Rum Review: Barbancourt Three Star (4 Year) Rum

The third standard reference style: rum, er rhum, made directly from sugar cane juice or honey, rather than from molasses. To the Haitians and French... toast!

How do you rate Barbancourt Three Star Rum (five is best)?

5
0
No votes
4
1
50%
3
0
No votes
2
0
No votes
1
1
50%
 
Total votes: 2

Blade Rummer
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Post by Blade Rummer »

Following the recommendations I received here, I tried the 3 star last evening and I was pretty happy with my purchase. I had always assumed a 4 year old would be too young to enjoy as a sipper so I never gave it a second thought. Boy, was I wrong! It's very good and will do nicely until I can restock my beloved 5 star. Tasting them side by side, I agree with Jimbo's remark that you can taste more of the reed than in the 5 star and I would add that the 5 star has a better finish, but they are both great, really.

Having little experience in cane juice rums apart from the aforementioned 3 and 5 stars, I wonder if the reason such a young rum is enjoyable as a sipper is because it's from cane juice? I don't know any other molasses based 4-5 year old rum that seems so easy to enjoy. In other words, is young cane juice more palatable than young molasses based rum? Even ED 5, which I enjoy, needs to sit for awhile before you can approach it.
Hassouni
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Post by Hassouni »

I can fairly guarantee that any rum without an age statement is not even close to 4 years old. Quality of the barrels and distillate is as important - Kilchoman Machir Bay is a NAS single malt that is not much more than 3 or 4 years old in its oldest component, and it's brilliant. Same goes for an 8 year old Highland Park I have - remember in the Caribbean the effects of aging happen roughly twice as fast.

As for ED5, it's just a boring rum. Pusser's is NAS, I'm sure it's quite young, and I definitely consider it a sipper.
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Capn Jimbo
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

I'm with Hass...


And if you want to test this idea even further, pick up a bottle of Barbie White (about $14 around here). You will be quite shocked - Sue Sea and I both enjoy sipping the White in the evening for medicinal purposes, of course.

It will also make possible a fantastic vertical tasting for later, as the White is the only distillate, that becomes the 3-Star in 4 years, the 5-Star in 8, and so on. This is rare, and will illustrate perfectly the effects of good wood (Limosin oak) aging at low proofs. It has always amazed me that the outrageously priced AOC's are not all that old.
Blade Rummer
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Location: Montreal

Post by Blade Rummer »

I've really taken a shine to this rum over the past few weeks, it's been a huge surprise to me and I now regret not giving this bottle a second glance all these years I've been scouring the rum shelf at the liquor store.

In fact, and I can't believe I'm writing this, but I'm finding more and more that I enjoy it as much as the 5 star. It's a little more rough around the edges, but it has character and a stronger cane element than the 5 star, so to me it's just a good in a different way.

Even with the higher taxes here, it's still a very reasonable 30$ and so it's probably the best quality to price ratio of any rum we can get here.

Now the quality of the 5 and 3 stars (as well as Capn recommendation) have got me interested in trying a white rum. I never thought that would happen lol.
NCyankee
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Post by NCyankee »

If you can find it try the Pango too, quite interesting.
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