Don Q Gran Reserva Anejo XO

Another top rum from Don Q.
After Special release 2009 this will be my favorite.

A more golden rum by color it is easy to sip on. Smooth and somewhat bland in flavor. Not to bland though, there are some complexities that are very nice. I’d buy again for sure.

Good to sip or drink with ice, not overly sweet or harsh, lacks a bit of flavor.

Dejlig smagfuld og en fornøjelse at nyde - endnu en fast must have i sit sortiment 👍

A great PR rum. Pleasant on the nose. Taste is very smooth, not overpowering. A great sipper.

Nice taste and smoothnesss at ab affordable price. Great on the rocks or straight up.

Since I had terrible luck with their boring rum in a very fancy bottle that was called Gran Anejo, I have been very reluctant to try this one at all. Well, this morning, I drove back to the store where I saw the last bottle of Don Q 2005 Single Barrel and it was luckily still there from a few days ago.

Since I had researched the Don Q lineup before going back, I saw this one as well as their Double Aged Sherry Cask for $46 US each. I added those two to my basket to justify this trip. Apparently, Don Q rums can now only be found at fine grocery stores with a premium liquor department. Their finer rums can no longer be found at liquor stores with no groceries. Go figure!

At any rate, the sherry cask aged rum was not worth writing a review about since the much cheaper Doorly's XO tastes even better. This one however, was a pleasant surprise. The fancy bottle has been replaced by a much cheaper bottle, with the 9 year old rum inside being much better. No aroma at all, just like their Gran Anejo. No burn going down the pipe. No miserable finish. Just plain good rum with no additives. Compared to the 7 Foursquare ECS rums that I have tried, I will take this rum any day except for the best 2 of those 7.

I now have it ranked as a low 8, which is just one step up from a high 7.

Update July 7, 2024: After sipping on Doorly's 14 all evening, I then switched to this one. No way can both of them be rated as an 8, so I now drop my rating on this one to a 7. It's ranking remains the same, but now as a high 7 instead of a low 8. This is also now the best that Don Q can offer, so I will just quit buying this brand. This is sad, because it used to be the best rum from Puerto Rico.

This rum is one of my favorite Puerto Rican rums. It’s sweet but has no additional sugar added. It’s smooth on the palate. It’s one of those rums that you get to drink straight on the rocks. Buen provecho, amigos.

Nice and bright on the nose but otherwise business as usual for a Puerto Rican molasses rum, however the palate is much better. On the palate for the very first split second it’s a traditional molasses Puerto Rican rum with caramel, molasses and brown sugar but then comes the bright citrus with candied fruit. Pretty complex and very enjoyable.

This is pretty easy to drink, it's fairly sweet, and it's easily the best Don Q product that I've ever had. It smells inoffensive, which is uncommon for Don Q in my experience and it reminds me of other good rums I've had. I'd recommend it!