Rum Journal: Barbados’ Doorly’s XO Rum
Barbados is a land of many rums, many of which never make it beyond the shores of the island.
Sure, there are Mount Gay and Cockspur, but the English-speaking Caribbean’s rum capital is full of small-batch rums with interesting names and unusual flavour profiles.
That takes us to Doorly’s, a rum with more than eight decades of rum-making heritage but little repute outside of Barbados and, to a certain extent, the UK.
The rum, which is produced by the Foursquare Distillery in St Phillip, is marked by the blue macaw on the front of the bottle.
What makes Doorly’s special is its aging — it’s a blend of rums between six and 12 years old, but the real selling point where that aging happens – in Oloroso sherry casks.
That’s something that’s starting to make its way into the rum world, most notably with the terrific Dos Maderas PX 5+5, the world’s best sherry-finished rum.
The sherry gives Doorly’s a fascinating flavour profile, sweet but hearty, velvety but not overwhelming.
Doorly’s is inescapably Bajan, but it also represents a departure from the country’s typical taste — making that it one of the best rums you can buy from Barbados.
— CJ
