Aroma visualization from community tastings
Barbancourt 5 Stars 8 Years Réserve Spéciale
Newcomers and cane-juice-curious drinkers get the most out of this Haitian oddity. Made from sugarcane juice yet it drinks more like a molasses rum — light honey, vanilla and cane sugar on the nose, then oak, pepper and spice on the palate. Most call it "smooth, not overly complex," with a short finish. The 43% alcohol isn't always well integrated.
The community says- Unique cane-juice profile
- Easy to drink
- But: Short finish
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The look inside the bottle
How does Barbancourt 5 Stars 8 Years Réserve Spéciale taste?
Aggregated from 150 community reviews.
Easy, spicy cane-juice rum, short finish A pleasant, easy Haitian that splits people: fans call it a unique, well-priced sipper, while enthusiasts find it thin, short and a touch hot for the flavor it gives.
Beginners and drinkers curious about Haitian cane-juice rum
People chasing depth, length and big flavor
How the community classifies this rum. Each category takes you to similar rums.
Which glass for which rum? The community guide →
48 of 150 left detailed tasting impressions · Click an aroma to explore similar rums
Recommendation
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Milder
Barbancourt Rhum vieux Réserve du Domaine
7.5/1055 €
Similar rating, cheaper
Chairman's Reserve Original
7.1/1025 €First choice: 28 of 37 tasters who tried both prefer it.
How is Barbancourt 5 Stars 8 Years Réserve Spéciale rated?
RumX’s 0–10 scale is strict: 7.0 sits in the “Good” band. 47% of tasters rate it Good or better; only 4% rate it below average. See the full rating guide →
Community voices
What does the community say?
79% rate it between 6 and 8. 19 selected write-ups from 150 community ratings. You can view the complete list in our app.
Review by JST MLLR
Most helpful positive review
Super rhum, vraiment de qualité, il vaut son prix. Un must have pour un collectionneur de rhum ou qui veut avoir une bonne cave à proposer !
Review by Julien Ries
Most helpful critical review
A bottle given by my sister for Christmas 2024. On the nose, quite flattering on fruit with baked apple, with a little vanilla and grey pepper. The palate is quite strong in alcohol, with an integration of the alcohol that could have been better. Few aromas apart from light vanilla and a tiny bit of oak. A very ephemeral finish that leaves nothing memorable. Not much to say about this rum, which remains pleasant but forgettable.
Review by cigares
A rum tasted at the Lucerne Gin and Rum Festival 2024. A nose of bitter root, like gentian, but also sugar, yellow fruit and a herbaceous side. The palate is very bitter and alcoholic, a gentian spirit? But also with a sweet/honey side. The finish is short, leaving only bitterness in the mouth. To the untrained eye, you'd think it was a slightly sweet root liqueur rather than a rum. That said, it's pleasant on the palate and well made. I like it less than the 4-year-old.
Review by Galli33
I tried this rum at a local bar… Very sweet, round, soft and spicy rum. I didn’t like it much, because it’s not the kind of rum I’ used to drink. I can recommend it to beginners or guys who want to make the next step 😜 Also the alcohol isn’t integrated well.
Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
Considering the price tag you get a lot for your money. Beautiful colour with fruity caramel nose and sweet on the palate. Could be a good beginner rum i think.
Review by TheJackDrop
Dégusté au salon Rhum Fest Paris, notes partielles. EDIT : trop simple et pas assez long. C’est plutôt amusant, je n’ai pas de points de comparaison avec d’autres barbancourt dans mon souvenir. Globalement trop acqueux et un peu d’alcool quand même pour ce degrés là, mais sinon on a un nez melon/pasteque puis une bouche carrément sur les épices, il n’y a presque que ça…
Review by Johannes
Flavor very thin, but alcohol better integrated.
Review by Eric Frechin
Il peut être une bonne entrée en matière, pour quelqu un qui démarre dans le rhum, de part son prix peu élevé et sa simplicité. Il reste quand même un peu alcooleux et légèrement pimenté. Mais il offre aussi quelques palettes agréables de sucre vanille herbe. Je l ai préféré au 15 ans
Review by Rare Akuma
Something I keep on hand as a mixer, but lets see how it stands up on its own. On the nose and in the mouth a mellow, but flat profile. Sparse dried fruits, burnt sugar and barrel notes. Mineralic with rainwater, but really no complexity and nothing to excite the senses.
Review by Rick Meyer
Didn’t know what to expect on this one but enjoyed it in every way. Nose and palate are completely different. Tasty!
Review by Godspeed
A very odd and unique bird in the rum world. Made from pure cane juice but you would swear it’s a molasses rum. The Limousine barrels or the second distilling in pot stills must work magic because it’s unlike any other pure cane juice rhum you’ve ever tried. My issue with Barbancourt is this: As a technical oddity I find it fascinating but if someone had told me this is just another smooth bajan or st lucian rum I would’ve enjoyed it but then quickly forgotten about it. Yes, it’s unique in cane juice rums, but the flavor of that uniqueness is not itself unique. I love it to be sure but I dont enjoy it more than I do, say, a standard bottle of chairman’s reserve. Special note must be made to their production methods where they do genuinely help a lot of small farmers in Haiti.
Review by crazyforgoodbooze
Alcohol could be a little better integrated but all in all a solid Haiti rum.
Review by Ty Hill
Sweet like cane sugar, mild bite, fairly short finish. A decent sip, not the most complex, but fair and enjoyable. Terrific in cocktails but can be drank neat in a pinch or for something new.
Review by JB
Round and very balanced. A rather "flat" nose, but full of complexity and flavor. Very pleasant
Review by Rum Runner Labs - Will
Woody, but in a really sawdusty way. Refractometer: 15.0% brix
Review by RumCzar
This rhum has grown endearing over time. At first I was disappointed that the flavors of the Haitian OP were subdued by the cask aging, but compared to it's contemporaries it's managed to keep a lot of flavor without becoming overly woody. I drink this neat. I will rebuy.
Review by Righrum
A light rum, mainly driven by sugar and caramel notes. Great price to quality, as I paid 20€ for a bottle, this could be a great entry level for beginners while rum lovers could skip it, the sweetness is too relevant and almost artificial (even if I do not think this rum does have any additive)
Review by Émile Shevek
Intenso, pungente, note di solvente e pepe, ma senza finale o profondità, lontane le note mielate
Review by High Ester Maitai
Nose is light. Sweet with honey and sugar cane and oak counter. Taste is much more interesting. Oak, spice, pepper and toasted notes. All this with a touch of sugar cane sweetness. In-between all of that is cacao and really dark caramel. All is really nice combine. Finish is medium-short with quickly fading spice and more present sweetness Overall it is really nice rum for sipping and cocktails. I think it should be more define and have stronger flavour
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Expert reviews
Reviews from RumX's blog partners, independent experts who have tasted, evaluated, and described this rum..
Expert review by The Fat Rum Pirate
Read full review →A bottle of Rhum Barbancourt 5 star will set you back just over £30 for a 70cl bottle at 43% ABV. This is an excellent rum and an absolute bargain at that price. It's a must try. Please do not delay because you don't like Agricole. This is very different.
Live auctions
Current bids for this rum at Europe's leading auction houses.
Market value
What this bottle last achieved at auction. A research indicator, not a forecast.
Auction results 28 € – 34 €
from 2 sales, latest 04/2025
Prices incl. buyer's premium — what a buyer pays, not what a sale nets you.
Avg. community purchase price 29 €
What members paid for this bottle, self-reported. Not a market value — the purchases are over three years old at the median and unverified.
Details about Barbancourt 5 Stars 8 Years Réserve Spéciale
A Rhum Agricole from Haiti, distilled by Barbancourt, at 43%.
Community purchases
356 bottles logged by 324 collectors.
A drinker & collector.
32% opened, 38 emptied and repurchased.
What does Barbancourt 5 Stars 8 Years Réserve Spéciale cost?
Community paid 26–50 €.
Current best price: 34.58 € – within the typical community range.
What members actually paid for their bottles. A typical range, not the current shop price. Full price & collection history in RX+ →
+7 purchases in the last 3 months.
Added to collections, last 12 months — dark bars are the last 3.
356 purchased · 162 tasted · 63 wishlist · as of
About the Barbancourt distillery
The Barbancourt distillery is located in Haiti. Rums from Barbancourt have been reviewed 1,056 times with an average of 7.5/10.
To Barbancourt →Read on in the RumX Guide
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