rum varietal for cocktails and figured I'd jot some notes before killing it off. Labeled as "12 year" not "12 reserva" , so precedes the NAS change. Attractive, unique, and eye-catching bottle design. Nostalgic un-headed cork stopper is quite cute but also annoyingly tedious to grip well enough to pry out - perhaps I should channel my inner Jack Sparrow and do so with my teeth to achieve maximum levels of nonchalant swagger. Neat. Glencairn. Attractive coppery honey color. A hint of oily body and very patient, slow legs. Pungent with a full aroma, but ultimately flat and uninteresting. Extremely strong vanilla, but little accompanying sweetness = vanilla extract. More ethanol than I would have expected for the low proof and (supposedly accurate) long aging. Little to no fruit. Maybe a molecule or two that never quite became spiced pear but had aspired to as adolescents? Lots more vanilla on the palate accented by citrus peel - orange, mostly, plus some grapefruit and lemon. A modest but nice and buttery mouthfeel. Sweeter than the nose, but still pleasantly on the drier side. A touch of bitter burnt sugar. Some "used-to-be-melon" notes disappointingly overrun by the vanilla. Tart/tangy lingers in the cheeks. Can't shake the "rummy" descriptor - in this instance, not a compliment (think Bacardi silver), but perhaps unsurprising for a Spanish-style rum. It's a little rougher than it should be for the price point, but the biggest knock is the bland and somewhat disjointed flavor profile. Drinkable, but uninspired and one-note. This isn't overoaked, but honestly i think I might have preferred less barrel time to discover some of the tropical fruits that I'm sure used to be there - many younger and cheaper rums will outperform this. Try Appleton 8 for affordable aged rum goodness.