Planteray PXXO 20th Anniversary Rum

Planteray PXXO 20th Anniversary is a Barbados rum from Maison Ferrand, the French house behind the Planteray (formerly Plantation) range, marking two decades of the brand. Ferrand's rums are double aged, finished in Europe and, importantly, openly use dosage, so this is a sweetened, mainstream style rather than a purist bottling.

Built on molasses rum and finished in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks, then bottled at an easy 40%, it leans into the sweet, dessert end: coconut, vanilla, chocolate and candied dried fruit run from nose to finish, with the PX adding raisined richness and the dosage keeping everything soft and rounded. Honesty matters here, this is a sweet, liqueur leaning rum, and drinkers after dry, unsweetened Barbados should look elsewhere. As a gentle, crowd pleasing sipper or a holiday style bottle to share neat, though, it does its job.