Gosling's Black Seal Rum 1.75L

Gosling's traces its origins to 1806, when James Gosling, from an English wine and spirits merchant family, set sail for America but ended up stranded in Bermuda after his ship's charter ran out following ninety-one days at sea. Recognizing an opportunity, he opened a shop selling wine and spirits in St. George's. His descendants renamed the business Gosling Brothers in 1857, and the company remains a family concern eight generations later, now recognized as the oldest surviving business in Bermuda.

Because the island has never grown sugarcane or operated its own distillery, Black Seal is blended entirely from rum imported from the Caribbean, combining distillates from both pot and continuous column stills. The rum ages between three and six years in charred, re-charred American oak barrels that previously held bourbon, a process the Gosling family developed through years of trial and error before settling on the final recipe still used today.

The finished rum pours a deep, dark amber with a reddish hue. The nose carries butterscotch, vanilla, and caramel, layered with banana and warm baking spice. On the palate, sweet caramel and vanilla meet raisin, prune, and dark berries, with hints of licorice and leather. The finish runs long and smooth, closing with a slightly peppery warmth.