Your points are extremely valid, and I would agree with you 100%, except that I felt the same way about the XO way before I got into cask strength rums . That said, I also did try to make it clear to whom such a rum would appeal, as well as providing other writers’ opinions so that people would not be entirely swayed by mine.

Doorly’s 12 Year Old Rum | Simply Wines Direct

The Doorly’s Rum line is produced at the Foursquare Distillery in Barbados by Richard Seale and his team of experts. Using both column and pot still rums, this 12 year rum is aged using a combination of American White Oak Bourbon barrels and Madeira casks. The rum is then blended to 40% abv and bottled in 700mL and 750 mL depending on which region of the world it is being sold in. The closing three paragraphs of the Rum 66 review, published almost exactly a year ago, are as applicable now as they were then. Further sips seem to temper the more bitter and woody notes. More fruitiness becomes apparent. Once the palate adjusts the rum has a much better balance than the initial sip might lead you to believe. The extra ABV means this is a rum worth sitting down and spending some time with. Doorly’s XO you can almost swig straight from the bottle – you don’t want to do that with this. Sit down with it and appreciate it in small sips. The Doorly’s brand was acquired by Foursquare in 1993, and it’s possible that the emergence of the El Dorado 15 YO the year before (it was one of the first aged premium rum brands regularly and plentifully issued by a major house) might have had something to do with that; and much of Mr. Seale’s blending philosophy and barrel strategy made famous by Foursquare’s more recent rums is still demonstrated in the Doorly’s lineup, though I feel it’s currently being overshadowed by the Exceptionals, relegating it to something of an also-ran in a connoisseur’s cabinet. It’s a blend of pot and column still rum, some 90% of which was aged in ex-bourbon barrels, and 10% in Madeira casks (12 years in each). The final result is married for a short time (no details on how long) and then bottled. In other words, the taste of this rum is certainly not simple and you have to get used to it. The notes come gradually and I recommend a repeated tasting before reaching a final verdict. After about a month of tasting it, I find it excellent, but the path was not an easy one. I am glad to have given it other chances. The price and final verdict

paul,senft

Distilled at a small family-run distillery that makes some of the most popular rums in Barbados, every bottle of Foursquare Spiced Rum is a hand-crafted blend of fresh nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and the distiller’s art. Refreshingly smooth on ice, Foursquare Spiced doesn’t contain the added sugar cane syrup commonly found in many other spiced rums. Foursquare Spiced Rum is an aged rum with hints of cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg gently blended in at the distillery. The actual recipe is a family secret passed down through five generations. It is bottled in Hand Crafted European glass bottles with a hand dipped wax seal. The Rum heralds from Barbados – the island where rum was born.

Doorly’s 12 - Got Rum? Magazine Doorly’s 12 - Got Rum? Magazine

Bronze medal: Rum Aged over 10 Year Old – 2018 International Spirits Challenge The smell and colour The aroma of the rum teases the nose with notes of vanilla, caramel, dried apples, banana, baking spices, cinnamon and subtle smoky oak.

Nosing Doorly’s Fine Old Barbados Rum Aged 14 Years will be a familiar experience for anyone familiar with Foursquare rum.

Doorly’s Fine Old Barbados Rum Aged 14 Years - the fatrumpirate Doorly’s Fine Old Barbados Rum Aged 14 Years - the fatrumpirate

Which is not to say I am not really enjoying this rum. I am, it is a great rum and one which will stand up to anything else on the market at the moment. It’s competition for a space on my shelf comes from its own brothers though. Doorly’s Fine Old Barbados Rum Aged 14 Years is as the name suggest a very fine rum. For most other producers this would be the jewel in the crown. There best efforts. for Foursquare it’s just another great rum. I was recommended this one as a really sweet, unsweetened rum. For those preferring Jamaican rums maybe, certainly not for the sweeter rum lovers! 🙂 Let’s say I have a complicated relationship with this rum. After waiting a while for Doorly’s Aged 12 Years to be available outside of Barbados another new Doorly’s release wasn’t anticipated by myself. I was quite surprised when Doorly’s Fine Old Barbados Rum Aged 14 Years was announced.Doorly’s Fine Old Barbados Rum Aged 14 Years. Yet another release from the increasingly prolific Foursquare Rum Distillery, Barbados. This release, unlike the Exceptional Cask Series (Empery and 2007 to follow) and the Velier collaborations (Patrimonio will also follow soon here) will be available as a constant addition to the Foursquare portfolio. The rum is named after Martin Doorly, the long-term partner of Foursquare founder, Richard L. Seal. At the turn of the 20th century, it was Martin Doorly, who founded a Foursquare rum bottling factory in Barbados. Doorly’s Rum was the first rum to be exported from Barbados in bottles. It became widely popular and when Foursquare distillery was founded in 1993, they simply continued in its tradition.