Plantation XO 20th Anniversary

An incredibly bland, inoffensive, adulterated "rum" intended for mass appeal. In an attempt to satisfy literally every single palate on earth the creators of this rum have totally obliterated whatever soul, substance or character the original distillates may have possessed by blending, refining, re-blending, and then, just to make sure there was no trace of character left, adding a plantation’s worth (LOL, get it) of sugar to each bottle.

Imagine someone decided to shave down Michelangelo’s David into a perfect cylinder. After all, a singular creative expression like David--or indeed any piece of art--will never be to everyone's taste. Some people may find it objectionable, what with all those irregular and uneven edges and lines, and let’s not forget about that penis. But a marble cylinder on the other hand... Who could object to a cylinder?! It’s just a perfectly safe and innocuous marble column, after all. And that’s what this rum is - a marble column. It’s apparently as “smooth” as a marble column too. Being "smooth" is one of the highest compliments one can pay a spirit, don't you know?!

As for what it tastes like... Well, if there was such a flavour as “sweet” then this rum would have it in spades. It’s a borderline-cloying, vaguely toffee-ish, vanilla-esque, coconutty, ethanol water. I wouldn’t be surprised if in addition to the mountains of added sugar there are other additives, such as vanillans, as well. The nose is almost non-existent. It smells like sweet ethanol. If you have a good imagination you might pick up some of those aforementioned toffee and vanilla notes.

The bottle is also quite ugly. It's going for "luxury item" but as is often the case with such goods it just appears tacky and gaudy. The whole thing comes across as brassy and ill proportioned, with that ridiculous stopper being the cherry on top of a wonky shit sundae. Incidentally, I quite like the shape and presentation of the standard Plantation bottles with the bulbed neck, both the squat and slim versions. They are elegantly proportioned, the labels are attractive, and the embossed seal adds personality without overdoing it. Just get rid of that stupid messy-looking twine marketing gimmick, please.

Anyway, I must say it’s a good thing that rum drinkers aren’t a demanding lot who prefer substance over style and who expect to know what they’re actually drinking, otherwise they may start getting the quality they’re paying for...

Almost no nose to speak of, mostly ethanol. On the palate it is very sweet without any character, which is what the mass market likes, I guess. This is one of the very few rums that I just do not want to sip on. My bottle is now almost two years old and still almost full. I give it bonus points for the pretty bottle but I would never buy it again.

Plantation has a few really good bottles, but in my opinion this isn't one of them. As is the Plantation way, they have taken a rum, this time from Barbados, and added a lot of sugar. At the $40-$50 price, there are just far better rums ... Especially Barbados rums.

This is not a real rum. It’s more of a liqueur as it’s packed with sugar and additives. Strong taste of sugar and coconut that overpowers anything related to rum.

If you’re a newbie to rum, you might enjoy but if you’ve been digging in for a while, this has to be avoided at all costs.

I decided to try this rum based on the many positive reviews it got.
Unfortunately, I did not find the characteristics I was looking for:
Nose: mainly vanilla flavour- like standard rums on this price range
Taste: The first thing I perceived was the burning alcohol (It has 40% but it seems it has 70%).
Despite it has some nice vanilla and fruity flavour, the alcohol covers most of it. This is what disappointed me the most!
Body: Watery. It has no consistence at all. It is true it does not have much sugar, but I was expecting a medium consistency body from an aged liquor!
Overall I have to give a bad grade and I do not recommend it to anyone who likes Rum.

I'm just putting together this review in order to add some balance to the current rate of this rum, which is absolutely misleading in my opinion.

Such a pompous, heavy bottle. It's all about presentation here, and while the wrapping can be important, any excessive effort in this matter should be taken as a warning. In this case, the quality of the content, of the the rum itself, is the price to be paid for all those unnecessary but costly presentation elements.

Besides the high rates and appreciation for Plantation XO 20th Anniversary rum around here, I would never expect such a low grade product in this price range. At first taste, a disgusting mix of artificial flavours and sweeteners kicks in, fading to a harsh experience that makes one wonder about the real age of the rums involved in the blend. As they say, the proof is in the pudding, and the almost complete absence of smell in the glass once the drink is finished seems like a clear telltale sign in this sense.

One of the most attractive packaging around one of the worst runs I’ve ever had. Not good for drinking or mixing. Ended up throwing out the bottle nearly full.

Sampled Plantation XO 20th anniversary Rum eventhough I knew it was a sweet Rum. It is definitely a nice sipping rum but it is simply too sweet for me, hence my rating of 4.

This is my 3rd bottle of rum, Comparing to Foursquare Detente is like heaven and hell. This Plantation smells like cheap spirit, doesn't have any concrete taste, the most intense feel is "you dring somehow alcohol" nothing more. It's 100 times better pay more for Foursquare Detente which is full of smells and flavour or buy cheap vodka and get drunk by it if you need to do it. No pleasure with drinking it

The more I get into the rum culture, the more I understand that this community knows about rums just as much as I know about astro physics, hence the high rating of this THING.
A slightly better than Captain Morgan Spiced, with A LOT of added sugar it doesn't justify it's price in any way.
Yes, it looks like premium spirit due to the nice bottle and packaging, but you could (and you should) easily find a REAL RUM for the same money.
PS. The friends of my wife loved it, apparently lol.