Mount Gay XO The Peat Smoke Expression

This is an interesting experiment. Peat is very common in scotch, but I've never seen it in rum.

This is a decent rum, and I actually rate it slightly above their Mount Gay 1703 Master Select rum (as this is slightly sweeter), and above a few peat scotches that I own. But I still prefer the Mount Gay XO and especially the XO Cask Strength, and I rate both of those above this.

This tastes a lot like the Mount Gay XO Cask Strength, with added peat. If you like peat (and I don't mind it), you might really like this. But I prefer ordinary aged rum, and as I said I like their regular XO's best.

8,3:Over all, it is Bajan, cannot be denied. First on the nose, herbal, undeniable, fleeting, right away nutty with dried fruits and all Bajan classics with baking spices, butterscotch, coconut and caramel that melt into the chocolate. Strong molasses arises... No smokiness till now! And now we get some🙂. Then we receive a nice portion of Bourbon, citrus with drieness. Medicinal with metallic notes show up for a while, well, complex it is!We continue with gingerbread, ginger, cinnamon, woody notes, some tropical fruits, bacon and roastedness.
7,9:On the palate we first get a burst of salt! It is crazy, heavy, out of control:smoky, heavy spicy with strong cigar. Later it becomes more balanced with some orange peel and roasted side of Rum. It is a bit bitter, thick and Islay whisky like with peat, camp fire and ashy. Now we finally come to Bajan notes, it becomes dry, woody with caramel and burnt sugar, nuttiness and citrus that swap to a chocolate!
8,1:The finish is very long, round, smoky palate with its variety and with toasted wood and dried fruits linger on, on and on.
Quite a feat👍.

This is the peated smoke version of mount gay thats a special release ... Priced around £185 but I would never even drink it again let alone pay that ..

Nosing
Ash,tobacco , butterscotch

Tasting
Charred oak ,orange , tobacco ,ash

Smoky at first nosing, but the peat disappears after few minutes in glass and what is left is nothing special. It is only finished in ex-peat barrels, not matured all the way, so it makes sense the peat aroma is fleeting. I prefer the normal XO better.

Aroma is woody and already a bit smoked. First taste is nice, with fruit and wood, but after appear smoke on palate and during aftertaste also salt and iodine. Not my prefered taste, for me worst than normal XO :-(

Tasted this one at the mount gay distillery.
It's like a Mount Gay XO blended with a caroni.
It's definitly very old and a little bit dirty in the taste. Normally TRC WP 11y Laphroaig finish is too smoky for me, at least when it comes straight from a fresh bottle.

The MG is not very peaty/smoky but rather had a rubber and leather note.
It's too expensive in my opinion. The taste is unique, but 250$ is too much.
I would buy it for around 120$.

Smell: caramel, orange, rubber, oak, dry fruits, wood, rubber, some smoke
Taste: caramel, oak/old barrel, rubber, citrus/salt, tropical fruits, orange peels, spice, smoke
Finish: long, spicy, warm burn, orange peels, gum

Sweetness: 2/5
Fruit: 3/5
Spice: 3/5
Mildness: 3.5/5
Smoke: 1.5/5
Value (250$): 1.5/5

https://distiller.com/spirits/mount-gay-xo-the-peat-smoke-expression
"This rum is the first in the Master Blender series from Mount Gay. It's made from a blend of column and pot still distilled rums selected by master blender Allen Smith. The rums aged from 8-15 years in American oak before finishing its maturation in peated whisky casks from Islay for its final six months of aging. It is bottled at a cask strength of 57% ABV. Mount Gay XO: The Peat Smoke Expression is a limited release with just 6,120 bottles produced"

It's different...but I think they nailed it. I only have a pour left and can't afford any more..... sigh. So glad I got one.

An interesting rum with a smooth peat flavour and smokey aroma.

Everything about this rum is perfect the price the smoothness the taste and how much it burns great rum highly recommended it

With just a few drops of water or a very small ice cube, this rum opens up to a very unique, complex hit of peat which gently cascades into the taste buds. This is not for everyone. If you’re looking for a sweet rum, wrong spot. I was never a big Irish whiskey fan but I always appreciated the taste of the peat. I think Mount Gay hit a homerun when they paired rum with peat. It’s expensive, probably to the point of being overpriced, but I’m glad I took a gamble. If you’re never going to spend this much for a bottle but you happen to see it in a cocktail bar, pony up and take the ride. You might be pleasantly surprised.