West Indies & Long Pond Plantation Black Cask (Barbados & Venezuela) 2023 40%

"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."

"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."