Lord Nelson’s Spiced Rum Liqueur represents the first liqueur which I have reviewed on the site.  Well the first drink which is actually labelled as a liqueur anyway…….

Produced as a Naval Tribute to Lord Nelson (myth states that his body was preserved in rum for his final journey home) this is another product from the Hebridean Liqueur Company for me to review.

Despite not featuring any rum liqueurs to date I have reviewed a Hebridean Liqueur product before.  Confused?  Don’t be I shall of course explain.

The Hebridean Liqueur Company have produced another tribute with a naval theme.  Back in 2011 they set about finding a rum to celebrate (and I find this slightly odd for a Scottish based company) the Queens Golden Jubilee.  The result was The Anicent Mariner 16 Year Old Caroni rum, which as plenty is still readily available slipped under the radar (they initially did not label it as Caroni rum and have only recently added a sticker to indicate this).  I reviewed it here.

Unsurprisingly to anyone who has tried Caroni rums, this Spiced Liqueur does not have Caroni rum as its base.  Instead it has a blend of Demerara rums.  Caramel and spices are added.

It is available in 5cl and 50cl bottles.  Both bottles are tall with a long neck and square body.  As you can see Nelson adorns the front of the bottle.  The 50cl bottles come with a box with the same presentation of the bottle.  The liqueur is aimed squarely at the birthday and Christmas market.  The liqueur comes in at a very respectable 20% ABV and a bottle will set you back around £25.  It is frequently reduced on Amazon and bulk purchases can reduce the price should you get addicted to this!

I often associate liqueurs with people who don’t really drink and the elderly.  However, I will be honest this has interested me for some time now.

I’m quite surprised by the liqueur in the glass as it is nowhere as viscous as I was expecting.  In fact it just looks like regular rum a nice golden brown.

The nose is as expected very sweet rich caramel, toffee and wafts of that distinctive El Dorado type Demerara rum.  It has hints of cloves and some nice spiced notes such as cardamom.

Tasting the Lord Nelson’s reveals it as a very sweet (one glass only kind of drink) almost cloying drink.  Very much an after dinner digestif or nightcap.  Despite the overwhelming sweetness you still get plenty of nice spiced notes which add complexity to the drink – clove, a little spice a Cinnamon like note.  There is very slight heat to this drink and due to the caramel and added sugar it is silky smooth.

It is too sweet for my tastes – I would have preferred less sugar and more of the complex spiced notes – ginger, cardamom a bit of clove are all there but struggle to overcome the sugar rush which overwhelms this drink.

I haven’t tried a lot of liqueurs especially rum liqueurs but whilst this goes does pleasantly enough I doubt I would ever seek out a full size bottle of this.  I’ll give it a very preliminary score based on my lack of experience in this department but don’t be surprised if this score changes.

I’ve reviewed it based on it being a Rum Liqueur with no prejudices or pretences in it being anything else.  I suspect it is slightly better than average but I can’t help feeling that with less sickly sugariness it could have been better.