Plantation Barbados XO 20th Anniversary Rum

Rum category Winner of the Flaviar Community Awards 2018.

Plantation Rum is owned by French Cognac producer Maison Ferrand, who control no less than a dozen major brands premium Spirits and liqueurs. Sometimes that is an iffy proposition, but not in this case because the folks at Ferrand are all about quality… and you can taste it.

Plantation Rum is their top shelf Rum label. And mighty good stuff it is, too. They offer a variety of Rums from the Caribbean. Depending on the plantation and the country of origin, the Rums can vary between soft and aromatic to light and elegant… each one showing the gentle, experienced influence of Maison Ferrand.

We can’t help it… to a large extent, we shop with our eyes. But sometimes Spirits — and people, for that matter — are all packaging and no substance. Plantation Barbados XO is NOT one of those. The bottle is thick, with tapered glass sporting a stunning label and wood stopper with a gold cap, complemented by a net-like wrap of raffia. And the color of the Rum is a deep, warm, cherry-wood hue that screams quality. The total effect is something like "if billionaire Richard Branson were a real pirate, this is what he would be drinking" kind of thing.

But what does it taste like? In a word, "great." And equally important, like all fine aged Rums, it has a perfumey aroma that — pardon the expression — is like sex in the nose. It is double distilled… once in a pot still and again in a column still. It is double aged, first in the Caribbean using ex-Bourbon barrels for eight to fifteen years. Then it is shipped to France for two to ten years of additional "cool-weather" aging in smaller, French oak casks. Magic. Plantation Barbados XO is a rare beauty on the outside and on the inside.