Koloa Dark

I try to drink local wherever I go, so in Kauai, I go with Koloa rums. The Dark is good: smooth, easy drinking over ice and mixable. It avoids becoming too sweet or chewy. However, it doesn't go deep: it lacks the overtones of molasses and vanilla of a great dark rum.
Worth the purchase, but not outstanding.

This is a tasty rum… very vanilla forward (probably was adulterated with vanilla bean and therefore should be in the spiced rum category). Notes of leather and tobacco in amongst the vanilla. Some caramel but a light astringent finish. Would be good for mixing.

Of all the Hawaiian rums, and especially Koloa's offerings, this is the most unique. If I want to drink an almost spiced rum, this one-of-a-kine tops the list. You know, da kine? If I want to splurge on an Aloha-style Mai Tai, this one has to be the the dark topper. Aloha Nui Nui to the friends at Koloa Rums! Lotsa vanilla!

Avast! Anyone that be lookin' for a sweet, milk chocolatey dessert rum best drop anchor here! On the nose this rum be sweet - sugary almost - with milk solids, like a hot chocolate. Aye, there be a hint of vanilla and molasses, but the chocolate beats it back fairly well. As for taste, all those flavors come aboard like a rum tryin' to disguise itself as a chocolate liqueur. The body on this one be a bit on the weak side, but she be ultra-smooth goin' the hatch. Curse me for a lubber, but I've had pure cream with more burn than this! This rum not be for everyone - unless you got a serious sweet tooth or a powerful yearnin' for diabetes...

It tastes like sweetened vanilla extract. It is very smooth and easy to drink, but all I can taste is vanilla. Not as sweet as I expected from reading other reviews (I find Dictator much sweeter) but its hard to find the rum under the overpowering vanilla.

I will say it is possible I got a bad batch. Of the bottles of Koloa dark available, the colour of the rum varied greatly between bottles. Some as dark as coffee, others were a light amber. I choose a darker bottle. I would be curious to compare it to one of the light amber bottles, but at $75 CAD I cant justify that.

Great flovor! A little sweeter than others due to the sugar cane, both smell and taste,, but not too much. Great brand and I will definitely try more from there

Really nice rum. If the coffee bean forward flavor profile is in your wheelhouse you'll enjoy it. Solid but not near the upper echelon.

This is ok. Smooth but too sweet. Short finish. Overpriced. Tastes like there are additives.

An excellent rum bursting with natural caramel and vanilla flavors. A good sipper but this really shines as a mixer with coke or ginger beer.

The aroma is more complex than the taste. If you took a coffee bean and infused it with a little bit of vanilla, bittersweet chocolate, macadamia nut, and just a hint of clove...and then toasted it, that's the aroma I get. The taste...initially sugary coffee, but develops into a less sweet almost peppery finish.