Aroma visualization from community tastings
Bristol Long Pond 1985
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Ripe mango, vanilla and a surprising crispy sweetness carry this 37-year-old Long Pond, with far less oak than you'd expect from that age. The nose gets the love — fruity, buttery, a hint of glue and varnish. On the palate several tasters call it thin for 49.5%, and a few wished it had punched harder. Elegant and easy to sip, just not the deepest old Jamaican.
The community says- Ripe mango fruit
- Fresh for its age
- But: Thin body
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The look inside the bottle
How does Bristol Long Pond 1985 taste?
Summarized by AI from 63 community reviews.
Fruity, sweet old Long Pond, a touch thin Well-liked as a gentle, fruity old Long Pond with amazing freshness for its age. The recurring gripes: it drinks thin, sweet almost to a fault, and a bit linear for the years behind it.
Fans of soft, fruity aged Jamaicans who prize elegance over funk
Anyone chasing bold, punchy high-ester Long Pond
Style & occasion: Tropical & funkyMature & oakySipping neat
Full aroma profile Aroma families · nose & palate · top aromas
27 of 63 left detailed tasting impressions · Click an aroma to explore similar rums
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Rated better
Hampden Rumclub Private Selection Ed. 18 Treasure Cask Jamaica HLCF 1992
9.0/10749 €
More intense
Silver Seal Long Pond Version I 1986
8.9/10
Similar rating, cheaper
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8.6/10635 €
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First choice: 28 of 31 tasters who tried both prefer it.
Community voices
What does the community say?
63 community reviews
28 selected write-ups on this page, all of them in the RumX app
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Ranges include their upper bound: “7–8” means above 7 up to and including 8. See the full rating guide
Positive from 8.0 · Mixed 6.0–7.9 · Critical below 6.0
Review by Jakob
Amazingly fresh nose for its age. However, the fruity notes fade into the background on the palate as the length increases, with a nice sweetness and a little more woodiness coming to the fore - but the rum does not tip over into overly bitter spheres. Unfortunately, I find the aromatic refinement a little lacking overall, which is why I am left with a very tasty rum in my glass, but one that is not quite in the absolute top league.
Review by Oliver
Rather unusual Long Pond. A crisp sweetness on the palate - almost too much.
Review by Galli33
Very smooth, almost easy sipping old LP with a nice sweet caramel note. Nose: Delicious, fruity, glue, varnish and a bit spicy! Superb! Palate: Thin (diluted?), a lot of fruits, a hint of glue and a well integrated barrel. The spiciness disappeard. Finish: Medium long and more on the woodier side. The tannins make it slightly astringend.
Review by DomM
For me one of the nicer bottlings of 80ish Long Ponds. It presents a rather fruity nose with mango and peach alongside vanilla and wood. On the palate wood is (unsurprisingly) more present but the overall picture is nicely balanced with fruity notes and enough liveliness despite its long aging.
Review by Thunderbird
On the nose a fermented mango with a tendency to sourness! That suits the LP! On the palate it is light and thin, initially with a sweetness of milk chocolate and burnt sugar, gradually joined by herbs and spices! Not very intense... I hardly notice any fruit at all. The finish initially continues these aromas, later dried fruit appears again in the form of dried apricots! A pleasing rum with little wood despite its age! Overall, however, it doesn't offer enough to make it into the top league
Review by Christoph
Very elegant wood and fruit notes. Extremely pleasant on the palate. Simply delicious. The "low" percentage does nothing to detract from the intensity of the rum. Esters are not immediately present, they only develop after a while in the glass.
Review by Giorgio Garotti
A mix between a Long Pond and a Hampden, probably due to the reduction in strength that brought out more fruity notes! I missed a bit the notes that distinguish Long Pond and the rum ends up a bit too linear!
Review by LukaŽiga
9:On the nose, fermented tropical fruits like banana, green fruits, fresh and grassy molasses, elegant, buttery, creamy with toasted wood notes like nuts, vanilla, bump into our nosetrils, very round, balanced. On aeration, the molasses is flowery, the wood becomes smoky, caramel is out, citrus fruits, some glue. 8,4:On the palate, the attack is rather thin with slightly fermented tropical fruits like banana and mango, green, citrus fruits, creamy, slightly sweet toasted wood notes like nuts, burnt sugar, vanilla, slightly resinous, there are hints of milk rice, the molasses is vegetal, grassy, with hints briny olive, later licorice, some metallic patina and rubber might be present. 8,5:The finish is medium long, dry, slightly tannic with sweet molasses honey, flowery, grassy, toasted oak, a bit smoky, spicy, tropical, green fruits, some phenol. Edit:23.6.26
Review by Tschusikowsky
A special drop. The nose is wonderful, surprisingly fresh. You can still smell the age. It has charisma, character with class. Similar to the 1970s Clement tasted in the Advent calendar, not in taste but in impression. The rum is a lot of fun to drink. Wonderfully versatile, extremely much to discover. Unfortunately, the finish disappears very abruptly. More volume would certainly have made it something very special. Like with the Kaiman, it doesn't bother me much.
Review by Gunnar Böhme "Bauerngaumen" 🤓
Even though I'm not a fan of rums from the Long Pond distillery, I have to mention this rum positively. It leaves a mild overall impression, is a palate pleaser, but also has no edges or corners to recognize it by. Tasted blind, I could have thought it was a rum that costs only a tenth of the release price. (I know, I have no clue. 😉) Amazing that you can hardly taste the barrel after 37 years.
Review by zabo
Tasted at Pueblo del Ron Nürnberg 2024. After DomM treated himself to a glass at Catawiki, I got to sip it too. In my opinion, it's a bit over the top and should have been taken out of the barrel earlier. Unfortunately, a bit too woody for me.
Review by Johannes
Overall high quality! At first, discreet, beautiful fruit notes that quickly fade. In the middle, a bit thin, finish already long but astringent, somewhat bitter. Overall an easy sipper, nicely complex but not overwhelming.
Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
#5994 25.11.2025 Relaxing with a few samples while watching the new version of Crow. Nose Round, balanced, light wood, faint roasted, fruity, light nutts, dried fruit, light papaya, light glue. Palate Oily, light wood, fruity, light glue, citrus, light mango, faint floral, light vanilla, light nutts. Finish Long, light wood, light citrus, light nutts, faint caramel, light roasted, faint apple. Empty glass Pineapple, vanilla, light chocolate, light nutts.
Review by Timo Groeger
This is a really tasty Long Pond. Tropical fruits are nicely recognizable here, definitely pineapple and mango, but also some ester. You can also detect coffee and some spice. Very delicious rum.
Review by crazyforgoodbooze
Incredibly exciting old Long Pond that despite dilution is extremely aromatic and very tasty. Reminds a bit blind of Rockley 86 with the honey, roasted almonds note. Very very tasty, awesome stuff.
Review by FabiDram
Alcohol is not well integrated.
Review by mto75
beautiful LP nose with tropical fruit (mango) and this fermented, slightly tending towards vinegar. On the palate barrel, and toasty notes. Unfortunately a bit thin despite the 49.5%. Otherwise, a few more points would have been in it.
Review by Serge
Tasted at the Cata Wiki booth at the Village in Nuremberg. Very nice Long Pond with wonderfully buttery nose with fermented fruits and something that reminds me of almond frangipani paste from French patisserie. On the palate the expectation of the nose continues. No disappointment and very good. Maybe a bit thin. With 55-60% this would be a very strong 90.
Review by Sam 🥃
First rum of this type for me, I haven't yet tasted a reference to compare it to. In any case, it was a good experience and I found it really very good. Everything went down very well.
Review by Alexander Rasch
A fine nose, then a flavor profile with a lot of wood influence and plenty of bitterness. Unfortunately a bit thin on the tip of the tongue or a certain coldness. But then the rum comes with lots of wood and pepper and gets more intense towards the finish and lingers for a long time. The aftertaste is definitely the highlight here. I like it, but for me it's not worth the price asked here. There are more exciting Long Pond bottlings for 100-200€.
Review by Rhum Mirror 🇧🇪
🥃 Bristol Long Pond 1985 – 49.5% 💥 Favorite of the evening. Distilled in 1985 at Long Pond Distillery. 12 years in Jamaica + 25 years in the UK. 37 years total. The nose is delicate, very ripe fruits, olive. The palate? Incredibly fine. Fruity, smoky, slightly woody. Alcohol perfectly integrated. Classy. Elegant. Masterful.
Review by Andi
Super noble drop, sweetish but not too intrusive, gets fruitier in the glass, raisins, dried fruits. Really a super strong drop.
Review by Mentalo
Surprisingly little wood and bitterness after 37 years. Instead, a lot of sweetness, which I partly found intrusive. But there are also nice fruit notes towards mango and a pleasant wood note in the finish.
Review by Tafia Guildive
Awesome stuff and unfortunately quite underrated here.
Review by Philip M. 🇧🇪
Rhum Fair 2024
Review by R Wehner
Very mild and fantastically balanced, nothing extreme, absolutely top, but unfortunately out of my price range ;)
Review by Sebastiaan Linssen
Very pleasant rum. Distinctive Long Pond. Pricing is way to high compared to its quality.
Review by Stijn Zino
Salon Du Rhum 2024 Lots of wood in this one. Something different but not great. I don't get the low ABV. It misses some punch.
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Expert reviews
2 critics scored it, averaging 8.8/10. Reviews from RumX's blog partners, independent experts who have tasted, evaluated, and described this rum.
Expert review by Zucker und Zeste
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Expert review by Le Blog À Roger
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Community shelf
11 bottles logged by 9 collectors.
A collector's bottle.
9% opened, 0 emptied.
What does Bristol Long Pond 1985 cost?
Community paid 427–613 €.
Current best price: 820.00 € – above the typical community range.
Purchase prices reported by members, not a shop price. Avg. 450 €. Full price & collection history in RX+ →
11 purchased · 63 tasted · 8 wishlist · as of
Details about Bristol Long Pond 1985
A Pot Still Rum from Jamaica, bottled by Bristol Classic Rum, at 49,5%.
Read on in the RumX Guide
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