Pyrat XO Reserve

I was pleased with the rum, a good rum that can be enjoyed anytime, anywhere.

Cute bottle with good branding but overall not a great rum. Priced over captain and Bacardi locally but pretty equivalent.

An average rum that is good to drink on a casual occasion. He is quite sweet. However, its price corresponds to the content. I gave him 7 points for the handmade bottle, which has an interesting shape.

Exotic rum offering a burst of orange, vanilla, and spices. Smooth with a hint of sweetness.

Everybody says strong orange taste. I don't get that. Yes there is orange but it's not overpowering. Really good.

Is it sweet smelling and tasting? Yes. Is it ORANGE... I wouldn't have said so, but a lot of other people have.

When I first went looking for a Demerara rum, my liquor store offered me 375ml bottles for $9.99. (Yes, it is blended, but after a few changes of ownership, this is now mostely Guyana sourced.)

I loved it right away for drinking straight, in an old fashion or Hawaiian Mai-tai blended when other rums to balance it. I later saw 750ml's at other stores and was shocked by the price. I went back to the first and bought a couple more bottles.

Well, the cork was rotten on those, and since they couldn't be returned I contacted Pyrat and was surprised to find out the company that owns this now is Bacardi.

They were friendly and swapped my bad bottles for a new one. I can't complain about that.

Would I buy this again? Yeah. Sigh. It might not be a traditional rum, dry or snooty, but it is yummy.

When you want sweet and tasty rum flavor like sucking a butter rum Lifesaver or eating a pint of Häagen-Dazs rum raisin ice cream, then this is perfect.

Edit: Tasting more rums for comparison or maybe because my current bottle is from Bacardi, where my previous ones were from the prior owners of this brand, but I've ticked it down a point.
If you want a very similar but better quality rum for cocktails that call for it, get Plantation Barbados 5-Year. I think I'm done with this this for now.

And available. A good one to try if you haven’t had it before.

really? Sounds like a lot of time and effort for a rum that is not rated higher. Don't get me wrong - its decent but is missing (or maybe has too much of) what ever it needs to be a sipper. Excellent as a mixer though

I mean I definitely don’t hate it at all, but for a similar price point, you can easily find something better. I don’t hate the orange notes but I mostly get tobacco and raisins. Like a not quite as good Dos Madeiras 5+5 (which is lovely). I does though remind me in a way of the smell of an orange curaçao, the more I smell it. Eh… I’ve had worse for sure.

It tastes too much citrus but otherwise it has good qualities