Review: Club Kokomo Barrel Finished Rum
Celebrity spirits are becoming more common every day. Some of the ventures turn out to be flops and some turn out to be quite formidable. Some feel highly gimmicky and don’t make much sense. But what about The Beach Boys and rum? Pairing the tropical imagery of the beach with rum works. Mike Love is one of the co-founders of The Beach Boys, and his newest project is Club Kokomo Spirits. Club Kokomo offers a couple of different rums, but of most interest is their Barrel Finished Rum. Is Club Kokomo’s aged rum just another celebrity spirit that doesn’t need to exist? Let’s talk about it!
The Barrel Finished expression blends rums from Jamaica, Barbados, and the Dominican Republic. The proprietary blend consists of rums aged from 8 years old to 10 years old, featuring rums distilled with hybrid pot stills and traditional pot stills. These particular rums were distilled from both a base of molasses and Demerara cane sugar. Club Kokomo’s 92 proof rum is the result of aging in new oak, ex-bourbon barrels, and Port casks.
The build of the rum sounds intriguing, but how does it perform?
The nose is immediately met with a buttery bread note that can be best described as a croissant fresh out of the oven. The initially yeasty aroma quickly turns sweet in the form of cotton candy. The sweetness of the cotton candy continues with caramel and candied lemon zest. The highly sweet nose eventually turns a bit more dry as molasses and tobacco show up at the end.
Matching the nose, the palate also kicks off with a bready note, but it’s noticeably pound cake versus croissant. Following the path of the nose, the bready note is followed by a distinct cotton candy note and some caramel. While the front-end of the palate presents as rather sweet, the midpalate brings lemon zest and nutmeg to slightly balance the overt sweetness. Prior to the start of the finish, melted butter expresses itself with a medium viscosity mouthfeel.
The nose and palate both lean to the sweet side. The finish is much less sweet than anticipated. Lemon zest remains present, but cinnamon and vanilla both show up. The finish trails off with a note that took some time to identify, a final lingering note that is both fruity and tannic in the form of black cherry skin.
Club Kokomo’s Barrel Finished Rum is an overall enjoyable rum, but it leans a bit sweet. The brand openly states that there are no additives, including sugar. My initial impression was that some small amount of sugar had been added to the rum, but Club Kokomo clearly denies this. The blend is proprietary, but for rums aging between 8 years old and 10 years old with some portion being matured in new oak, it would be reasonable to expect a bit more oak influence on the spirit.
92 proof.
B / $32 / clubkokomospirits.com
The post Review: Club Kokomo Barrel Finished Rum appeared first on Drinkhacker: The Insider’s Guide to Good Drinking.