Chairman's Reserve Rum

Chairman's Reserve is the rum that put Saint Lucia on the map. Laurie Barnard, chairman of St. Lucia Distillers — the island's only distillery, founded in 1931 in the Roseau valley — spent the 1990s adding pot stills to a column-still operation, and in 1999 created a blend under his own title that made English-style rum from a small island a global reference. The Original is that blend: rum from the distillery's Coffey column and John Dore and Vendome pot stills, aged separately in ex-bourbon barrels around five years and married, bottled at 40% ABV. The Lone Caner named it a Key Rum of the World — enormously affordable, findable almost anywhere, and the one from which the whole Chairman's range descends, holding its end up even at standard strength. Drinkhacker found ample hogo on the nose with burnt match, cooked fruit, and coconut husk, then a bold, aggressive palate where the funk gives way to green banana, coconut, apricot, and fleeting florals. Rum Ratings' drinkers: caramel, banana, lasting warmth, easy drinking, Bajan-like with a stronger pot-still influence. Expect a mahogany pour with raisin, tobacco, honey, and vanilla, a rich palate of grilled tropical fruit and spice, and a long finish. Honest note: at 40% and around $30 it's a value bottle, and enthusiasts chase the 1931 and Legacy — but this is the original. For a Rum Old Fashioned, a Mai Tai, or neat, it's Saint Lucia's benchmark.

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