Mount Gay 1703 Old Cask

Just a beautiful rum to sip and enjoy slowly. The flavours just develop in your pallet

After my experience with XO moving up to 1703 was a tasting delight!

Ce rhum viril affiche 43°, pourtant il n’agresse pas vos sens.
Le nez est délicat et subtil. En bouche, on a tout de suite une sensation agréable, avec une belle rondeur. Des notes boisées, épicées, des fruits secs, un quelque chose de réglisse... et tout ça sans excès de sucre, sans caramel prédominant.
Il est complexe, délicat, équilibré. Et au final un peu de gras lui apporte une très belle persistance.
Et comme je ne lui trouve pas de concurrents pour moins de 80€, je lui accorde la note maximum !

The smoothest rum ever. Gorgeous flavours and a sweet aftertaste. Tastes of chocolate, caramel and fruit.

This has lovely aromas and another great surprise, it's decent rum on the rocks with little added suger ... A delight to drink that could come from a pirate's rum cask ...

Now the golden color gets more dark (compared to the lower grade Mount Gay rums). While nosing the smoky flavor is nicely smooth and elegant, a bit of citruses (oranges) is also present. In the mouth it is absolutely great and the afterburn is just so pleasant with a slightly bitter tone (thus different from the sweetened rums).

This one also has no sugar, its just pure aging to achieve such a delicious rum, that is why I give 10!

Just for sipping and relax...

None of the syrupy sweetness to be found in many other "premium aged rums", this is the real thing. All character in this rum is achieved by careful distillation and aging, not by adding sugar.

Robust, leathery, fruity, oakey - but all so well integrated into a complex whole that none seems to jump out, like the voices in an outstanding barbershop quartet.

If you find yourself tiring of the costant parade of rum old fashioneds masquerading as "premium rums", this is one you will want to try. If you don't want to spend the ~$100 or so it will set you back, Mt Gay extra old is not a bad runner up.

This older rum has a whiskey bite but is very enjoyable mixed with cola or on the rocks straight.

After touring Barbados, the discovery of Mount Gay was enlightening. This rum was so smooth, it had me hooked. Other rums have a strong or over bearing flavor. I guess being in business for 300 years has something to do with it.

Most retailers in my area, sell this for 200+ euros. Managed to find myself a brand new bottle, at 115. This is from the now retired Master Blender, Allen Smith. Blend is said to contain rums from 10-30 years old and is unfortunately discontinued. I'd rather keep it sealed, but i am a drinker before a collector, alas. The smell is alluring, making you feel slightly dizzy, from the pleasure its aromas invoke. Its taste is naturally sweet, its body full, is silky, smooth and very balanced; nothing offensive, not too strong. The lingering aftertaste is barrel wood with hints of smoke. This is exactly what i have been searching for, feels totally like "old world" rum, the kind of which you can't find anywhere else! I don't know if i will try its new iteration from Trudian Branker, which is even more expensive despite being a more recent release, but this one right here, is iconic! Will try to make it last for as long as possible. Greatest sipper, so far!