Refined Vices

Utility Separator

Mount Gay XO

Emerging from the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, the coral island of Barbados has symbolized luxury, glamour and revelry for centuries.

This haven of white sand, sun-drenched fields of sugar cane and cascades of the purest crystalline water is also the birthplace of rum. Mount Gay Rum, the finest, oldest brand of rum in existence, has been produced on Barbados with passion and unparalleled excellence since 1703.

Expertly fashioned from rich sugar cane and with the pristine, coral-filtered water native to the island, Mount Gay Rum is a sumptuous, inimitable expression of the Barbadian art of living.

 

MOUNT GAY RUM EXTRA OLD: With Age Comes Perfection

From Mount Gay Rum’s precious reserves comes Extra Old, an opulent blend of the finest aged spirits.

Slowly matured in Kentucky oak, this artfully crafted rum is the fruit of a unique, centuries-old distillation process.

The result is one of the most award-winning rums in the world, a spirit for the most demanding of connoisseurs. Brilliantly luminescent, Extra Old has a luxuriously complex bouquet and an exceedingly smooth, lingering finish.

Its rich oak character is balanced to perfection with notes of ripe banana and toast, followed by vanilla, pastry and warm spice. A perfect example of the finesse that only time can bring, Extra Old is a true taste of paradise from the rum that invented rum.

So far the Press Release of the new labelling

Mount Gay Extra Old New LabelThe Extra Old is made of continue still (single distilled) and pot still (double distilled) rums. The second type provides the ripe banana note, key on the mount gay tasting notes. At Mount Gay they say:

“We use the best molasses from the Caribbean and the water used for making rums is the purest you can have, naturally filtered through the coral limestone of Barbados.”

The bottle really looks great. More and more you can see Rum in beautiful bottles. The industry is really working on the Premium market now. The bottle is specially made for Mount Gay. The bottom is real thick and you can read the words “perfected by tradition” on it.

When we go up we can see a black label with the island of Barbados on it. This is in the style they always work with. A star shows where a part of the distillery is. This is not the place where they really distil the spirit; this is the museum.

The distilling is done on the far north of the island. You can see the correct place on very old labels. The museum was put here, because the big “love boats” arrive nearby in the harbour. Now tourist can visit Mount Gay without having to drive to the other side of the Island first. You can see on the label that the alcohol percentage is 43 %.

Above the label you can see the words “since 1703” with a crest in the middle written in glass. This is the oldest date in the world that is connected with Rum, and it is connected to Mount Gay.

On the top of the bottle you can see a banderol with again the year 1703 on it.

This Extra Old Rum exists for many years already and has gained many awards such as International Spirits Challenge, Los Angeles Spirits Competition, Beverage Tasting Institute, Wine Enthusiast and San Francisco Spirits Challenge.

With the new label also comes a new slogan: The Rum that invented Rum.

This refers to the fact that Mount Gay is the oldest Rum distillery in the world.

I have to mention that Hugues Marié(International Brand Manager of Mount Gay Rum Remy Cointreau Group) assured me that really only the outside is different, not the inside. I met Hugues together with Chesterfield Browne in London on the UK Rum Fest 2008. They will keep me posted with new Press releases in the future.

I hope this Rum is coming to the Netherlands soon.

Article courtesy of René van Hoven, RumPages

Refined Vices Rum Reviews:
Mount Gay Extra Old
Mount Gay Eclipse

Relevant articles:
Mount Gay 1703 The Superlative of Rum
Mount Gay Rum Club

Newsletter

Advertisement

The Whisky Exchange

Master of MaltBuy fine spirits from Master of Malt