By Alexander Britell

One of the most beautiful — and perhaps most understated — things about rum is its power to transport.

The romantic energy of rum can take you from wherever you’re indulging to a far-off Caribbean island somewhere, to the waving palms of a sugar cane field, to an idyllic beach bar.

It’s something that’s particular to rum — because the simple truth is that few people sit in a cold apartment in New York City in January dreaming of being whisked away to Tennessee.

That unique, transportive power of rum is at least partly behind the Caribbean’s newest rum brand: Soggy Dollar Rum.

It’s the brainchild of Jerry O’Connell, the proprietor of perhaps the most legendary beach bar in the Caribbean, the Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands.

The bar (which gets its name from the bills that would get “soggy” as travelers waded thorugh the water onto the beach from their boats) has become a Mecca of sorts for Caribbean aficionados, an unmissable stop on any sailing jaunt in the Virgin Islands, a place often serenaded by Kenny Chesney in his odes to the green-hilled islands of the northeastern Caribbean.

So it was only natural to make such a place accessible from a glass.

The new Soggy Dollar Rum has two expressions: a “dark rum” and a spiced rum.

The Dark expression is a blend of Caribbean distillates from Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Barbados aged in American oak casks.

And while its natural home will be in, say, the “painkiller” for which the Soggy Dollar is famous, we wanted to know if the company had produced more than just a mixing rum with Soggy Dark.

So what’s it like?

Soggy Dark has an aroma of vanilla, caramel and a hint of nutmeg.

The flavor profile starts off peppery, smoothing out into hints of vanilla, dark chocolate, oak and pecan.

This blend is balanced but robust, hinting at a fiery, almost navy-style edge.

What they’ve done is create a very drinkable, sippable dark rum, one that works quite well on the rocks and even more beautifully in a painkiller. (And yes, it even works neat, too).

But, most importantly, it’s a rum that reminds you of the Soggy Dollar, that makes you wish you were on the soft sand of White Bay.

And, even if for just a few minutes on a cold winter evening, it’s a rum that will take you there.

Soggy Dollar Dark Rum

Rum Journal Review: 90 Points

For more info, visit Soggy Dollar.

— CJ