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Cruzan Aged Dark Rum Review

cruzan-dark-rumThis week we’re taking a look at Cruzan Aged Dark Rum, a rum that retails for roughly USD $12 in a 750ml redesigned bottle (40% ABV). We’re bringing in some molasses based rum with cost consciousness in mind. Don’t expect the huge complexities you would see in a Blue Cane Rhum like Depaz but you’re also saving yourself roughly $38 dollars by choosing this alternative.

Cruzan, pronounced “Cru-Shun,” is known in the industry as one of the de-facto standard rum selections and offers many great flavored rums for a reasonable price. This $12 Dark Rum has a dark gold “worn penny” coloring and presents itself well in the fairly new bottle design. So, considering it looks like a dark rum should we should move on to the next phase… the scent.

Never underestimate an alcohol, always smell it to gather all the essences and efforts put forth by the brand. Utilize your sense of smell and gather in the slightly spicy notes of Cruzan Aged Rum ending with hints of caramel candy. The smell is light on the nose, requiring you to really dig deep and put your nose in the glass to gather all its notes.

Sipping the liquid extends the scents to the next level, by adding a bit of vanilla, cracked white pepper spice with a slightly sour mid-palate transition which fades quickly into a warm vanilla and nutty licorice finish. Cruzan impresses with its low levels of sweetness and mild levels of alcohol bite considering the price point. Most lower cost alcohols tend to be harshly overbearing in the alcohol department or utilize thick sweetness or over-oaked flavors to burn off the alcohol attack; Cruzan does none of these things and remains clean throughout the experience.

Cruzan‘s Aged Dark Rum has a great thick viscosity which compliments the slight sweet vanilla flavors. It would be difficult to detect the true viscosity if the alcohol taste were beating down the palate with their pikes. While Cruzan Aged Dark Rum is a fine sipping rum it does lack some of the complexities found in more expensive alternatives. It becomes a one-trick-pony when searching for new flavors but that’s not where Cruzan Dark Rum would play best.

Cocktails.

Cruzan would find a warm home in the contents of a great cocktail. Smoothing out the Zombie cocktail and other Polynesian drinks in short time will raise the eyebrows of the consumer. The flavor profile of this rum will reflect its quality upon any drink it mingles with, leaving your guests impressed by your cocktail making prowess. If you’re looking for a Cruzan for sipping, you’ll want to look more towards their Single Barrel alternative and keep Cruzan Aged Dark Rum for drinks that call for a darker rum that plays with fruits and juices.

You’ll want to keep a bottle of Cruzan Aged Rum handy for when your cocktails call for “Dark” rum. This bottle is a cost effective way to make sure your cocktails stay top-tier.

[Learn more about Cruzan at MixDrinkipedia]

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5 Comments

  • Reply
    Cruzan Aged Dark Rum | Dark Rum Blog
    June 6, 2009 at 10:52 am

    […] the review at Everyday Drinkers. Share and […]

  • Reply
    GinRummy
    September 11, 2011 at 6:39 pm

    I just tried this one…I do like this as a sipping rum. Cruzan has come up with a wonderful thing here: a rum worthy of sipping, for those of us who like to do a lot of sipping, but with a smaller Rum-sipping budget. Sure you can find a better sipping rum…but NOT at a better price. Sit back and enjoy this one…the aroma, the easy on the palate smoothness…you owe it to yourself to try it.

  • Reply
    Lady Bean
    November 6, 2013 at 4:56 am

    I really never entered into the world of rum until this summer when I built a tiki bar and needed lots of it to make great traditional summertime, beach, tiki bar, tropical, Polynesian, etc. cocktails. Last summer I fell in love with coconut rum. I originally tried Parrot Bay 90 proof coconut and was hooked. When I found it, they just had regular coconut rum so I bought a bottle but it did cost a lot for me at the time. Then, someone at the liquor store turned me into Calico Jack coconut. They said most of the bar tenders tend to buy that cause it’s still a pretty great coconut rum for a lot less, especially for mixing. I started with the skinny bottles and worked my way up to the big ones when they go on sale and find they last SO much longer! So, after I completed my Tiki Bar this summer I needed lots of rum for mixing drinks at a fairly low cost. I went with a cheaper brand of white rum in a big jug cause it wouldn’t really matter and it would last longer. When I decided to make Mai Tais, the recipe I found called for dark rum and white rum. Stumped, I went to the liquor store and the clerk there really didn’t know what they were talking about. Then another joined in and said conflicting stuff. There were dark rums that were REALLY dark, like root beer and would expect them to be syrupy and thicker and amber coloured ones.Then there were the spiced ones. Meanwhile my friend was getting impatient waiting for my to pick something. Long story short I went with a nice cheap bottle of Cruzan. I didn’t use it at the party but later realized it’s a pretty popular brand! It also tastes very good. So I am glad I fell totally at random into the right thing first. Great quality and taste for my budget. Liquor stores should have literature available about different brands and stuff for ppl like me who don’t know what is what. But I am hooked on this stuff and will stick to it. Now that I know it classifies as a true dark rum. My fear was that it wasn’t dark enough to count. Now I know! Love the commercial with the turtle.

  • Reply
    ryan
    June 30, 2014 at 3:43 pm

    I got this at the liquor store because it was on sale, and it has given me terrible hangovers. I get a headache even while drinking it. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll drink the rest.

    • Reply
      dschommer
      June 30, 2014 at 11:29 pm

      interesting, then any rum should exhibit the same consequences, nothing special about Cruzan that would be any different

    Leave a Reply to dschommer Cancel Reply