Tiki Tasting: Stolen Overproof Rum

Overproof rum is one of the most important ingredients in a tiki-phile’s rum collection. Overproof rum is powerful – both in alcohol content and flavor – and it can make or break a drink by balancing out sweeter, fruitier ingredients or simply punching up the volume on the booze. We have a number of them in our collection and never hesitate to add another when we get the chance. Stolen Rum offered up a bottle of their Overproof to us to taste test and we couldn’t resist (not that we tried very hard, admittedly).

This rum is a limited edition product, a 123 proof Jamaican pot still rum that has aged for 6 years prior to bottling. While it is an overproof, it hasn’t reached the potency of a 151 and that means a couple of things. First, it means that you get more flavor in the rum and a little less heat from the alcohol. The rum is very flavorful, with a light molasses sweetness on the nose and a hint of roasted fruit. In the palate, the rum is multi-layered, with toasted coconut, burnt orange, caramel, vanilla and a backdrop of roasted tropical fruit flavors. It has a long finish that starts off on the sweet side and ends with a lingering peppery note that seems to clean your palate and ready it for another sip. For a Jamaican rum, it is not too “funky” and that seems like it’ll make the rum a little more versatile in the long run.

Second – and we’re coming back to the proof here – it means that all that flavor comes in a very smooth package. You might not guess that this rum is an overproof and our first urge was to make a rum old fashioned with it (which we did) to highlight its flavors with just a touch of sweetness. In all seriousness, this is an excellent overproof for mixing up complex cocktails or, if you’re a rum fanatic, sipping with a little ice.

Rum Rating: 4/5

Rum Rating Scale:
0/5 – Is this even rum?
1/5 – Bad. Not worth buying and not worth drinking
2/5 – Not that good, but could be covered up with mixers.
3/5 – Good, versatile rum.
4/5 – Great rum, with complex flavors that is outstanding on its own or in cocktails.
5/5 – Amazing rum. Don’t even think about covering it up with mixers.