JMR353551
Kirk and Sweeney 23 Year Rum
Aged Rum — Dominican Republic
Reviewed
October 17, 2020 (edited April 15, 2021)
I have had a few 20 plus year aged rums, but none that were this cheap. To say I am skeptical that this is 23 years old is probably an understatement. I still picked up a bottle to try for myself and while I still dont believe it's that old or at least all of it is that old, it's not bad.
On the nose I get toffee and oak, but neither is all that pronounced. The palate is solid, if not a bit of a one trick pony, with hints of oak along with vanilla and spice. It's pretty rich and seems to come off as a well aged rum, but not 23 years, maybe closer to 15. It's not all that sweet which is a pleasant surprise (others have done tests and have found no additives). The finish unfortunately is a letdown. Its quick, with some spice, but a surprisingly harsh burn, especially for an 80 proof rum.
I still dont believe its 23 years old but regardless it's a solid rum just not very complex. For the price though it's a very good value.
50.0
USD
per
Bottle
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@ContemplativeFox Merci beaucoup!
@Anthology Great choice with the Doorly's :) I've actually never tried Kirk & Sweeney, though I've heard generally decently positive things. For anyone looking to avoid overly sweet rums, Jamaica is the place to start because they're pretty strict with age statements and sweeteners. For that reason, Appleton Estate is the obvious brand to recommend. Foursquare is a really good brand that does some finishing, but keeps it mostly within reason like whiskey producers do. Plantation can get a bit on the sweet side with its cognac finishes, but I like a lot of its offerings, especially its 2003 Trinidad 12 year (I'm assuming it has other good Trinidad vintages too).
@ContemplativeFox Haha Fair enough. I’m looking to dabble in some rum but don’t want any sweetened, cough medicine-tasting swill. I’ve heard some good things about the Foursquare distillery in terms of not adding sweeteners to their rums. I grabbed their 12 year Doorlys and looking to add more to my shelf. Are their any other rum distillers that produce similar style? I see you have quite a few rum reviews here. What’s the word on Sweeney & Todd (lol sorry just had to say that haha). I meant Kirk & Sweeney? Eyeing a K&S XO 25Yr cask strength but not sure what to expect. Thoughts?
@Anthology Yeah that's true. I'd need to look closer at the standards to understand the particulars there. If they're stated in terms of volume, I'm excited. If they're in terms of number of constituent parts...well, teaspooning is a thing.
@ContemplativeFox @JMR353551 If the 49% have to average the [23 Yr] age statement, doesn’t that also mean that some of juice is older than the stated age? So it could contain much older than 23yr, no?
@JMR353551 I'd never heard of this particular way of determining age either. At least it's better than allowing the producer to list the oldest as the age statement.
@ContemplativeFox I had no clue that they allowed that, thanks for letting me know. That definitely explains why I felt it was younger than 23 years. You are also spot on, rum laws pretty much are non-existent. I guess it's hard to complain about an age statement when the country's law allows it. Thanks again for the info!
Rum age regulations are total chaos. I'm sure you're right about this containing younger spirit. You got me interested, so I checked and the Dominican Republic allows up to 49% to be rum of other ages, but that 49% needs to average out to at least the age statement (https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemicallef/2020/04/05/kirk-and-sweeney-an-outstanding-rum-you-should-explore/#401dc6c37cf4)