Taste Deluxe Vanilla Gold Rum

Taste Deluxe Vanilla Gold Rum takes a molasses base in a frankly flavoured, dessert-leaning direction, where banana and vanilla dominate and the rum itself takes a back seat. It belongs with sweet, easygoing flavoured rums rather than the island's pot-still tradition.

The nose is soft and sweet with banana, vanilla, butter and toffee, and on the palate the banana pushes even harder than the vanilla, sticky and liqueur-like with a short finish. Despite being recorded as unsweetened it drinks as a sugary dessert rum, more candy than spirit, and the real vanilla does not change that basic character. At 40% it is gentle and undemanding, suited to pouring over ice or into a sweet cocktail. Taken honestly as a flavoured rum it is pleasant enough, but it makes no claim on the dry, structured side of Jamaican rum.