Pirates Collection Black Bart XO Rum

Pirates Collection Black Bart XO is a Caribbean blend dressed in seafaring legend, carrying a substantial twenty one year age statement and matured in ex-bourbon wood. Bottled at 45% in the dark rum style, it leans on long maturation for its character, the kind of aged blend that puts its years of oak contact at the centre of the pour.

That age shows clearly in a profile led by wood: the nose offers oak, dried fruit and caramel, the palate turns woody and barrel driven with dried fruit and coffee, and the finish stays woody with allspice and more dried fruit. There is a depth here that some tasters find reminiscent of old Demerara before a spiced tail asserts itself. At 45% it drinks as a rich, oak forward dark rum where two decades of barrel influence dominate, best suited to drinkers who enjoy their rum on the woody, mature end of the spectrum.