Papa’s Pilar Sherry Cask Finished Rum Review: A Sweet Sip for Rum Lovers
Papa’s Pilar Sherry Cask Finished Rum Review: A Sweet Sip for Rum Lovers
On a recent weekend away in Key West, our friends brought back a bottle of Papa’s Pilar Sherry Cask Finished rum, hoping we still needed to review it. While we’re familiar with the Papa’s Pilar lineup, having tried the Blonde, Dark, and Lost Cask varieties, the Sherry Cask Finished was definitely on our list.
A Global Blend with a Sherry Finish
Every rum in the Papa’s Pilar collection begins with carefully sourced pot and column-distilled rums from around the globe. These rums are blended and aged in hand-selected barrels to create a “bold, well-traveled, and deeply nuanced” profile. Papa Hemingway wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Sherry Cask Finished rum blends rums from Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Florida, Venezuela, and Panama. The rums are aged using the solera method in bourbon barrels and port wine casks before spending time in Spanish Oloroso Sherry casks.
Oloroso Sherry, made in southern Spain’s Andalucía, is known for its nutty, caramelized characteristics. Aged through an oxidative process in a solera system, it develops complex notes of dried fruit and wood over time.
He Said: A Sweet, Sherry-Forward Rum
The nose is dominated by sherry, with notes of black cherry and a faint hint of oak. However, there’s also a slight alcohol note that caught me off guard. The nose is overall sweet and pleasant. On the palate, strong notes of coffee and sherry take center stage and linger for quite a while. I haven’t had a rum linger this long in recent memory. The palate is less sweet than the nose, and the oak notes vanish entirely. The finish is smooth and warming. It’s easy to see why our neighbors finished their bottle in just three days—this rum is dangerously easy to drink.
She Said: A Cappuccino-Like Sweetness
The rum’s rich, reddish hue clings to the glass with slow lacing. On the nose, I pick up vanilla, sherry, brown sugar, and black plums. Initially, I raised my eyebrows at Clint’s comment about coffee on the palate, but I’ll admit it’s there—a coffee with cream and sugar kind of taste, maybe even a cookie to dunk. While I don’t get the long warming finish, the sweetness certainly lingers. As I take more sips, the coffee note transitions to a cappuccino.
We also tried this rum over ice, as suggested by the producer. Clint believes it brings out more toffee notes, while I think it mutes the sweetness, transforming it into more of a sipping rum.
Overall Verdict
Papa’s Pilar Sherry Cask Finished rum is a very sweet rum with minimal nuance. If you enjoy sweet-forward rums, this could be a perfect choice for you. However, for us, we’d rather spend the $50 price point on a rum with more complexity.
Rating: 3.75 out of 5
About Clint and Terry:
We’ve sampled many drams over our 33 years of marriage, and we often don’t fully agree. It could be the difference in male/female taste buds. Or, maybe somebody’s just wrong.
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