Overview
Brand: Tiki Easy
Origin: Three Ring Brewing Co.
Still: Pot
Age: 4 years
Finish: ex-Bourbon
ABV: 40%
It's not everyday that your local bar has their own private label rum. Lucky, then, for the tiki aficionados in Asheville, North Carolina, as their local tropical haunt Tiki Easy has such a thing.
My fiancée was visiting family in Asheville and picked a bottle up for me; I'm mostly relying on the label, since there isn't further info online.
Tiki Easy Barrel-Aged Rum is a pot distilled rum, presumably from a base of molasses, produced by an undisclosed distiller in Florida. The rum was aged in ex-Bourbon casks for 4 years before bottling at 40% ABV.
Appearance
Gold, medium-low viscosity
Nose
Rotten banana, golden raisins, honeysuckle, candied grapefruit, vanilla
Palate
Rotten banana, pineapple, vanilla, honey syrup, grapefruit
Finish
Medium-long, warm, slightly fruity; oak, vanilla, honey, rotten banana, hint of black licorice
Rating: 7/10
Summary
If you had given me Tiki Easy's Barrel-Aged Rum in a blind sample, I would have labeled it Jamaican; perhaps a lighter marque from Worthy Park. This isn't incredibly complex, but it fits the bill for cocktails requiring a young rum with character.
Rotten bananas, pineapple, and vanilla burst out when nosing and tasting the rum, augmented by golden raisins and honeysuckle. A slightly bitter and citrusy note in the form of grapefruit lingers in the back palate. The trailing end of Tiki Easy's rum offers oak, plenty of rotten banana, and a hint of natural black licorice.
If this rum is indeed from Florida, hats off to the distiller, whover they are. They have managed to capture a lot of the essence of a funky, cocktail-oriented rum, and made a great product.