Plantation Black Cask (Barbados & Venezuela) 2023

Plantation here delivers a simple, sweet and sugary experience, characterized on the nose by a strong concentration of burnt and charred notes, which are found in the woodiness (oak), sugar and spices (licorice). There are also banana and coconut aromas on a slightly medicinal background. A very gourmet profile. The palate is no exception, with its syrupy sweetness, mild spices (vanilla, cinnamon) and charred notes. You can feel that the cask has been worked to the extreme. It's not unpleasant, but rather primary and lacking in apparent depth. The alcohol is well integrated, attenuated by the sugar. The finish leaves little room for doubt as to the profile, which remains in the same vein as previously described: sweet, gently spicy and loaded with smokiness, there's that little hint of custard that lingers on the palate. An approachable rum for those new to rum.

Strangely enough, slight tendencies towards some high ester rums a la Hampden hgml or lrok on the nose... The taste is then clearly too sweet with an overall interesting note of tonka bean and creme brulee and various fruits, but overall definitely much too sweet and too insignificant to stand out from the crowd...

The next Plantation. I find this one a little sweeter than the previous ones, so it doesn't get a very good rating. But the sweetness is still within limits. You can't go too far wrong with it either.

Très bon rhum ! Facile à boire et accessible niveau prix je recommande !

The first thing I notice in the nose is the toasty, baked goods smell. It is not as strong in the tasting, but is a wonderful smell.

If you want to make better poor rum, add molases!

Fruity banana and surprisingly funky on the nose, but already there enormously sweet, caramelly, buttery and 'full'. Then relatively thin on the palate. The black cask comes through very strong and peppery, which is in stark contrast to the far too high sugar content. The finish is almost sharp and toasty. Unfortunately, it doesn't work for me at all. My personal lowlight of the series so far.

Rhum doux et vanillé mais pas trop sucré. Il plait sûrement au plus grand nombre mais rien d'exceptionnel. Il reste quand même assez agréable globalement.

Vorab ist das ausgezeichnete Preis / Leistungsverhältnis anzumerken. Wie bei der vor kurzem verkosteten 2024 Ausgabe sind hier wieder deutliche Vanille und Kokosnoten in Geruch und Geschmack, wobei die Kokosnote etwas schwächer ausfällt, was mir persönlich besser gefällt. Sehr weich und samtig.

29-03-2025 To much burned wood in the nose. Decent taste

Interesting taste, I was expecting different and taste different,but quite fine. The sweetness and also the plum, hmmmm...fine...I'm slightly taken aback by the taste,but fine, thumbs up, Plantation did not disappoint commercially.

The combination of Barbados and Venezuela sounds totally exciting and could have been really good... in my opinion, the 20 grams of sugar ruin everything here. No real woody spice, but no sloppy sweet rum either. Too bad, not a success.

The nose wonderfully buttery and a bit funky. It is a let down on the palette. It is quite sweet and the sweetness covers almost all of the flavour.

Ripe banana and dried fruits in aroma. Round and not overly sweet in taste. Notes of dried fruits continue in taste. Also floral notes in taste. Finish is dry and quite short. Woody notes last from taste to aftertaste

Geruch: Interessante Esternoten mit Früchten. Gefällt mir gut. Geschmacklich dann auch Gewürze wie Tonkabohne. Röstaromen. Am Ende hätte es den zugegeben Zucker nicht gebraucht und verhindert eine höhere Bewertung. Dennoch mag ich ihn. Aus meiner Sicht sehr gutes PLV Verhältnis für das Gebotene.