Ron / Old Barco de Cargas

This is a sweet, soft, column-distilled rum from Guatemala in the Spanish-heritage idiom, where the light distillate leaves the barrel and the sweetening to shape the flavour. Bottled at an easy 40% and openly sweetened, it is built for gentle, dessert-style drinking rather than dry complexity, and it lands in the same crowd-pleasing space as other honeyed Latin American rums at a friendlier price.

Expect vanilla, chocolate, honeyed syrup, caramel and a touch of soft spice, with a light, sweet, date-like finish. It is round and aromatic, and drinkers often reach for it as an uncomplicated first rum or an easy bottle to share. This is firmly a sweet style, with less depth and a shorter finish than pricier sippers, so it should be taken for what it is, a smooth, sugary after-dinner pour. For anyone who enjoys overtly sweet, liqueur-leaning rum and wants value over intensity, it does the job.