Cihuatan Reserva Especial 12-Year

Nice nose with sugar cane, pineapple, oak and some spices. On the palate you can taste the added artificial sugar, also with spices, oak and sugar cane as well as pineapple. In the finish, some oak with tannins, spices and extra sugar crumbs. Most likely old, often used barrels were used. I don't particularly like the rum, it's too straightforwardly sweet.

Schöne Nase mit Zuckerrohr, Ananas, Eiche und etwas Gewürzen. Am Gaumen schmeckt man den zugesetzten, künstlichen Zucker, auch mit Gewürzen, Eiche und Zuckerrohr sowie Ananas. Im Abgang widerum etwas Eiche mit Tanninen, Gewürzen und extra Zuckerkrümeln. Wahrscheinlich wurden überwiegend alte, oft benutzte Fässer verwendet. Mir gefällt der Rum nicht besonders, er ist zu geradlinig süß.

Beats me. Right after opening there is little to no nose except for a scent I can only describe as wet cardboard. After 10 minutes that is mostly gone and apart from vanilla and oaky notes I get something that reminds me of a sweet perfume rather than a drink. Not bad but I have to push myself start sipping this. It tastes better than it smells and though way too smooth for my taste at least the Cihuatan has enough character to stay upright. The taste remains more perfume than specific fruits or flowers, the alcohol 'bite' is just enough to help not noticing the sugar too much.

At the end I get, like another reviewer also mentioned, vague notes of (slightly scorched) PVC. All in all too sweet and otherwise not my style of rum. They go here for €45-50 and I see nothing to justify that.

I have previously reviewed the 8-year from Cihuatan, which have plenty of good reviews, but didn´t quite fit my tastebuds. Sadly the exact same thing can be said about this one.

Nose: Clove, caramel, nutmeg, brown sugar and a small hint of banana
Taste: Caramel, coconut, oak, banana and vanilla with a very short watery aftertaste
Overall: I can see from the reviews on this side, that Cihuatan is a popular sipper and more power to you, but this is just to simple and boring for my taste.