Copeland smugglers reserve, Double Wood

A friend pointed me towards Copeland a few years ago (it was the overproof that first caught my attention) and since then I’ve picked up every release they’ve put out. At this point, getting a new bottle from them feels less like a decision and more a reflex.

Copeland is a Northern Irish distillery based in Donaghadee, and their Smugglers’ Reserve range blends their own pot and column still rum with a rum from Barbados. The Double Wood takes that blend through two cask types (Kentucky bourbon barrels and French pinot noir casks) with part of the maturation happening in Barbados and the rest back on the County Down coast.

The bottles themselves are hard to miss – matte black, wax dipped, with labels that earn a second look.

Facts & Figures.

ABV: 40%

Country: Northern Ireland & Barbados

Age: Unknown

Cask: Kentucky Bourbon & French Pinot Noir

Still: Pot & Column

Price: £32.50

Distillery: Copeland & Undisclosed

On the nose.

This opens with a healthy dose of banana funk that you’d be forgiven for associating with Jamaica rather than Barbados. Spiky wood is prominent but softened with vanilla. Ginger develops towards the end (more like a ginger beer than root or powder).

On the palate.

This isn’t as funk forward as you’d expect from the nose (or other bottles in the collection) but there is a nod to the banana funk on the finish. My first thought on sipping this is that it’s a lot think than the nose suggested with very little wood influence jumping out. There’s some typical Barbados pineapple/coconut present alongside some rather hot ginger and cracked black pepper.

5/10 – An interesting rum but not one I’ll reach for all of the time. At this price it’s a no brainer.