Review 157: Rhum Barbancourt 8 Anos

After a long hiatus I'm returning with another rum review. This one has been in the pipe for a while, so let's hope I'm not too rusty! Anyway, today's rum is an 8 year old from Haiti. It's called Rhum Barbancourt and is a rum agricole, meaning it's produced from sugar cane juice as opposed to molasses. This feature makes Barbancourt's expressions (there are also 4 and 15 year old expressions) at little bit interesting, since most rums are distilled from molasses these days.

Rhum Barbancourt 8 Anos

Color: Amber +1

ABV: 43%

Aroma Neat:
Muscovado Sugar, Molasses, Bananas Foster (vanilla, caramel too!), Oatmeal Cookies (some butter), Butterscotch Chips, Baked Apples, Vanilla, Black Pepper.

A really nice rummy-sweet nose that is complemented by some cooked fruit notes and balanced with some spicy ones. A good example of the agricole style.

Aroma Water:
Brown Sugar (cooking in butter), Molten Caramel, Butterscotch Hard Candy, Vanilla Bean (ice cream), Cinnamon Baked Apples (golden delicious), Bananas Foster Milk Shake.

Creamier than neat and less spicy. I think I like it better this way, but that may just be because the weather is so hot!

Taste Neat:
Brown Sugar, Limousin Oak (nutty), Cinnamon Sticks, Pepper (black and white), Wild Honey, Heavy Barrel Char, Starch (almost vegetal).

Initially sweet and very agricole, before becoming a bit spicy. Pretty oaky for eight years of age, but that's tropical maturation for you. Not unbalanced though!

Taste Water:
Raw Sugar/Simple Syrup, Butterscotch, Nutty/Spicy Oak, Dry Barrel Char, Maduro Cigar Tobacco, Creamy Vanilla, Oily Black Pepper/Cloves, Cinnamon (slightly), Wild Honey.  

More complex than neat and creamier like the nose. Very nice!

Finish:
Nutty Oak, Clove Oil, Ground Pepper, Butter (slightly), Old Cigar Ash/Tobacco.

Pleasingly dry and ashy finish that sticks around for a medium duration.

Conclusion:
Solid throughout the nose, palate, and finish.

A quality rum that's very affordable.

Rating: 84/100

I think that it will take a few reviews for me to get back to my old form, but I still know enough to recognize that this is a quality rum. It's got decent complexity and is priced very competitively, so it probably deserves a rereview down the road. Though maybe I'll check out the 4 and 15 year old expressions first!

One final remark... I've shared this rum with several people who like rum, but aren't really "into" spirits or rum. These folks just have a favorite brand or like rum and cokes. Well, every one of these people like this rum at a few said it was the best rum they had ever had. Not bad for 20 USD!

Josh