Mount Gay Black Barrel

A lot of great rum comes from Barbados, and Mount Gay is a stellar example of this. Master blender Trudiann Branker recently made some significant changes to the Black Barrel expression: it’s aged for three to seven years, has a bit more pot still distillate in the blend, and the finish in heavily charred ex-bourbon barrels increased from one to six months, resulting in an even more flavorful rum.

"Finished in bourbon barrels with a heavy char, as opposed to the typical practice of finishing in a used cask," says Shannon Mustipher, bartender and author of “Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails,” "It has more pepper and spice than the other rums from Mount Gay.”

Mount Gay claims to be the oldest rum producer in the world, dating to 1703. Based in Barbados, it produces a range of column- and pot-still rums, including the top-end 1703 bottling.