Alegro XO 8-Year

One of my favorites. Excellent value, balanced taste, fuller bodied, excellent nose and aftertaste. Vanilla and caramel predominant tastes.

The designated name says that this rum is aged for 8 years. My bottle says that it was distilled from sugar cane and aged in oak barrels for "over 3 years". This makes it a minimally aged agricole from the Dominican Republic without having to adhere to the very strict rules for rhum agricoles from the French West Indies. Had this one been truly aged for 8 years as an agricole, it would taste too much like bourbon and not merit my initial high rating of 8.

And what a way to celebrate the long awaited opening of a Total Wine store near me! This is truly one of the smoothest rums that I have tried in a very long time, and probably no added sugar to boot. There is absolutely nothing offensive about it and it may climb higher in my ratings with time. It has already cracked into my top ten percent! Very well done and a very nice surprise for only $35. And for those who avoid agricoles due to their grassy taste, this one does not have that vegetal taste, so give it a try. Definitely no hint of molasses either.

And since this one is both a dark rum and an agricole, it will serve quite well as one of the two essential rums in a Mai Tai. Let your favorite Jamaican rum be the other one. In my case, this will be the Appleton 8-Year Reserve Blend. Once you get your two essential Mai Tai rums right, it is hard to go wrong when making Mai Tai's. I just don't care for the "required" orgeat syrup.

Update September 6, 2022: I finally got around to buying another bottle after almost two years. Damn, this is some fine tasting and smooth rum!!! However, my only complaint is why in hell does it have a strong reddish tint to it? Only the two Cartavio's from Peru have this trait. Can we say additives? This one is still DAMN good while being very affordable.

Picked up at Total Wine for around $34.99. The nose is light and pleasant. Nice reddish brown color. Light on the tongue, quite smooth, flavors of vanilla, with a smooth finish with slight burn. Nice rum for the price.

This is the second bottle I have enjoyed. Has a spicy finish with some warm and sweet beginning. Like I said its a good rum for the price.

I found this bottle at a new liquor store that opened near me. This site had only 2 ratings on it so I thought I would give it a try. For a $30 bottle this was surprisingly good. It lacks a little depth and character but overall is a nice sipper. It would be a great introductory bottle to someone wanting to try rum without breaking the bank.

Nice nose, sweet saste, beautiful squire shape bottle. A true gem in my liquor cabinet