Bacardi Major Lazer. A Limited Edition rum from the Puerto Rican rum powerhouse. Prior to this review I had no idea who/what Major Lazer is/are. For some reason I pictured some kind of dancehall/reggae musician like Shaggy or Beanie Man. Quite why I have no real idea.

Major Lazer are (Wikipedia tells me) “an electronic music trio composed of record producer Diplo, and DJs Jillionaire and Walshy Fire. It’s music spans numerous genres, mixing reggae with dancehall, reggaeton, soca, house and moombahton (no clue either).”

So it turns out I wasn’t that far wrong. They are definitely not my bag music wise but they seem to be quite popular. Fortunately I’m not require to have my finger on the pulse of Electronic music and “virtual” bands to keep this blog going. So we’ll switch our focus back on to this rum.

In all honesty the “Limited Edition” notation on this rum is probably a lot less limited than us in the rum community are used to. When we refer to limited we can get down to literally just a few hundred bottles of a single cask rum. I’m more than sure that this release will have more bottles than a lot of producers “standard” out turn of their commercially available product.

I wasn’t expecting to find a bottle of this in the UK. However, Amazan had stocks of it and it was priced at £20 for a 40% ABV 70cl bottle. Using the new(ish) Bacardi presentation the rum is presented in the tall bar style bottle with a modern black and gold colour scheme. Other than Amazon I haven’t seen this for sale in the UK at all.

The rear label is actually a recipe for a cocktail “The Mississippi Rum Punch” but it has been stuck over and existing label. The glue is too strong for me to pull it off and read the label beneath – its just tearing both. The Revenue and Customs sticker is also not incorporated into the label which makes me think Amazon have merely got a limited stock of this rum. I don’t think an official UK release will be forthcoming.

Curiosity got the better of me though and I thought £20 wasn’t a bad price to pay. Bacardi get a hard time. They are an easy target – a bit like Don Papa became around a year or so ago. I’ve never been astounded by Bacardi but at the same time the rum that gets knocked the most the White Superior is actually a lot better than some of the “trendy” whites that get hype in certain circles. I’ve no real issue with Bacardi I don’t think they offer a bad product for the price. The only issue I have is that once you go past the Bacardi 8 you no longer get much value for money.

The label states – A Partnership between Bacardi and Major Lazer “The sound of rum is more than music – it’s a cultural movement join us as we make the world smaller by making the party bigger” Ok so what do we actually have in the glass once all the “hype” is forgotten about? Well the other side of the label states the following

Crafted between our Maestro de Ron & Major Lazer

“This Limited Edition is a rich blend of 3 year old Amber rums filtered before and after Tropical Ageing – Embodies notes of Tropical Fruit, Cedar and Vanilla with a warm silky finish”

Which if you have been reading Bacardi’s latest “opinion” on the Gargano Classification shows how they wish to present rum. No reference given to the fact the rum is produced on column stills.

An additional piece of information on the rum is that is has been imported from Puerto Rico – so it is not the juice from the Bahamas (unless it was only bottled in Puerto Rico).

All the information I have provided on the actual rum (other than the column distilled part) are on the bottle so I haven’t had to dig around. Fair play to Bacardi.

In the glass this three year old blend has clearly been coloured. It’s that familiar “rum” colour we expect to see of our “gold” or “amber” rums. Once again you can’t give Bacardi too much stick for this as nearly all producers are guilty of the offence.

It’s a dark brown colour with flashes of yellow/gold. The nose is familiar. Its not unpleasant and recognisable as a Bacardi product. Light, slightly floral, with wafts of what I can only describe of sweet tobacco. There is a nice aroma of vanilla and some young vibrant wood – its notes cedar on the bottle so we’ll go with that. There’s even a little bit of minty bubblegum towards the end giving it a freshness.

It’s nowhere near as boozy as the Bacardi Gold or Carta Oro. Luckily its not as thin and insipid as the Reserva Limitada. It’s still got a bit of beef to its, overall softer profile.

Travel Retail or Duty Free isn’t really the greatest place to try rums. However, the Bacardi Reserva which has been floating around Airport retail for some years is a rare exception. Reasonably priced, whilst at the same time interesting and complex enough to mix and sip. If I had been given this rum blind I would have assumed, almost immediately it was that bottling.

Now as a sipper this isn’t brilliant. Some of the notes on the nose do not carry through to the tasting. It’s a touch to “nice” even with the relative youth of the rum blend. It’s reasonably sweet with nice vanilla but its the oak and tobacco that lift it. It works really well in a Cuba Libre with lots of crushed ice and lime. It’s a really good “rum and coke” rum.

Marketing gimmicks and all that nonsense aside this is a really good value product from Bacardi. I don’t know how close it is to the actual Bacardi Reserva, but it is definiteily giving me a very similar impression. It’s the most Cuban tasting of their rums I have tried thus far.

I’m really enjoying this rum and at the price I don’t think you can knock it at all.There is a touch of sugar/additives at 8g/L which is maybe smoothing the edges out but it works and is not detrimental to the overall experience.

I’ve already Amazon-ed another bottle. I’ve a few more expensive “Latin” style rums up for review that cost three times this. They aren’t as good as this.

Knock it when you’ve tried it is what I would say for this one. A “Major” surprise. Maybe Foursquare Distillery will release an Inspiral Carpets inspired rum one day….