Barbados Archives - First Pour Cocktails

Foursquare Rum Distillery 2005

Posted on August 4, 2023 by Nick

Part of Foursquare’s “Exceptional Cask” Series, Foursquare Rum Distillery 2005 appears to be a rather simple bruiser of a Barbados rum on first glance. Coming in at a hearty 59%, this rum was distilled in 2005 from both Pot and Column stills. It was then aged for 12 years in ex-Bourbon casks stored in Barbados heat, before finally being released in October 2017. While it may appear to be a relatively simple rum, the truth of the matter is that this bottle, like many in the “Exceptional Cask” series is some of the most impressive rum you’ll ever taste. As you’ll see below, sometimes there’s no substitute for doing the simple things exceptionally well.

Foursquare Rum Distillery 2005

Vintage: 2005
Country of Origin: Barbados
Age: 12 years
Cask: Ex-Bourbon Casks
Distillation: Blend of Pot and Column
Proof: 118 (59% A.B.V.)

Sight: Tawny.

Smell: The nose is instantly complex with bursts of black pepper, white pepper, baking spice, and caramelized grilling tropical fruits. They open up with a dried date and white oak note laced with caramel sauce. A vanilla bean aromatic explodes like someone dropped a full tablespoon of vanilla paste into the rum. Golden raisins, butterscotch, vanilla ice cream, papaya, and spicy oak all show up. As the rum sits, the nose just continues to evolve and expand all it’s aroma.

Sip: Instant flavor explosion with spice and caramel mixed with fermenting roasted tropical fruit. Big bursts of vanilla, spice, oak, and just short of ripe pineapple come together. There’s an amazing sweetness that underpins it. The richness is luscious, and it continues pull in nuttiness, preserved tropical fruits, and ginger-nutmeg notes. Milk chocolate rounds things out, and it drinks nowhere near the 59% A.B.V. it posesses.

Savor: The finish is loaded with spices, caramel, light rum funk, and a beautiful subtle dried caramel – vanilla. The finish emphasized the chocolate notes, and really shows off the cask influence from the bourbon. The finish lingers for what seems like an eternity (in a very lovely way).

Foursquare Rum Distillery 2005 is nothing short of completely exceptional (no pun intended). The flavors are complex, layered, and balanced. The cask doesn’t overwhelm the rum, and instead everything is enhanced – balancing spice and funk with tropical fruit and vanilla. The slightly nuttiness and milk chocolate notes combine with the tropical spice and pepper to make something alluring and sultry. This rum shows a deft hand, and you should savor its depth as you enjoy it.

In Cocktails

You’re almost certainly not planning on turning this bottle into cocktails, but here we are. So if you’re curious what it’s like in a Daiquiri, here’s the answer. While it’s beautifully balanced and displays the same exemplary vanilla, spice, chocolate, fruitiness, and a creamy butterscotch. The spice, ginger, nutmeg, and funk gets in there, punching the lime around, which fights back makings this green tea, matcha note. It’s an incredibly complex and overwhelming drink, that is somehow more aggressive with the simple and lime than by itself. So in summary, if you want to make a rum enthusiast cry, make drinks out of this.

In Review – Foursquare Rum 2005

Foursquare Rum Distillery 2005 is an unbelievably deep rum. It’s complex, well balanced, and more than the face values of bourbon casks and high proof. It explodes with flavors, shows the influence of both the rum and the cask in spice, vanilla, tropical fruit, funk, and so, so much more. That said, you’d be mad to turn this into drink. Can it work, sure. But why would you do it? It doesn’t make a better drink than a mid level rum like Doorly’s X.O. (remember you can combine rums to make more complex flavor profiles in cocktails – like adding Plantation’s Barbados Rum to Doorly’s), but it is a way better sipper. Buy this rum if you’re into rum neat or want to explore that area of spirits and enjoy every last delicate, intricate sip.

Plantation Original Dark Rum

Posted on February 3, 2023January 17, 2023 by Nick

Rum starts lower than bourbon when it comes to cost, so finding reasonable rums for cocktails at under $20 isn’t a huge stretch. We’ve previously expressed our fondness for Plantation’s other offering, Plantation 3 Star. Slightly up the chain from a cost perspective, and with significantly more aging, is their Plantation Original Dark Rum. Sliding in at under $20, is this an addition your bar needs?

Plantation Original Dark Rum

Rum Info – Per Plantation’s Website:

Alc./Vol. : 40%
Origin : Barbados and Jamaica
Raw material : Molasses
Fermentation :
- Barbados : 72 hours
- Jamaica : 2 weeks
Distillation :
- Barbados : Twin Column and Pot Still
- Jamaica : Pot Still (John Dore)
Ageing : Blend of Barbados 1-3 year old, Jamaican Pot Still High Ester 10-15 year old, Finally blended into a wooden vat to age for 3 to 6 months in the southwest of France
Volatile Substances : 160 g/hL AA
Dosage : 15 g/L
Cane sugar caramel E150a (% vol) : Between 0% and 0.1%

Sight: Deep gold (Color Adjusted)

Smell: Caramelized tropical fruit and funky molasses rum ester come out at the start. The nose is sweet with fermenting bananas, overripe pineapple, and a mélange of orange notes. The brown sugar and caramel notes are rather prevalent as well. Possibly a hint of spice and red candies.

Sip: Lightly toasted banana and coconut lead things off in a thinner mouthfeel. The caramel notes come in, and the body is relatively smooth, light, and slightly funky. Touches of tropical fruit, like mango and pineapple hide in the roasted sugar and oak notes. There’s a subtle dryness here.

Savor: The slightly dry nature carries over with a good amount of caramelized sugar notes, for a bitter sweet sort of experience. The aged oak notes and sugar have hints of tropical fruits and rum ester.

Plantation Original Dark Rum is simple and easy going. When individuals think of dark rums, the blend of Jamaican and Barbados here does a good job of accomplishing a balance of each. It isn’t complex, but it also hits the right notes. Which makes it enjoyable, if a bit common in it’s presentation.

In Cocktails

In a Daiquiri the brown sugar notes come out with some of the more earthy, woodsy notes. The tropical fruit flavors come out in full effect with a cotton candy sort of note. The lime balances things and the body is relatively even. Overall, it’s a nice daiquiri that leans into the sugar side of things, but does it with aplomb.

In Review – Plantation Original Dark Rum

Plantation Original Dark Rum is simple, well put together, and easy-going. Is it the most interesting rum you’ll have? No. As a solo sipper, it certainly isn’t something you’d want to slog through. Does it make a lights out cocktail? Not particularly. What it does do is make a solid, well rounded drink that combines both Barbados and Jamaican notes. The key feature here is that it sits under $20. At that price point, this is a no brainer for a bottle to start your home bar with.

Plantation Barbados 5 Year Rum

Posted on August 19, 2022July 28, 2022 by Nick

Plantation has made some of our favorite rums for making tiki drinks. While their three star is great for Daiquiri’s and other drinks requiring lightly aged rums, you might find yourself wanting something a little more caramelized and complex. Their original dark could be a good option for something aged, but if you want something a little more unique, why not consider their single origin offering? Enter the Plantation Barbados 5 Year Rum.

Plantation Barbados 5 Year Rum

Plantation Barbados is aged 5 years, 3-4 in bourbon barrels in the Caribbean and 1-2 in French oak on the continent. The rum contains added sugar (dosage) at 16 g/L, and caramel color to ensure consistency.

Sight: A 14-18k carat gold.

Smell: French vanilla, caramel, banana, and tropical fruit mix with a touch of rum ester to lead things off. Spices come in with a touch of oak, before giving way to coconut and sweet brown sugar. Dark fruits come in at the end. There is a hint of heat to the nose, but nothing offensive.

Sip: The palate starts of light and slightly sweet. The sweetness builds and brings in toasted marshmallow, French vanilla, caramelized bananas, and baking spices. Cigar box and oak come in, and there’s a touch of toffee, ester, and tropical fruit.

Savor: The ending carries in more vanilla with hints of dried tropical fruits and oak. The finish lingers pleasantly with a bit of tannin for a moderate length of time.

Plantation Barbados 5 Year Rum is very approachable and easy going. The flavors are sweet and woody, which is helped by the actual subtle sweetness of the rum. The sippable nature has enough complexity that it doesn’t get boring, but enough complexity to keep it interesting. It feels dependable and reliable, despite not feeling exceptionally unique.

In Cocktails

In a daiquiri Plantation Barbados 5 Year Rum imparts many of the same caramel and toasted marshmallow notes with lots of oak. It plays a great counterpoint to the lime’s brightness and works well with the simple. In a grog, it also works well, although thanks to the sweet notes, it can stand the extra acidity. We’ve also used Plantation Barbados 5 Year extensively in our tiki drinks, finding it extraordinarily versatile as a base to split with other strong rums like Smith & Cross or Plantation O.F.T.D.

In Review – Plantation Barbados 5 Year Rum

Plantation Barbados 5 Year Rum is a really solid rum, and a great choice for an aged addition to a bar. The neutral and aged rum character actually makes it a nice bottle for starting a home bar too. We recommend it as a starting point, or even a dependable shelfer to keep around thanks to it’s price in the low $20 range.

Doorly’s X.O. Rum

Posted on March 2, 2021April 11, 2022 by Nick

If you live in a state-controlled liquor authority state, and you are deeply in love with cocktails and exploring their flavors, you will inevitably find yourself denying your state the revenue they seek to extort from you by driving somewhere else to bring home something you can’t find on your own shelves. Although not available in the great(?) state of Ohio, Doorly’s X.O. Rum is essentially available anywhere you can find a Total Wine, and it’s reasonably priced at only $20 a bottle. So should you take a road trip?

Doorly’s X.O. Rum

This Barbados Rum is matured twice, once in oak, and once in Spanish Oloroso Sherry. It is also a product of the unavailable-in-Ohio Foursquare distillery.

Sight: Lighter than the bottle implies, it’s a sherry oloroso shade with a caramel like allure.

Smell: Beautiful aromas of toasted nuts and warm, sticky caramel waft out – accompanied by brown sugar and notes of vanilla. A subtle baking spice is in the background with touches of toasted oak. An almost date like sweetness pervades the nose and works itself to be the predominate of some dried fruit smells that linger round the edges.

Sip: The body starts out smooth and well rounded, but still very much viscous and not overly thin. Elements of caramel, oak, and nuttiness come thought, but the body’s nose does not lead to a sweet palate. Rather, the complexity of notes of spice, dried fruit, vanilla, and peppery wood are thoroughly savory in nature until toward the end, where things move a hint toward a more balanced point.

Savor: The ending maintains a warm vanilla and nuttiness with hints of barrel aging around the edges. The flavor lingers quite pleasantly, with just a hint of tannic nature.

On its own, we’ve quite enjoyed having Doorly’s X.O. Rum around the house as another option. In some ways, it functions much like a more complex Kirk & Sweeney, leading strongly with vanilla and caramel notes, but better bolstered with elements of cask finishing and nuttiness. The flavor profile is great for considering in Tiki drinks, even if it wouldn’t be my first choice for sipper. That said, it’s smooth enough that it would still be enjoyable on it’s own or over ice.

In Cocktails

Evaluating in a Daiquiri, Doorly’s X.O. Rum stands out beautifully. The caramel and fruity notes are pulled out with subtle spicing that compliments the lime well. The hints of nuttiness come through on the finish, emphasizing the warmth and sweetness. These same elements transition beautifully to Grog. The elements of oak and spice with tropical fruit lead the charge as lime and sweetness round out the edges. Overall, these elements work great exceedingly well and should hold up for other Tiki and cocktailing applications.

Doorly’s X.O. Rum Overall

For the price, Doorly’s X.O. Rum is frankly nothing short of spectacular for the price. If I had a Total Wine in my backyard, I would without a doubt have a bottle of this on hand at all times. If you’re a fan of aged rums, give Doorly’s a try.

Plantation 3 Star

Posted on July 7, 2020 by Nick

Before we get into talking about Plantation 3 Star – it might be worth a moment to talk about Plantation. In light of recent events, Maison Ferrand has chosen to change Plantation’s name to Evolve. The name refers to a large farm – but due to the actual history of many of these farms and recent events – Plantation (rightly) chosen to update their name to avoid this regrettable period of history.

While the packaging flow through is no doubt starting soon – in all likelihood you’re going to be looking for Plantation 3 Star. If you’re reading this somewhere down the line – congratulations on getting here from a historical relic or a coincidence of search engine happenstance. The rum is actually rather nice for the price – and much more of why you’re likely here. So let’s dive in.

Plantation 3 Star

Plantation 3 Star is sourced from Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad. The bottle does not list percentages, and has been optimized for cocktail use rather than sipping. The style is that of a lightly aged rum.

Sight: Essentially clear – possibly with a slight tint of gold.

Smell: The nose starts off with a great amount of pineapple and miscellaneous tropical fruit. There’s something candied like about it – almost like a white coconut. There are notes of alcohol and subtle vanilla, banana (both ripe and green), and marzipan that also waft out.

Sip: The palate is soft and round – it begins smoothly with plenty ripe plantain, touches of marzipan, toasted sugar, and subtle tropical fruit notes. A touch of almost argicole like green herb hides at the edge, and a gradual heat builds. There’s also a good amount of sweetness throughout.

Savor: The finish ends up being somewhat sweet as well, and some of the heat lingers. There’s a little less smoothness here, but a pleasant toasted sugar and slightly grassy note that lingers.

Plantation 3 Star is a very clean and dynamic rum. It moves fluidly between sweet notes, green notes, and tropical fruit. The body is relatively smooth and inoffensive – though not inviting. While it has some edges, the flavor more than makes up for it. As a base level white rum, it’s a great choice at under $20.

In Cocktails

Plantation 3 Star does well in cocktails. The tropical flavors lend themselves well to classics like the daiquiri and more complex tiki drinks. The lime plays particularly well with some of the grassy notes. It does tend to fall a little short on more spiced and vanilla forward cocktails, where El Dorado 3 plays somewhat better.

Plantation 3 Star Overall

Overall – Plantation 3 Star plays a counter point to El Dorado 3 in our line up. Where El Dorado 3 plays the sweet, vanilla, cotton candied role in a drink – Plantation 3 Star is playing the role of the more tropical rum. These two points of contrast help explain why one might buy one or the other – or both of these rum. Either way, Plantation 3 is still a great choice of rum if you’re looking for a solid lightly aged rum for your cocktail collection at a great price.

Plantation’s Site: https://www.plantationrum.com/