An excellent Dominican rum, Barceló Imperial was awarded a Gold Medal and also the coveted "Best In Category" title at the 2008 International Cane Spirits Festival. This is aged for between 4 and 10 years, and offers a superb flavour profile.
Fresh, buttery and creamy on the nose, with hints of sweet nuts, caramelised fruit and oak.
Dark brown sugar, toffee apples, stewed fruits, malmsey, oak and spices.
Long, good length and texture with hints of cedar wood and cigar leaves.
Barceló (Imperial) is fantastic, especially with tonic and lime. Among the best in the world, and a great bargain. Wish it were easier to find.
As a Whisky drinker, I have to admit I was slightly hesitant about writing a review for a spirit that I have a limited history with, mainly worrying about my words not doing it justice, and I genuinely don’t think they can for this product. Emerging from the brown cardboard box it was delivered in, the first thing that strikes you is the high quality presentation. Packaged in a rather nice box is a bottle that screams of luxury. A slightly unusual shape but a classy one nonetheless. After peeling back the cellophane security holding the stopper in I yanked out the stopper itself producing the most satisfying pop. As I poured myself a generous measure of this amber hued liquid, I was really quite uncertain as to what to expect. Taking a large sniff aromas of toffee, caramel and a slightly nutty aroma came through. Hesitantly I raised the tumbler to my lips and took a generous sip of this nectar. Straight away I was tasting demerera sugar, warm toffee, roasted nuts and a hint of vanilla bean. As I swallowed I was surprised at the lack of burn, but impressed by the warming sensation that it created rivalling some of the nicest malts I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying. The taste remaining on my taste buds was hinting towards that of a smooth cigar without a hint of staleness. As I said before I don’t believe my words can adequately cover this gem. It needs to be experienced personally. My previous rum experiences were limited to spiced rums, the Bacardi range, Brugal and Havana Club and this quite simply blew them out of the water, I’ve noticed other reviewers describe this as bland but I think to put it simply it’s just extremely smooth with notes of autumnal sweetness.
The subtlety of this rum is its beauty, the flavours ARE there, it's incredibly smooth and the perfect ABV coming in at 38%. I'd sip this all day long, but then my day probably wouldn't last too long.
I was pretty dissapointed with this. It is quite smooth but lacking in flavour. You keep getting hints of various sweetnesses but nothing stands out. Gosling's Gold would be the better option, equally bland but much smoother.
