Koloa Dark

Even better than the spiced. Excellent aroma and flavor.

I was a little surprised at how good this was over ice.

I had been polarized by their legendary coconut rum versus their awful white rum. Before going on a long trip whereby I was able to pick up small 50 ml sample bottles, I had read all of the reviews here. Apparently, this very young company in Kauai does not age their white rum and merely adds very sweetened flavors to it to achieve the rest of their line.

So I asked for small 50 ml samples of their dark, spiced, and coffee, but the liquor store only had their dark rum, lucky for me. After sampling some good rums before this year's Super Bowl, I told myself WTF and opened up this bottle that I had placed in my fridge hours before. On first sip, it almost went down the toilet. Had I tried this rum in my early days before I got away from highly sweetened rums, I may have loved it. However, knowing what I know now, the rest of this small bottle in the snifter probably needs to go down the toilet. This is sickness in a bottle!!!!

So what in hell does it taste like? I have been to Hawaii three times in my life and those islands are famous for coffee, chocolate, vanilla, macadamia nuts, papayas, passion fruit, mangoes, guavas, pineapples, and coconuts. This "rum" has absolutely no notes of any of them!!! So this can only mean that the dark coloring and flavoring are all chemicals. Buyer beware!

How in hell do they manage to make a great tasting coconut rum from what starts out as crap is beyond me. They must have just lucked out. I heard that their coffee rum is very good, but I am through trying any of their other "rums". As bad as I found this rum to be, there are actually other rums that I found to be worse, as shown in my cabinet.

Ahhhh, sadly the reason I chose to review this rum was I got to visit the distillery on Kaua'i while there for a wedding. I was so excited to go thinking this would be a great place to get my first taste of Hawaiian rum. Well, fortunately it wasn't busy and I got to taste all of their offerings and interact with the person pouring the rums. Well, I was disappointed and unimpressed with all their offerings and as it turns out, the one I was most excited about had the least to offer. Koloa does not barrel age their rums...any of them. In fact the dark rum gets its color from dye and its flavor artificially added according to the guy running the tasting room. Sadly, he admitted his only experience with rum was there at the tasting room and drinking it in Mai-tais. Really sad to break it to those who thought this was a good rum especially since the Koloa's representative was bragging about having the best sugar cane in the world to work with. Maybe they'll buy some barrels and start actually aging some tot give it real flavor and color.

Nice little spice finish. Went really well in a mix drink.

Had a bottle while vacationing in Oahu. Super balanced vanilla aroma, feels also pretty sweet and round in mouth. Has distinctive Tiki flavours. Obviously there is sugar added, because there were white crystals present in the bottom of the bottle. The sugar thing is a tricky topic - obviously the overall product ahould be achieved just by fermentation, aging and distillation and therefore is debatable whether rums with added sugar are good rums. The Koloa dark in fact is sippable on its own and works very well also in coctails. I have approached sweet rums like these with a mindset that in coctails you can use less sugary beverages instead of coke, juices, syrups etc to keep the overall amount of sugar consumed under control. So an 8 would be too much in terms of the sweet profile but it’s definitely an enjoyable rum on its own and also in mixes. Not sure how the dark profile was achieved because there are very little tannine notes. Added caramel?

This is one of my favorite mixer rums for tropical drinks. I especially like the exotic vanilla notes. It's a key ingredient in the Kauai Mai Tai. It's too bad I can't get it here in Colorado but I luckily have accomadating friends who bring me a bottle now and then.

Koloa is responsible for my affinity for this spirit. I am a particular fan of the gold, dark, and coconut. So good. So smooth. Dangerous AF.

I like to mix it with orange seltzer, a little of the koloa coconut, and a tiny splash of guava nectar for a strong, smooth, flavorful, somewhat low calorie mai tai.

This is a great dark rum for making drinks. It can be sipped but is a bit medicinal and young tasting.

The aroma makes you want to sip it but the body is not a full as I like. Mixes well and adds to drinks that normally have an edge. It has a place in my bar...