Rum Review: Mount Gay Black Barrel

Barbados: the defacto home of the original reference classic rum as we know it. God bless the Queen! And Mount Gay!
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Capn Jimbo
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Rum Review: Mount Gay Black Barrel

Post by Capn Jimbo »

Mount Gay Black Barrel: The Lightness of Being


Mount Gay Black Barrel has been a long awaited review for a number of reasons: first, because anything new from Mount Gay must be reviewed. Second, because the terrific, best-buy Eclipse Black was discontinued. Third because the USVI subsidies are now beginning to take effect and fourth, because Barbados is one of the most affect countries and styles to be threatened by them. I won't even mention the horrid new bottle and label (oops)...

The recent history was this. An extremely surprising release - the Eclipse Black - at $19 for a full liter of 100 proof rum, with a stronger pot still element, and some evidence of age (in between Eclipse Gold and MGXO) was actually discontinued, to be replaced by a similar "Black" rum, the current "Black Barrel" at a lower proof, in a smaller bottle, with a lesser pot still element, and with no age statement (NAS) and for... a much higher price (just a dollar or two less than MGXO down here). When you are sold less - less - less and less for, urp, more money something is wrong.

My theory: this is what we can expect from threatened Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Haiti, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic - deballed rums with few real flavors, lower proofs, less age or NAS and for more money. This I thought was a act of desperation and survival. And the rest of us - the real rum lovers - suffer. Was this right, or was I simply full of shit? The reviews:

Sue Sea:
"First, let me say that Jim was careful to tell me nothing about this rum, short of his intentions that this was a new Mount Gay product. Goodie, I thought, and that we we're going to compare it against both the Eclipse Black and the amazing Mount Gay Extra Old."

"Now by now most of you know that I'm a huge friend of ambiance and presentation. I have dabbled in art and I really appreciate a fine and honest presentation of the bottle, closure and cap. The bottle is really not all that much different than that of Eclipse Black with the exception of a really awful label.

The bottle is a flattened in flask fashion, but taller of course and with a rather simplistic molded in name "Mount Gay Distilleries, est 1703". The label tries to look modern and old at the same time and to be blunt, makes a cheap attempt to look hand numbered and signed. No age is given, but it notes that whatever aging took place was in "Bourbon Casks" and states that it (like all other Mount Gay sippers) a blend of pot and column stilled. I'll let Jim relate the rest.

Black Barrel's aroma was in a word, delicious! Vanillan over orange citrus marmalade, leather, a bit of ripe banana, cooked pecan pie, and a hint of licorice. Overall, I'd use the word "fresh".

Black Barrel's palate open with sweet honey and a bit of vanillan, then developing into growing spices and heat - ginger, clove, and black pepper, which grow to the end. The finish is a bookend, reflecting the opening honey and leaving a dry chardonnay kind of aftertaste.

In sum this is a relatively simple and straightforward classic Bajan rum, well balanced, harmonious and with reflection, not all that complex. This would make a great daily drinker or a good introduction for a novice, although it is priced rather dearly. Experienced rum afficianados will find it an easy drinking and extremely pleasant rum that is priced on the high side."
Moi: It is important to note that since I was going into this tasting with some prejudice and a theory, I made doubly sure that Sue Sea had no inkling of anything, short of a new rum to be tasted by Mount Gay. Both Black Barrel and Eclipse Black present in the usual brilliant clarity of Mount Gay and are a nearly indistinguishable medium gold or light amber with the barest hint of the thinnest yellow/green edge.

The nose opens with a lovely sweet orange-vanillan-marmalade over a background of leather and a bit of spice. Think sweet fruity and pleasantly creamy and light. The palate follows well with a light honey open, light body moving into the classic orange marmalade, into a growing leather astringency then to black, then white pepper for a nice hot finish, and leaving a dry orange aftertaste.

It presents for what I'd expected - a very well done young rum made nicely palatable with a rushed finish in deeply charred wood (to smooth, and to release spice and vanillan).

Score (ten is best): solid 7, marginal 8.

A Comparison

Having both arrived at the same point and with almost the same experience and impression it was time to run Black Barrel against Eclipse Black and finally to Mount Gay Extra Old. The results:

Black Barrel was indeed pleasant and well done, but its youth and lack of power and/or sophistication quickly became clear in comparison. The Eclipse Black was deeper, spicier and warmer. The Eclipse shared the same tones but all more amplified and more robust and more interesting. There was more cinnamon and ginger and the finish was more Cuban - hotter and getting into jalapeno territory. It became clear the Black Barrel was for the novice, but that the Eclipse Black for the true rum fan.

The Mount Gay Extra Old took this all a giant leap forward. Deeper, richer and much more complex, for example deep ripe bing cherries, over-ripe banana, raising, prune, fig, tar, mincemeat, the true smoothness and smooth transitions that come only with age, clove, cinnamon, licorice, anisette, scones, mincemeat and perfectly balanced sweet/heat. A Three Bears rum that just keeps on going.

As Sue Sea so well said, MGXO "...is like walking into the kitchen filled with the aromas of a freshly baked pie, cutting a still warm piece, then adding a scoop of cool, melting real vanilla ice cream, and digging in!"

Thus the relative scores:

Black Barrel: very strong 7
Eclipse Black: very strong 8, marginal 9.
MGXO: the strongest of 10's.
Accordingly the theory bore itself out: the Black Barrel is less, less, less and less for an unjustifiably high price ($29). MGXO is only a few dollars more. The discontinuation of the Eclipse Black is a crime!
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