Doctor Bird Pot Still

Wow, this rum hits you hard. Very nice complex finish, but up front, holy Jamaican funk. Reminds me a bit of Wray & Nephew but a bit lower proof. Also probably the strongest banana smell of all the Jamaican rums that I've tried.

Wavered between 7 and 8, went with 7 (solid). It's quite good, though not especially complex or layered (for me anyway). Definitely worth the price. Beautiful, light gold color.

Clear funk on the nose, but not a funk-bomb. Still, probably not a beginner's rum! A bit of alcohol, and I get hints of both mint and licorice, and some kind of fruit that I can't yet place. Quite a pleasant flavor with tones of dark fruit. Lightly sweet, mild burn for the ABV. Medium-short finish, again with a fruit flavor that I can't quite place. This gets better though each time I go back to it!

Have yet to try in a cocktail, but I have plenty of faith that it would do very well. It's got the right character.

At The Rum House in Manhattan. Nice rum list. I like Worthy Park and Foursquare very much. Jamaican excellence. This just doesn’t compare. If you like this you don’t like sipping rum. I mean this tastes BAD. I can’t sip it. I tried it and sent it back. Too strong. Too malodorous. Too funky. This is the only rum that Bacardi might beat.

Bottle obtained in Minneapolis. Great funk aroma and little else. Burnt rubber flavor and a miserable mouth feel. A big disappointment.

So I finally got my hands on a bottle of this rum after trying to acquire it for over a year…and man, this is a real doozy and a fascinating rum. This is rum comes from Worthy Park, in St. Catherine, Jamaica. It is a high ester young aged rum finished in Moscatel casks by Corktown Distillery in Detroit Michigan. It comes in a wonderful artistically designed bottle (I absolutely love the bottle). It weighs in at a respectable 50% ABV and that comes through on the palate

Nosing it, right away it is immediately recognizable as a Worthy Park rum. Worthy Park rums, especially the young aged ones are just a massive overload of bananas and fruit. This one is no exception. In fact it’s even more pungent on the nose than most other Worthy Park rums I have had. I might even say it’s funkier on the nose than Rum Bar Overproof, the unaged pot still fresh Overproof produced at Worthy Park. Actually in many respects this is similar to Worthy Park Overproof when that rum is diluted down a bit, which makes sense.

So enough with the pleasantries. The nose here is crazy complex. In fact it’s one of the most complex noses I have ever sensed on any rum. This is a straight up olifactory jigsaw puzzle. Nosing it from the Glencairn I get dark purple grape juice, oodles of Bananas foster, dark chocolate, cherry cola, apple cider vinegar, strawberry shortcake and modelers glue. This is straight up crazy wacky funky, even by Jamaican standards. On the nose this may well be the funkiest rum I have ever had. It is definitely a different kind of funk than Hampden and Smith & Cross but somehow it’s even more expressive. I didn’t even think that was possible. Ha!

On the palate I am a bit let down. As amazing as the nose is, it unfortunately doesn’t translate to the palate. And that’s a real shame here because, man, I would LOVE to have the nose on this rum expressed on the tongue. That’s in no way to say that the palate is bad. It’s not. In fact the palate is certainly decent enough…it’s just a let down when compared to the nose. As far as the palate goes I get Tennessee Whiskey, white grape juice, apple cider, pear juice, butterscotch, sangria, and a touch of muscadine wine. That’s a decent combination which is further smoothed out a bit by the addition of a small amount of water. Straight it is interesting but a bit sharp and disjointed on the tongue. After sipping it a while a harmony begins stabilize and the experience is quite enjoyable. But man I can’t stop thinking of how amazing this rum could be if the nose could be expressed in force on the palate.

We really need to talk about the finish on this rum…or rather the lack thereof. I am shockingly disappointed to find that this rum has virtually no finish or aftertaste at all. Once it goes down it’s just gone. Maybe some of the muscadine and sangria notes flicker faintly for a second but I am really quite stunned to find that this rum has almost no finish/aftertaste at all. That’s especially odd when I remember that Rum Bar Overproof had an exceptionally long finish for an unaged Overproof. This is so odd and quite a bit disappointing.

This rum is really hard to rate with a single number. The nose is mind blowing, just crazy good and complex. The palate is decent but a very different expression compared to the nose and not near as complex or harmonious. And there is no finish at all. This is tying my rum brain in knots. It’s like a firework show with no finale. Don’t get me wrong though, on the whole it’s still a great experience, it just falls short of its own expectations

I take a sip of this now and then but it will really make a cocktail shine. Inexpensive but hard to find. I love it!

Not sure where to start on this one. I purchased this purely to use in tiki cocktails as I'd seen it referenced by name in some recipes. I'm afraid this is going to be long winded! Sorry!
As soon as the cork was pulled the pot still aromas literally exploded out of the bottle! Although there is a lot of alcohol in the nose it's not hot or solvent like. A lot of fruit with hints of strawberry, kiwi, perhaps ripe banana and some of the muscatel coming through. Perhaps a hint of sour or tartness as well.
After letting it breathe for a few minutes I dropped a cube in, swirled, let it rest and then revisited the aroma. Very similar but perhaps a bit less intense. Very smooth and pleasing aroma (if you like Jamaican funkiness) with some sweet aromas coming out. I swear that as this opens up I get hints of mint!!
For 50% alcohol I find this very, very smooth. Warming but not hot in my opinion. Quite different than I imagined. The flavor is full and funky but less in your face than I at first thought when getting the first aromas from the snifter. Still a big flavorful fully aromatic pot still rum but somehow well rounded. Some sweetness late leading into the finish most likely from the muscatel barrels but it's definitely not a sweet rum. Hints of dry woody character but less than I expected for an 8 year rum.
This is a really surprising rum. Although funky and mostly dry it's well balanced and has great body and flavor.
Definitely not for everyone. I think if you like funky Jamaican rum then you can't go wrong even if only using as a mixer in tiki cocktails but I like this one on the rocks! If you don't like Jamaicans or think that Appleton is too funky then run for the hills and leave this to those who appreciate the funk and flavor of pot still Jamaican rum.
At $28 (from Binny's in Chicago) this is quite a bargain. A solid must for tiki and funk enthusiasts! I give it a solid 8 for it's unique character and wonderful complexity. As is stated by many other reviewers this is not a rum for everyone so if you only like sweet sugar bomb rums or shy away form other funky Jamaican rums then don't try this one and give it a poor rating. It is what it is!

Coconut, butterscotch, banana and FUNK! Potent, boisterous, and enjoyable, but only for the first third or so of the bottle. Then the novelty wears off and you're left wondering "what in the name of Tarzan's Treehouse am I supposed to do with all of this..?"

Not nearly as obnoxious as wray and nephew, but both rums share a strong pineapple/citrus aroma on the nose, though wray and nephew smells much more like chemicals than this. It is very funky, and for many it may be too much to have neat or even on the rocks. A tropical cocktail for this would be the best bet; I saw a recipe for a daiquiri using this and then plantation’s stiggins fancy (great rum). I really dont like wray and nephew and so this reminding me of it put me off a bit, but that’s personal. It is worth a try, and if nothing else the artwork on the bottle is attractive enough to add some character to your rum cabinet.

Fantastic. Lots of raisin and grape notes of course. Super funky worthy park distillate. Worth a buy. Maybe more than a few times.