Bounty Spiced Spirit Drink. Today’s review of Bounty is brought to you by St Lucia Distillers. This is not the Bounty brand that is produced by Rum Co. of Fiji.

The two brands seem to co-exist without any litigation – I’m not sure how you could or would go about trademarking something as generic as Bounty. I’m sure if you could Mars would have been onto both these rum companies by now.

The Bounty brand from St Lucia Distillers is one that has always interested me. It is only over the past 5 or so years that the brand has been readily available in the UK. There are a number of rums in the portfolio Regular, Dark, Flavoured and this Spiced offering.

From what I can gather Bounty is produced with column only distillates. Unlike the slightly more expensive Chairman’s Reserve range which is a blend of Pot and Column distilled rums.

I can understand and have tasted the difference between the Regular Bounty rums and Chairman’s Reserve Original. However, I am a little puzzled by the release of a Bounty Spiced Spirit Drink. This, like Chairman’s Reserve Spiced is a Spiced Rum.

It is bottled at 40% ABV. Which is more than respectable for a Spiced offering. A quick dunk with the hydrometer reveals around 12g/L of additives. So quite why they have denoted it as a Spirit Drink on the label I’m not sure. Being over cautious to not fall foul of the EU rulings perhaps. Or maybe I have missed something recently. Let me know if I have.

There isn’t an abundance of information regarding Bounty Spiced Spirit Drink. I know its a fairly young (probably no more than 2 years old) column distilled rum base. The spices used seem similar, if not the same as those used in the more expensive Chairman’s Reserve Spiced.

As you can see from my review of Chairman’s Reserve Spiced it is for me the black sheep of the family. I really do not get on with it. Having said that, it is more due to my own personal dislike of Cinnamon flavours than anything I would consider “wrong” with that rum. For once I couldn’t see past my own personal tastes. Though, I do feel it may well be overly forward in the Cinnamon department. Thus making it too sweet.

Bounty Spiced Spirit Drink has an infusion of vanilla and cinnamon with macerated bark of Richeria Grandis locally known as “Bois Bande.” The bark’s potent qualities gives rum an exotic and authentic “Lucian” spiced rum experience. So they tell me anyway……

In the UK a 70cl bottle of Bounty Spiced Spirit Drink will set you back around £22-23. Chairman’s Reserve Spiced is now typically around £28-30. So the price difference isn’t huge.

In the glass Bounty Spiced Spirit Drink presents itself as a fairly standard “gold” rum. Its noted on the bottle that it contains caramel colour.

On the nose Bounty Spiced Spirit Drink is quite light. It’s not as sickly sweet or pungent as some Spiced Rums. It definitely gives more a Spiced aura than a Sugared one. Which is often the problem. It smells like Christmas Cake the Cinnamon like notes are actually quite pared back and are pretty nice. There is a note of vanilla and some caramel but its not sickly sweet. It genuinely feels “Spiced”. I honestly can’t nose a great deal of the rum. Again suggesting this is a fairly young column distillate.

Nose wise its okay but its not hugely complex and not massively “rummy”.

Sipped neat its fairly smooth with a refreshing alcohol burn. Again highlighting that there is a 40% rum at the base of this spirit. One that hasn’t been engulfed with sugar and sweeteners. Which is a lot less than some “Premium” Rums out there……..

Again I’m getting those Cinnamon spices, along with some Nutmeg and a hint of banana. Neat it is quite pleasant but the finish is very short and quite astringent. This is something than could be easily sipped but its probably not the best way to enjoy this.

Mixed with cola I notice a bit more of the Spices – the cola seems to enhance rather than “dilute” the flavours. The Cinnamon and Nutmeg notes pair up nicely alongside some light vanilla and some banana. I’m also getting a bit more of a rum vibe now.

When you see how expensive some Spiced Rums are nowadays this feels like a bit of an outlier. It is noticeably a superior product to the likes of Captain Morgan Spiced Gold, Kraken and Dead Man’s Fingers.

Yet it occupies a similar price point. I would have to re-try Chairman’s Reserve Spiced to see how it compares to that. However, it seems to be about the best Spiced Rum I have tried in this price bracket. It is similar in terms of the “lightly spiced” approach to Foursquare Spiced Rum but that is pushing beyond the £30 mark nowadays.

If you want a light slightly sweeter mixer for the weekend you can do a lot worse than this. Overall its not bad at all.

If you are curious in the Bounty brand than Amazon currently have a few miniatures available for £4 with next day delivery via Prime. So a good way to try the brand.