sailor22 Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 (edited) Mount Gay just had a label approved for it's XO at Barrel Proof. IMHO the XO is a lovely, complex pour with lots of woody Bourbon notes, and it's widely available. Additional proof is an exciting prospect indeed. Well aged Velier, Foursquare and DDL barrel proof releases have been hugely popular among whiskey drinkers but are expensive and hard to find. Unless I'm mistaken this will be the first barrel proof offering of a rum without sugar or flavors added that will be easy to get your hands on. Is this the breakthrough product that will interest large numbers of Bourbon geeks that Rum has been looking for? Edited July 28, 2016 by sailor22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcbt Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 I'm interested in this for sure. I only keep a few rums on my bar (Mt Gay XO is one of them), but whenever possible on the bourbon side I try to keep a BP offering of each distillery / mash bill. So I'd be interested in replacing the regular XO with the BP to add the water myself to get to a desired proof like I do with the bourbons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kpiz Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 4 hours ago, sailor22 said: Mount Gay just had a label approved for it's XO at Barrel Proof. IMHO the XO is a lovely, complex pour with lots of woody Bourbon notes, and it's widely available. Additional proof is an exciting prospect indeed. Well aged Velier, Foursquare and DDL barrel proof releases have been hugely popular among whiskey drinkers but are expensive and hard to find. Unless I'm mistaken this will be the first barrel proof offering of a rum without sugar or flavors added that will be easy to get your hands on. Is this the breakthrough product that will interest large numbers of Bourbon geeks that Rum has been looking for? Thanks sailor. This is great news. Your comments mention this being easy to find when it eventually comes out. I didn't see the label - are there indications that this is a regular release versus a special edition or a one-off for a store or event? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTNBourbon Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 XO Reserve Cask is very good. If I see the BP edition around I'll pick it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinjoe Posted August 1, 2016 Share Posted August 1, 2016 On July 28, 2016 at 9:16 AM, sailor22 said: Is this the breakthrough product that will interest large numbers of Bourbon geeks that Rum has been looking for? No. Bourbon geeks are looking for more bourbons. The bourbon space has plenty of room still to fill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanstaafl2 Posted August 1, 2016 Share Posted August 1, 2016 15 hours ago, smokinjoe said: No. Bourbon geeks are looking for more bourbons. The bourbon space has plenty of room still to fill. This ombibulous bourbon geek is not so much looking for more bourbon as I am "different" bourbon. Higher barrel proof is certainly an exciting new addition, whether it be bourbon or rum. It is a rare thing to see an entirely new mashbill in bourbon from the big boys which would be one way to be different. Different age statements are also nice but we generally seem to be seeing fewer of those in bourbon of late. One area of interest would be different finishes but this seems to be an area that the bourbon world is embracing slowly. A few more expensive options like PHC, Beam Distiller's Masterpiece, the sadly inconsistent Woodford Master's Collection and options from the NDP's are showing up of late but it is not as common among the mid-shelf options. The release of the Barton Port Finish was an encouraging sign but again looks to be somewhat limited. But I guess until and if the main distillers can catch up to demand this will remain the case. Rum and especially international Whisky on the other hand seem to be a good bit more diverse. Of course the regulations on production (such as they are with rum of course) make that easier to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kpiz Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 Looks like this is a limited edition after all: https://www.ttbonline.gov/colasonline/viewColaDetails.do?action=publicFormDisplay&ttbid=16181001000282 This release is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Barbados independence. The Floating Rum Shack posted a picture of a bottle on Instagram, but I think they're based in London, so this still may not be in the U.S. I hope it gets here in time for Barbados Independence Day (November 30th...yes I had to look it up)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanstaafl2 Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 20 hours ago, Kpiz said: Looks like this is a limited edition after all: https://www.ttbonline.gov/colasonline/viewColaDetails.do?action=publicFormDisplay&ttbid=16181001000282 This release is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Barbados independence. The Floating Rum Shack posted a picture of a bottle on Instagram, but I think they're based in London, so this still may not be in the U.S. I hope it gets here in time for Barbados Independence Day (November 30th...yes I had to look it up)! Is it anything particularly special or just a way for Mt Gay to charge more for their basic XO? Not that the XO isn't a good quality rum to begin with. The TTB and this report suggests it will at least be cask strength and it will be in the US in limited numbers (there are only 3000 to begin with) but that it will be in the $185 range. At least it will have a fancy box... Pretty sure I am out at that price! I think I can make do with the Foursquare 2004 cask strength to scratch my occasional Bajan itch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kpiz Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 47 minutes ago, tanstaafl2 said: Is it anything particularly special or just a way for Mt Gay to charge more for their basic XO? Not that the XO isn't a good quality rum to begin with. The TTB and this report suggests it will at least be cask strength and it will be in the US in limited numbers (there are only 3000 to begin with) but that it will be in the $185 range. At least it will have a fancy box... Pretty sure I am out at that price! I think I can make do with the Foursquare 2004 cask strength to scratch my occasional Bajan itch! Wow, $185 is much higher than I was expecting. The article you linked calls it a "collector's item" and it seems that's exactly how Mount Gay is marketing it. My guess it this is just their normal XO at cask strength, but I suppose it's possible that it's extra-aged or honey barrels and they're just using the XO name because consumers are familiar with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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