Doorly's XO 6-Year

I’m not keen on Doorly’s XO Rum. Neat I find it bordering on disgusting, because it smells like a Brandy, has no sweetness to it, has a rough alcohol burn, and tastes of tobacco in the aftertaste. Thankfully, for me at least, when mixed with Coca-Cola, Doorly’s XO does become sweeter and a tad more pleasant. Unfortunately though, however much coke you use, there is no escaping that dodgy, yucky aftertaste. Shame.
My harsh criticism of this rum, can be attributed to one major, significant factor. And that is, Foursquare Rum Distillery, where Doorly’s is distilled and matured. Now of course I do know that Foursquare is not only one of the most revered distilleries in Barbados, but on this planet. But, every single bottle of rum that has been lovingly created at Foursquare, has had zero sugar added to it. Now for me, a rum drinker who favours the more sugary rums, like Plantation XO for example, well, you can see my obvious problem. It’s a pity I didn’t do my homework on Foursquare before I spent £35 on the Doorly’s XO and not afterwards. The Silver lining however, is that even though I don’t like this rum because of its lack of sweetness, it’s still a much loved rum. So offering this to my mates who appreciate the difference between the cheap generic brands and the more prestigious ones, will impress them and make me look like the host with the most!

It is an ok mixer. It works well with a glass full of ice and coka cola.

On it's own in a taster glass, it's not that good.

Lacking a tiny bit of sweetness and showing some alcohol hashness. There is oak and smoke present in the taste, as well as some dried fruit and coconut. Overall the taste is not pronounced enough.

Not heard of this, but it turned out to not be something rememberable.

Very light aroma of chocolate and fruits. The taste is the same. Dry rum. It warms. Harsh in the throat. This is not my taste.

This needs work to be kind of good. But the hope is there, if they decide to develop the flavour more. Fells like tasting acetone in some aspects

i hear a lot of this rum, but now i try it and im disappointed, to flat taste for me

Thought this would be better. Has a harshness that I didn't expect about one-third of the way through and carrying into the aftertaste and beyond. Starts out with a nice hint of vanilla but immediately becomes a mishmash of unidentifiable esters. It's like a pleasant sunny day heading down to the beach but before you travel even three blocks you wind up in a car crash of twisted metal and broken glass.

Leaves kind of a bad taste in the mouth. Given the hype I wish this were better.

Smelling it, I get a bit of glue, but mostly icing sugar. The typical foursquare smell isn't really detectable.
Taste is more complex than that. There's a hint of the sherry and a considerable dryness.
It's reminiscent of Brugal or Reimonenq which is kind of curious.

Coming back to a second bottle of this, my impression is very different. I thought this was a decent sipper and a really good mixer, but coming back to it, it's icing sugar and column still top notes whichvare really not my thing. Perhaps drinking ECS has spolled me, but I'm knocking this down further and further as the bottle goes. Even doing some cocktail comparisons, I'd much rather use a budget agricole. 7 becomes 6 becomes 4. I really can't give it more than that.

There is nothing special about this rum at all. Small flavor profile, overpriced. Disappointing