Review: Mount Gay Master Blender Selection – Cognac Cask

The 8th edition of the Mount Gay’s Master Blender Selection rum offers up a familiar finishing barrel: Cognac casks, sourced from Remy Martin. This release is aged four years (comparatively short for the MBS) in Barbados and it isn’t finished — its entire life is spent in those Cognac casks.

As is customary, we tasted the rum — along with pairings of cheese, salami, dates, and cherry preserves — via a Zoom tasting with Master Blender Trudiann Branker, tuning in from Barbados.

6,276 bottles produced. Let’s taste!

Mount Gay Master Blender Selection – Cognac Cask Review

On the nose: Very racy, with a significant citrus overtone that recalls Grand Marnier at times. A mix of floral elements emerge with a bit of air time — Branker highly recommends letting this 58% abv rum rest, as do I — followed by a significant vanilla note, almost like a syrup.

The palate is a revelation, bursting with fruit, particularly orange, followed by green banana. The higher abv really showcases itself on the thick, syrupy body, though somehow it never comes across as hot. Again those floral notes dance across the tongue, chased by some of the most classic flavors of Cognac — raisins especially, alongside fresh linens and a note of lavender. Fresh and exotic on the finish, but laced with a more familiar caramel quality and a pinch of barrel char, the rum owes as much to France as it does to Barbados. It’s an exquisite and quite unexpected experience throughout, and putting it down is damn near impossible.

116 proof.

A / $210 / mountgayrum.com 

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