Smith and Cross Traditional Jamaica Navy Strength

Drinking this straight is like bare knuckle boxing Mike Tyson, strong fierce, and a heavy weight champ in it's category.
This Jamaican pot still rum is full of flavor and character, but not too be taken lightly. Best drunk mixed or diluted on the rocks

Picked up a bottle yesterday in Pittsburgh @ $33.00. This Rum is like no other I have tasted, like no other in a surprising fashion. I poured a small dram neat and the nose is crazy, initial punch of fume and then a lasting note of molasses. Taste was instant numbing on the lips and tounge with initial taste that I cannot equate; I will call this note "Industrial taste" because Industrial Factory was the first thing that comes to mind.
Only the smallest of sips with this Rum, it is HIGH TEST for sure!!
Each tiny sip was followed with strong notes of Cherries and Brown Sugar. Not overstating either, for me this was like mega cherrirs and mega brown sugar. The Industrial taste up front was not bad, it hit me as interesting and very different.
I never tasted any spirit with a finish as long as Smith & Cross Rum.
This Rum demands a fine cigar to pair. The bold statement of this Rum will hang and compliment even the fullest cigar and I cannot wait to pair them.

My initial 8 rating is upgraded to a strong 9 when poured over ice in a Rocks Glass. Wow, the ice brings this Rum to life, flavors of Cherry and Brown Sugar are still there with a new flavor of sour Lime. The finish is more subtle but still very long. The numbing effect is barely noticable.
Complex, magnificent Rum that even with ice would be wonderfully paired with a cigar.

Definite ethanol if you go in too deep on the nose. I get vanilla and faint cherry otherwise. On the second sip, caramel and vanilla come through mostly. Thicker mouth feel with a mild burn going down. Can't wait to mix with this one!

there is no cheaper ticket. This one will please mixers and sippers the same.
For me, who does not like mixed drinks that much, it was shocking how fast I went through this bottle with neat pours.
This is a bottle I will replace for sure.

Some good funk mixability potential, makes one hell of a hurricane. Unfortunately it's a bit frisky to be had neat, and if you add water it gets really bitter really fast.

Nose: overripe tropical fruit, especially pineapple and mango.
Taste: again tropical fruit, tobacco, burnt butter, chewing gum and kimchi. Don't fact check me on that.
After taste: medium, tropical fruit and tobacco.
TLDR: pineapple left in the fridge for a couple of months.

And yes, the bottle is sexy.

Les rhums de la Jamaïque ne sont vraiment pas dans ma palette. Au goût épicé poivré.

To funky to do it even in simple cocktails. Tiki only.

This rum is good is so many ways. First, since it's full of funk, it's a great rum to add depth to cocktails. Next, on its own it's a pretty good sipper even you're a fan of the high ester. And lastly you can't be the value for how inexpensive it is compared to so many other rums.

It is a good rum, mostly, but the grassy and medicinal notes are pretty notably, which is a taste I have yet to learn to like. The funk is otherwise nice, but I can't get fully past the grass, which is a turnoff for me.

I might come back and rate this higher, but for now I can't. I will say it is surprisingly smooth and easy to drink for a 57% spirit.

Smith and Cross has become an indispensable rum which will always be replaced in my bar when a bottle runs dry. This is a non-chill filtered, 114 proof beauty. This rum has exotic fruits and Jamaican funk. It has a peanut almost pecan in the pallet to me once the bottle has been open for a month or two. This rum is going to shine in tiki cocktails and it will replace every regular 2 oz pour of Jamaican 40% with just one ounce and that justifies the $40 cost in itself. Over an ice cube the rotting fruits come through, to me like nutty pear but more exotic like a fruit from a Jamaica trip. It is distilled in Jamaica and bottled in London. Amazing! Get a bottle and use it in your cocktails, or even sip it over an ice cube. This is not a neat sipper for me and my personal pallet. Recommended to make a bitter Mai Tai with 1 oz of this, 1 oz of Puerto Rican column still such as Bacardi 8, and 1 oz of campari, orgeat and lime, crushed ice, shake, double old fashioned, garnish with mint.