I'd been avoiding buying CSB for some time as it is getting toward the upper end of my preferred $20-30 price zone. But the many reviews finally wore me down, I simply loved Cruzan's Estate Diamond (perhaps now discontinued, shit!), and yup, I bought one. And I'm glad I did.
I do like a nice sip of rum on certain mornings while Sue Sea sleeps in. I get a chance to watch the news, put my feet up and relax before the business of the day. On this particular day Sue Sea stumbled out, making her usual beeline for the coffeepot and exclaimed "So you're having pancakes this morning?". "What?", I replied "heck, no". Turns out she had smelled the wonderful aroma of vanilla throughout the house, and figured I was making my famous vanilla pancakes. Wrong.
It was Cruzan Estate Single Barrel. With no further ado...
Sue Sea
Me:Single Barrel comes in yet another attractive, pebble grained bottle and label with a nice sailing ship logo. The aroma was wonderful - an orange/apricot butter-cream vanilla-icing. Like baked brown sugar. Also a bit of pepper, butterscotch and toffee, and a hint of cherrywood or oak. Single Barrel tastes like its aroma - like an apricot vanilla cream icing, spicy, peppery and clovey. Its finish is nicely lingering, which I like, smooth and peppery.
Through their Estate Diamond (5 year) and Single Barrel, I have come to appreciate and respect Cruzan. Single Barrel is a fine rum. I found the aroma to be a pleasant deep and sweet apricot-vanilla, with a hint of leather and oak. Its taste is consistent and balanced with developing oak, pepper and an ending astringency. The finish is mixed, with early short pepper leading to a slightly sweet leathery aftertaste.
I can see this rum with a nice medium cigar, lit by a Chica with attitude (and back), lol. A good buy.
Rating (10 is best): 8.
Update!
This was a very early review, upon revisiting it (and the newer style bottle, a 6 or 7 at best, see here:
http://rumproject.com/rumforum//viewtopic.php?t=1014