As a blend I am not sure what the Bajan rum adds to the mix. Aside from some balance. It maybe acts as a calming influence on the other two rums. I’m not a master blender so maybe I should just accept it is needed? I’m sure it is. I really like the young sweet Demerara notes which shine through even in mixed drinks, I’m also very keen on the Jamaican funk that is present throughout. After a few it can become a little two sweet but that is perhaps a good thing! Taste: Orange and allspice, clove and baking spices. Coffee hints as well. The finish is powerful – but there’s a lingering aftertaste of toasted dark brown sugar and orange. Like a hint of orange. The label tasting notes say: “It bursts with caramel cream, chocolate, and vanilla notes. It continues on with cinnamon, raisins, nutmeg, oak, and molasses with smoky accents.”

This brand is essentially Plantation’s slightly more approachable (but unsweetened) take on the higher-ester, funkier Jamaican rum that is so beloved by the rum community, and increasingly being discovered by the average consumer. This is a 100% pot still blend of rums from Jamaica’s Clarendon and Long Pond distilleries, coming from John Dore and Vendome pot stills, lightly aged for 1-3 years tropically and then married for 1 years in France in Ferrand casks previously used to mature cognac. In this way, Plantation puts their signature spin on this Jamaican rum, although in this case there’s no dosage, which is what makes this one “special dry.” Fans of Jamaican “funk” should know that this one is modestly estery, at 156 g/hL AA.Took me a few sips to get some of a flavor profile because in each sip, once the taste buds detected something, my throat and tongue got a sound thrashing from the 69% ABV (138 proof). Plantation O.F.T.D. Rum is our take on that classic style of overproof rums. And not just ours: to join him on the quest to get the blend and the proof just right, Alexandre Gabriel scoured rum joints around the world to find six grizzled old salts who knew which end of a rum bottle was which. One of the few Plantation rums with an age statement on the label, this might be considered the flagship of Plantation’s “signature blends” lineup, and is one of the brands they’ve been offering longest. The five year age statement is nice, if not particularly impressive—it makes this a “moderately aged” rum. It’s important to note that 3-4 years of that time is tropical aging in Barbados, and the remaining 1-2 years is aging in France in “Ferrand casks” previously used to mature cognac. That’s a significant period, which makes this ultimately a product substantially different than simply a Bajan rum—there’s also the moderate dosage to consider as well. Products like this are at the heart of the dispute between Maison Ferrand and the other Barbados distilleries.

Cask type/Age: ex-Bourbon, ex-Cognac casks, 1997 distillation. 18 years in ex-Bourbon, then 1.5 years minimum in ex-cognac casks Plantation O.F.T.D. has a wonderful nose of caramel and molasses with notes of jammy orange and a mix of baking spices including cloves, cinnamon, and all-spice. Despite the alcohol, a sip starts relatively smooth. Flavors of raisins, dates, and other preserved fruits mix with molasses, creamy caramel, dark brown sugar. Hints of vanilla, coffee, oak, and orange round it out – and a subtle sweetness go throughout. The ending lingers with a fair amount of heat and subtle sweetness. Whether you enjoy sipping on an overproof rum, dilute it with water or another rum, this is definitely worth trying. Before getting to the exactly what type of rums are in O.F.T.D. (finally!), a few notes of explanation on what follows:Cukrová trstina sa zberá ručne alebo strojom a potom sa, čo najskôr rozreže, rozdrví, aby sa minimalizovala degradácia cukrov obsiahnutých v trstine. Po rozomletí trstiny sa šťava extrahuje a pripravuje na kvasenie, výsledkom procesu premeny cukru na alkohol je vzniknutý kvas. Tento kvas sa následne niekoľkokrát zahrieva, aby sa extrahoval rovnaký podiel cukru a melasy pre tradičný rum. Fermentácia A pot stilled, lightly aged rum at 150 proof invites obvious comparison to the venerable Lemon Hart 151, a mainstay of the Tiki canon. However, the French oak aging, some of it in ex-Cognac, suggests a different flavor profile. The rum is described as “quite heavy rum, focused on body strength, alcohol and chocolate notes, thanks to higher alcohol level.” While the O.F.T.D. label says it’s a blend of Barbados, Jamaica, and Guyanese rums, Plantation internally breaks these up into four categories: Barbados Rum