Subscribe also Check out our forum and the new Review Browser.

Liquor Review: Bacardi Select

Published on February 26th, 2008 in Rum by Hunter

Bacardi Select Unless you’ve been living as a hermit in a cave sans contact with the outside world for the last fifty years or so, you’ve heard of Bacardi. Founded in 1862, Bacardi is the world’s largest privately held, family-owned spirits company, and they sell over 200 million bottles per year in 200 countries. Bacardi rums really gained popularity in the U.S. during prohibition. During this time, Facundo Bacardi was known to have invited Americans to “Come to Cuba and bathe in Bacardi rum.” I can only imagine how good that would sound if I were forced to be liquor-free by a cold and misguided government. Hell, I might have turned Communist as soon I read those glorious words.

Bacardi Select (previously known as Bacardi Black Label) is a blend of select aged rums that are charcoal filtered for smoothness before mellowing in oak barrels. It’s a dark amber in color and is medium-full bodied. They claim a very complex palate containing notes of caramel, toffee, honey, and even leather. The finish is supposed to be buttery and long with an oaky taste. That sounds pretty promising for a rum that will only cost you $17 for 750ml, so we put it through our BoozeBasher tests.

The smell of Bacardi Select is rather pungent. After a sniff, there is no doubt that the dark-colored liquid in the bottle contains alcohol. After repeated sniffings and a few burned nose hairs, some of the intricacies of the aroma, like the toffee and honey, become more apparent. However, the alcohol smell still overpowers everything. The taste of Bacardi Select on the rocks really runs along the same lines. All of the infused flavors mesh together and assault your taste-buds at the same time with a bit of a burn. There is just too much flavor up front, and the taste quickly gives way to an extremely long finish. This might be a good thing if the the rum were to finish as advertised. Unfortunately for Bacardi, it really doesn’t. I didn’t notice much if any butteriness in the finish, and the slight barrel taste was utterly consumed by a dirty metallic flavor that lingered far after the sip. The aftertaste just ruined the sipping experience for me because it made it taste like a cheap and unrefined rum. The taste is still far better than RonRico, but that’s not saying much. I wouldn’t recommend drinking Bacardi Select on the rocks.

Hoping for a good mixing experience, we mixed Bacardi Select with cola. The cola really didn’t do much to quell the dirty metallic taste. It took away some of the bite and burn, but it really just seemed to water down the beverage. The taste is adequate for a rum and cola, but you can make a much better one for about the same price using Flor de Caña Gold. I supposed mixing Bacardi Select makes it easier to drink, which is quite important for anyone looking to feel the happy tingle of intoxication.

A shining bright spot in the assessment of Bacardi Select is its ability to bring that happy tingle. In Select’s case, it’s more like a blissful numbness. This rum excels in the intoxication department, even for an 80-proof liquor. The drunk it gave me was very sloppy, and slurred speech was prevalent. The effects of this spirit were very similar to what I have come to expect from tequila. For all you kiddies out there, I wouldn’t recommend bringing this stuff to a frat party unless you feel like cleaning blood, broken sandals, and ripped pink polos up the next morning.

You definitely wouldn’t be happy helping with the cleanup efforts the next day if you partook in drinking a resonable amount of Bacardi Select with the soon-to-be-violent fraternity boys. The hangover for me was a total killer. My head felt as if it were being pounded with a massive sledgehammer. My mouth and throat were both so dry that it almost hurt, and the nausea had me fearing that I would soon be praying to a porcelain alter for most of the next day. This rum is a weekend beverage, plain and simple. Although Bacardi Select was an overall disappointment, the high drunkability factor and the consumable mixed taste might make it appealing to some drinkers. If you are craving some rum and a hardcore buzz, you may want to try Bacardi Select; just don’t say I didn’t warn you about the death that is sure to follow.

Sipability – 5.5

Mixability – 6.5

Drunkability – 8.0

Hangover-ability – 3.0

Bang for the Buck – 7.0

Overall - 6.0