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Cassario Golden Rum. I reviewed a “Gold Rum” from the Cassario brand a few years ago.It was 2022 to be precise. Back then, discount supermarket ALDI were offering a 7 Year Old Costa Rican rum at £17.99. In the current “cost of living” crisis they are now stocking a NAS “Barbados Golden Rum” from an un-named distillery at £16.99.

This rum is part of their “Specially Selected” range (more on that later) and at first glance would appear to be a subtle nod to the Mount Gay style bottlings. It reminds me of their “flask” style slightly stubby 3/4 bottles.

The Cassario range has expanded into various Spiced/Flavoured rums and liqueurs. I’ll be honest, whilst I kind of pride myself on reviewing literally everything, I have cut down considerably on the amount of Spiced and especially Flavoured rums.

It takes a little more now, for me to review a Spiced or Flavoured rum. The constant slew of these products means its impossible to keep up. Many of these “brands” are pretty much fly by night attempts at a cash grab with minimal long-term objectives. So not really worth my time.

Cassario Barbados Golden Rum comes in a 70cl bottle and is only available at ALDI. As mentioned earlier it is priced at £16.99. So it is a little more expensive than the Standard White and Dark supermarket rums. It is bottled at a fairly respecatable 40% ABV.

There aren’t that many Supermarkets that are producing a more “up market” rum option nowadays. Most offer a pretty underwhelming White and Dark rum. I think they are largely the same – generic, cheap, unaged/barely aged Trinidad bulk rum. The difference between the White and Dark is the amount of E150 pumped into the Dark………they all taste roughly (if not exactly) the same.

Sainsbury’s used to offer a Dark Jamaican Rum as their standard “Dark” bottling but that has long been replaced. They also had a “Taste the Difference” 8 Year Old Trinidad Rum is also long gone.It was pretty decent at the time and was around £14!

LIDL have knocked out a few more “interesting” rums in the past few years as part of the Bengalo range. That said there has been little else of interest coming from the Supermarkets.

The rum selection available in most Supermarkets remains a mixed bag – with nothing really genuinely “Premium” or overly exciting. There are a couple of £30-35 bottles that are decent enough and a few cheaper offerings such as Duppy White and Woods. Generally though I still find most of my rum is bought online.

I don’t have any information on Cassario Golden Rum. Nothing on the label to indicate anything really beyond it being Barbados Rum. Mount Gay don’t sell bulk rum or offer bottlings to other retailers. Foursquare do sell bulk rum to EA Scheer but I am not sure they sell enough to stock a multinational Supermarket rum. St Nicholas Abbey are still in their infancy.

So it only really leaves our good friends over at West Indies Rum Distillery. They produce Malibu so they definitely have the capacity to supply “bulk” rum to ALDI. Directly or indirectly.

I’m 99% certain that this will be WIRD distillate in the bottle. It could be a mix of Pot/Column or just all Column. I don’t know the information isn’t available.

So lets crack on with the review.

In the glass we have (drum roll please) a Golden coloured rum. Shock Horror!

Nothing much to expand upon – I could whirl it around in the glass and start talking about “legs” etc and how viscous it is etc. But I certainly won’t…………

On the nose – it is pretty fiery. I’m getting some pretty strong boozy fumes. Nail varnish and a touch of petrol. It’s making my nose twitch a fair bit to be honest even at just 40% ABV.

To be honest I personally do find Mount Gay Eclipse a little “rough and ready” and quite boozy. Is this after a similar profile? I’m not sure as this does seem quite harsh and I’m not getting much depth.

A little time in the glass the “boozy” notes calm down a little. I’m getting a sweet note. That said it is very bitter – like Saccharin. It smells a bit like the after taste of a Saccharin sweetener (yes I know that doesn’t really make sense).

It smells pretty “hot” but no real wood or spicy barrel integration. I don’t think this is much older than 2-3 years. If it is then it hasn’t been aged very well…….

My hopes are not particularly high in terms of “sipping” this rum. I’m pretty sure this isn’t going to offer many surprises.

Now I am not one for the softer sweetened rums but I have to say that this sipped neat is best described as a “Hot Mess” and not in a good way!

It’s pretty brutal to be honest. Masses of strong tasting heated alcohol. It almost tastes warm its so fiery.

It’s harsh and slightly metallic. There are very small hints of vanilla and that bitter saccharin note but I certainly will not be sipping this beyond this review. Finish wise you are just left with a nasty burn of alcohol in the mouth with some wood but nothing pleasant. It’s quite long on the finish but I’d rather it wasn’t.

I wouldn’t say it tastes entirely unaged but whatever ageing has gone on has not helped much. It has a very whisky heavy profile. It has a lot of what I don’t like in Scotch Whisky going on. It’s harsh and uncouth and very difficult to drink. It is just simply not enjoyable.

I’m wondering if I will even be able to drink this mixed? It really is that bad……..

I’m going to go with a very generous glug of cola and a not so generous glug of this firewater………

In all honesty one it is mixed it does calm it down a fair bit. The really harsh notes are largely gone. Sadly, there isn’t a great deal of flavour. There’s some vanilla – which still tastes slightly bitter and some wood. I’d usually say “oak spices” but its not that complex. It’s a little flat and it has crucified my cola which is quickly going flat! What is this stuff?

It’s passable. It’s not the worst rum and cola I’ve ever had. That said I’ve had some proper stinkers. Overall its not that much worse than Mount Gay Eclipse. Then again I don’t rate that either……..

According to the Hydrometer this hasn’t been dosed. I’m skeptical about that as the bitter saccharin note suggests something other than rum and water are in this bottle. Something which perhaps the Hydrometer can’t pick up.

I mentioned earlier in the review that this has been “Specially Selected”. I don’t know who selected this but I would suggest they know little about rum. It’s a poor selection. I accept that at his price point the picking might have been slim. If that was the case don’t bother!

Even at £16.99 I’d give this one a swerve. Its far from great.