First Taste: Banks 5 Island Rum

First Taste: Banks Five Island Rum has been rolling into bars and entail for the past several months. Named for noted explorer Sir Joseph Banks, it has been created by John Pellaton (former president of Hine Cognac USA) and his partners.

It's a white rum, bottled at 43% ABV, with a price you'll find between $25-$28.00.

The complexity of the rum, which is evident at first whiff, is due to the fact that it is actually a blend of rums from five different distilleries. Each rum was aged between three and twelve years, and then filtered to go white again after the aging. The rums come from Trinidad, Jamaica, Guyana and Java.

On the tongue, Banks is nicely peppery with notes of ginger. I drank it straight and then with some Angostura Bitters over ice. It exhibits a very full body and long finish. It is about the most interesting white rum I have tried in years.