Objective Notes

Very Smooth (on the RnD scale of Harsh-Smooth-Very Smooth-Extremely Smooth)

Cruzan 9 Spiced Rum’s golden-maple amber color results from two years in oak and the coloring affect the added spices have on the spirit.

[In reviewing Cruzan 9, R and D found ourselves in a rare situation where portions our evaluations varied considerably. So we agreed to disagree, and present below our individual tasting notes and opinions.]

Roger’s Tasting Notes: Vanilla or caramel notes are certainly up front and prominent followed by a blend of spices including cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, and cloves.  Initial taste reveals some warmth and a light body. Flavors discovered are the mix of the aromatic spices and caramel noted above along with oak, and a spicy combination of pepper, allspice, and a hint of ginger.  The finish is spicy, sweet, and long.

Dave’s Tasting Notes: Unmistakably Cruzan on the nose, with distinct aromas of vanilla up front, then far less pronounced come the nutmeg, clove and mace, with almost imperceptible hints of ginger, allspice, cinnamon.  The spices work nicely together but exhibit no individual character, although they aren’t disturbed by alcohol aromas.  A heavy sweet vanilla flavor dominates the initial taste as well, rendering the other spices insignificant and nearly impossible to discern.  Hopefully the other eight spices add a tiny measure complexity.  A medium weight, sugary body makes a pleasant delivery vehicle for the vanilla, and carries through to the long, medium-sweet vanilla finish.

Anecdotal Notes

Roger -  Cruzan is a large and respected distiller located on the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Criox. Cruzan distills a molasses wash in a five column still to produce very clean and light rums.  The nine spices, including allspice, vanilla, cinnamon, pepper, ginger, nutmeg, clove, mace, and juniper berry, are added after aging. When I heard that Cruzan was coming out with a spiced rum I was interested to see what they would come up with.

Dave – Several new spiced rums carefully entered the market in 2010, fortunately containing more sophisticated natural flavors than the attempts of a few years ago.  For Cruzan, known to produce smooth, slightly vanilla tasting rums, it should have been easy to produce an upscale spiced rum.

Taster’s Opinion

Roger – Cruzan 9 Spiced Rum is a quality product that’s widely available. With the spiced rum market ever expanding it’s nice to have a new spiced rum on the market that isn’t just a gimmicky marketing trend. With Cruzan you know you will get a quality product from its superior distillation production facilities resulting in very good aged rum to go along with the 9 spices added in for the complex layered flavor profile. Cruzan 9 is priced exceptionally well and is superior to many of its competitors. I like to enjoy it neat but I bet it would do well on the rocks and in a cocktail.

Dave - Anticipating the nine “heirloom” Caribbean spices called out on the label, I was expecting substantially more flavor, more complexity, and the spicy heat so characteristic and appealing about good Caribbean spiced rums.  As a sipping rum, or even a sophisticated spiced rum, Cruzan 9 disappoints.   Despite the eight other spices, Cruzan 9 simply delivers a vanilla bomb of a flavored rum that tastes all too similar to the other commodity cola accompaniments. However, if you are looking for an alternative to the Puerto Rican Pirate for mixing with your cola, then the vanilla-laden Cruzan 9 is worth a try.

Taster's Rating (10 is best):

Roger - 8.5 Flasks; Dave – 7.5 Flasks

Most recently tasted by: Roger and Dave in December, 2010 in RnD’s North and South Tasting Room USA.

*750ml unless otherwise stated.