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Silver Seal West Indies Barbados BRS 1986
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Strictly a neat, take-your-time sipper — this Rockley-still Barbados needs real air in the glass before it opens. Then it's honey dripping from wax and beeswax, smoke that leans more incense than peat, black tea, herbs and a dirty rubber/bicycle-tube funk. Tasters keep tripping over how un-Bajan it drinks, often mistaking it blind for Jamaica or Guyana. At 58.8% the alcohol runs a touch sharp.
The community says- Honey and beeswax
- Complex, layered
- Long finish
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How does Silver Seal West Indies Barbados BRS 1986 taste?
Summarized by AI from community reviews.
Intense, waxy Rockley with dirty smoke A widely loved 33-year Rockley: intense, waxy, smoky and complex, with a long finish. A few find the alcohol a little sharp or the smoke too whisky-like for their taste.
Aroma profileRockley-style fans who love waxy, dirty, funky old rums
Anyone who dislikes smoky, whisky-leaning profiles
Style & occasion: Mature & oakySipping neat
Full aroma profile Aroma families · nose & palate · top aromas
Relative to this rum's strongest aroma family
38 of 66 left detailed tasting impressions · Click an aroma to explore similar rums
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Rated better
Whisky Krüger Port Mourant Rendsburger Bürgermeister Rum PM 1975
9.4/101,600.00 €
Milder
West Indies Rum Artesanal Barbados Rum Rockley Style BBR 1986
9.3/10
Similar rating, cheaper
Silver Seal Enmore Demerara 1986
9.1/101,159.84 €
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First choice: 16 of 25 tasters who tried both prefer it.
What does the community say?
66 community reviews
43 selected write-ups on this page, all of them in the RumX app
Top 1% of Barbados rumsTop 3% at West Indies
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Positive from 8.0 · Mixed 6.0–7.9 · Critical below 6.0
Review by Jakob
Most helpful positive review
Absolute top class from Barbados - the "Rockley" style reaches its highest form of art here. Smoke, honey, fresh fruit, subtle dirty and herbal notes on the palate - the alcohol is somewhat more noticeable, especially in direct comparison with comparably old Rockleys, but does not have a negative impact. For me, it doesn't quite come close to the outstanding representative of Rum Artesanal, but it is still an excellent rum!
Review by zabo
Most helpful mixed review
Edit Edit: after another few hours of oxidizing (8 hours) I now find it pleasant, but unfortunately still not good. Edit: after it only got 3.9 from me at the beginning, it was tasted again the next day after 3 hours of breathing. I now find it much more accessible. However, the extreme whisky character cannot be dismissed. The alcohol is not well integrated despite the long breathing time. It is complex, but definitely not my cup of tea with the extreme smoke. But still only mediocre for me Day 22 RumX Advent Calendar 2024 Despite all the love and the big name. Contrary to the great hype, I can't get much out of this one. As I've always detested smoky whiskies and this "rum" is very much in that vein, it just fell through for me. Still, thanks for letting me try something like this.
Review by crazyforgoodbooze
Part 6/8 of our 1986 Rockley tasting: Silver seal, awesome! Lime/peach-passion fruit/mint/black tea in liquid, plus some medicinal, dirty notes and incredibly intense and balanced! mega awesome number and one of the best rums I've ever had and will probably have!🤤❤️🇧🇧🍯🥭🍑 for me on a par with the RA but much more fruity and velvety. absolute grenade! Update: blindly I almost typed it as st. Lucia Vendome, due to the sau cool honeycomb, wax note and the rather dirty intense profile. Incredibly cool stuff!!!🙌🏼
Review by Johannes
Compared to the RA, Plantation and Nobilis, the SS is for me in 3rd place.The Silver Seal needs a lot of time in the glass to develop. Alcohol is perhaps not absolutely top integrated, but it comes thereby very powerful. An excellent representative of the 86 vintage!
Review by Galli33
This is an absolut board! One of the best rums I‘ve tried so far! The alcohol and barrel are integrated so well😵😎
Review by cigares
RumX Advent Calendar, day 22. A strange nose with sour apple, smoky notes, and old varnished wood. After an hour in the glass, the flavors finally balance out. The palate is marked by old varnished wood with a sweet side and prunes. A rather dark rum but balanced by a nice freshness (menthol?) and yellow fruits. The finish is quite long, still balancing between dark notes (varnished wood) and fresher ones (mint and yellow fruits). In short, a rum that's a bit challenging to approach but definitely interesting.
Review by w00tAN
Something lazily fruity after opening, no trace of it after 30 minutes in the glass. Smoky, fruity, honey, slightly sweet, raisin? every nose gives you a new facet. I can't get enough of the smell. Intense in the mouth, first smoke, then a full broadside of black tea and endless wood, beautifully complex and super integrated alcohol. Long, dry finish with wood and a slightly herbal/herbal aftertaste. Mega rum, meets my taste! Update: Rockley 1986 crosstasting with Jakob: Full confirmation of the first impression - absolute grenade! And actually also a pleasant, slightly dirty note, which I didn't mention above.
Review by mto75
Two more 86 Rockleys today, the Bristol (thanks to Vienna!) at 46% and the Silver Seal at 58.8% - so not quite a fair comparison. I like the Bristol and it immediately screams out loud: Rockley! A fat honey note on the nose immediately. The SS is more complex (herbs, olive, brine), but a little less on the typical markers. On its own, the dilution of the Bristol is not a problem, but in direct comparison, the SS simply scores higher here, especially with its incredibly long finish.
Review by Joachim Guger
Nuri oil sardines with honey. A unique flavor profile.Extremely complex, extremely interesting. In the mouth, madness. There is no rum that tastes similar.
Review by LukaŽiga
9,1:On the nose, sweet molasses with honey, fresh with tea, minty, grassy, herbaceous, vegetal with thyme, waxy, some rubber, toasted wood notes like pastry, biscuits, smoky, yellow, citrus fruits, round, yet complex, bump into our nosetrils. On aeration, it is medicinal, industrial with bicycle tube, the rubber is burnt, tropical fruits are really overripe, pungent, the molasses flowery, allspice joins. 9,1:On the palate, the attack is dirty, intense with bicycle tube, oily, creamy with toasted wood notes, tannic, caramel, dark chocolate, leather, spicy with allspice, vanilla, smoky, the rubber is burnt, the molasses is sweet with honey, flowery, grassy with hay, flowery, slightly minty.The fruits are yellow, citrus and green...Very complex. 9:The finish is long, dry&tannic, balanced, medicinal, industrial with bicycle tube, fruity with green, yellow fruits, the oak is burnt, charred, smoky, spicy with allspice, the molasses is dark with licorice, black tea, vegetal, flowery, sweet with honey. Edit:5.7.26
Review by Serge
In the direct Rockley 86 match against the Rendsburger. Honey, smoke, fruit, rubber ... everything is a little quicker on the nose here and also a little less incisive. On the other hand, the Rendsburger has a fine sour fruit note of raspberry and lime. Similarly on the palate ... the Rendsburger brings fresher fruity notes of raspberry and lime into play. Both good and ultimately a matter of taste. I prefer the Silver Seal. It brings out honey, smoke and dirt more beautifully and roundly.
Review by Oliver
Exceptionally good!
Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
One of my favourite bottles on my shelf. Though expensive it's well worth the money and I can only recommend one. The nose is there from opening the bottle and once rested it just keeps on giving. Fruits and spice with an earthy tone and some rubber. Add some smoked oak and you have a monster. The palate is intense and complex with an oily texture. Again there is fruit and spice with tea, leather and rubber in the back. Again nice and smoky oak in there. The finish is very, very long with oak and peaches in the front and tannins and licorice in the back.
Review by Mirco
Rockley Tasting 1986/87/2000 For me, the winner in the blind tasting. Clearly more expressive with noticeable alcohol. On the nose, wax, resin, and dark fruit. On the palate, full-bodied, powerful, and slightly bitter in the finish. Also one of the most intense in the tasting.
Review by Manuel
RumX Advent Calendar 2024: No. 24 What an impressive rum from Barbados. Could have been a rum for Christmas Eve as well. Excellent quality and profile that I haven't experienced in any other Barbados rum. Thanks for the great opportunity.
Review by Boletus
Day 22 of the RumX Advent calendar: Needs longer air contact to fully open up, but then it develops an incredibly exciting profile and an impressively complex character. Only a few light fruit aromas towards banana and mango are present, but this mix of honey-dripping honeycombs and gentle smoke, which has no peaty tendencies but rather something like incense, really excites me. Herbs, anise, and licorice as well as a slightly dirty rubber note increase the complexity, which leads to a very long and very fine finish. I never thought I'd get this rum into my glass. Fantastic!
Review by RumTaTa
Right away on the nose, (forest) honey! Subtle smoke, yellow fruits, and alcoholic. On the palate, something musty/moldy comes in, like wet wood. Also very interesting: right at the end when the finish fades, I get eucalyptus! A very exciting and controversial rum, I hardly noticed the smokiness and it didn’t bother me. Blind, I guessed Port Mourant, but I haven’t had many rums from Rockley Distillery in my glass yet.
Review by Timo Groeger
RumX Advent Calendar 2024 Day 22. So I already find this rum very good, but for excellent it’s not enough for me. This rum is very smoky, honey and vanilla are noticeable, but also a small fruit note in the form of mango.
Review by Jussi Piirainen
Rum X: Rockley 1986 crosstasting. Revisiting my notes from the livetasting and doing another tasting as u write this review. On the nose: Really complex, yet balanced. Smoky, leathery woody notes combined with fresh, earthy herbal notes. Hints on honey. Taste: First Oily mouthfell with woody, leather, ligt smoke notes. Then profile chances towards citrus notes, honey notes and you get herbal notes at the end. Abv is integrated very well. Complex and rich. Finish: Woody and little bit of leather notes first. Then it gets dry. Little bit of honey notes as it finishes dry, just in the right spot. Long finish. Ok, this is a excellent rum and needless to say that this was also the winner in RumX comminity's crosstasting.
Review by Alex1981
RumX Calendar 2024 Day 22: Roasted notes, red fruits, light mint, a little dirty. First thought TDL. But then gets kind of musty with time. Very sharp on the palate at first, needs time to settle. Then it becomes malty like whisky, lots of honey, plus cask. The mustiness comes through again in the finish. A very unusual and exciting sample, although not my profile. No idea what it is, but probably not TDL. PM?
Review by Tom Buteneers
First impression: Guyana, maybe sherry maturation/finish? There’s this alcoholic sharpness to it for now. Time for a breather. From my tasting experience, Guyana comes closest :man_shrugging: nevermind the sherry, that seems to be gone by now… I’m not familiar with the BBR profiles, so I can add nothing to that except my earlier research in the app (RX9116) I understand the varnished wood, as well as stone fruits. Also some pepper, especially in the finish on the sides of my tongue. The peppery side kinda reminds me of Mount gay and that’s about the only association that I can make to Barbados. I find it a very good rum, but for me it lacks something to get it to the “excellent” (9+) status.
Review by Skyfly
Small 86er Rockley X tasting: noticeably dirtier with leather and bike inner tube compared to the ones from RA and Nobilis. Also more vegetal/herbal notes on the nose, black tea from the palate onwards. The fruitiness decreases more and more from the nose. Finish not as long as with RA and Nobilis.
Review by DomM
Cadenhead‘s 18y @46%: while the low ABV becomes very apparent side-by-side with the FP bottlings, this bottling can comfortably stand on its own. This delivers the Rockley profile with a lot of complexity and intensity as well. On the nose this is much more approachable, yet intense. On the palate it does lose a bit based on the dilution but the Cadenhead‘s is a good way to experience this style of rum in an easy going way overall. Rendsburger 18y FP: Very intense and more lively compared to its older brothers. While the high ABV provides an excellent oily texture and complexity on the palate, it is a bit sharp on the nose. Here the profile is still very nice, but a bit too alcohol forwards for an even higher score. Silver Seal 33y FP: on the nose this one leaves a rather closed up impression (comparatively). While I get all Rockley markers, the SS somewhat lacks intensity. Much more intensity on the palate! Compared to the 18y (obviously) much more mature with additional wood and depth. Excellent! Rum Artesanal & Nobilis 34y FP: now this is top notch territory! Rich, intense and complex both on the nose and palate. On the nose the Nobilis has a hint more fruits, while the RA has some additional candied herbs. On the palate the RA comes with a bit more wood as well as sweetness, while the Nobilis again feels more fruity and a bit „lighter“. Today the RA takes the crown for me, but this might as well be the other way round in the next session.
Review by Beach-and-Rum 🏖️🌴
In a blind tasting, I would have had no idea what I had in the glass. Honestly, I find it hard to give a proper rating for such an old drop. But unfortunately, it doesn’t quite hit 100% of my taste. Slight whiskey hints. It’s bold, smoky, fruity, and has its own unique character. For me, a tasty rum, but it doesn’t quite make it to the top.
Review by Agricoler
Day 22 RumX Advent Calendar In my opinion, a Rockley. Nice typical notes of wax, honey, herbs, beeswax. Very tasty in my eyes. Well-integrated alcohol. The rum stays consistently at the same level and changes little. Which doesn't have to be a bad thing. Overall, Rockley was never my absolute favorite even though the rum is fantastic.
Review by Alexander Rasch
First thought was Rockley. Smoky, spicy, a little aniseed and honey. Plus a lot of cask. Fruits and herbs are also there, but also a certain spiciness. The picture remains on the palate. Spicy sweetness with smoke and roasted aromas. A certain spiciness remains the whole time. I would guess a BBR 2000, approx. 55% and an even younger bottling. Around 15 years old. But it could also be something else. The cask influence increases with time. The smoke remains relatively long. If it is something else, I have to say that it is difficult to define it more precisely. I like the rum. But I also like it when it's a bit more edgy.
Review by Carlitooo
Woooow! Intense without end - in the nose and on the palate! Unique and has simply nothing in common with today's rum from Barbados. Compared to the RA and DT, it comes with more edges and corners, whereas the other two are much rounder.
Review by Schnubbii
On the nose, fruity with hints of black tea, spices, and furniture wax. Palate: Wow, what is this? Sweet at the start with a slight violet note, then spices like cardamom, along with black tea, a bit of furniture wax, light banana, and fine wood. The alcohol is fantastically integrated. Very complex and multi-layered. On the finish, the fine wood remains, with dried fruits and a slight bitterness coming in. Reminds me a bit of a Port Mourant, but not exactly. Maybe a blend? Definitely a fantastic rum for me!
Review by Righrum
A savanna, maybe agricole (Indian Ocean Stills from Velier or a cognac finish) or a traditionnel with calvados finish. On the nose, green apples, floral with a bit of smoke, plus some young wood and some vinyl. High abv, or not perfect alcool integration. There is an underlying sweetness with some yellow fruits. The palate is a bit pungent for alcohol, and overall sweet with a back of smoke and vinyl again but also leather
Review by Christoph
Can't decide between mango and passion fruit, plus a hint of vanilla. Change in taste to more liquid honey from a rubber cup. Finish then rather woody through to liquorice. All in all, an exciting taste journey. Lingers on the palate for a long time. Gets better and better with time.
Review by Anders Bovien
Amazing rockley so intense and full of This lovely honey crunch that this amazing distill Is known from. Absolutely in my favorite 🤩
Review by Pavel Spacek
Similar to Nobilis. High technical/glue with lower fruity, floral and woody notes
Review by Master P
On the nose, the WIRD 1986 unfolds a rich sweetness, tropical, bananas, paired with a note of smoke and brine, almost like an Islay Scotch. After a while, interesting notes of rubber and green tea emerge, followed by caramel. On the palate, it’s an explosion of flavors that in this case remind more of a Jamaican rum than a Barbadian one. It starts with those funky tropical fruit notes you might confuse with a Long Pond, fresh, bright, with iodine and polished leather. Despite 33 years of aging, there’s no harshness, as oak and vanilla are very well balanced and harmonize with mangoes and bananas in this blend. The finish brings sweet honey, fresh dates, a bit of herbs. The alcohol is a bit sharp-edged and present the whole time though.
Review by primus
RumX Advent Calendar 2024 Door Number 22 Insanely fruity nose with lots of fruit notes that I haven't encountered in this combination before. Taste-wise very dirty and chemical. In the finish, I get iodine.
Review by Djehey
What a nice surprise! I wanted to discover this legendary profile! I must admit I was quite lost: it reminded me of a Fiji but with a strong mineral side. That's pretty rare in rum, and the continental aging is certainly part of it. Very interesting. I can't wait to try the future versions that WIRD might offer!
Review by lars
Definitely a highlight to close out the year and before the dry weeks. I can't add much to what others have said here, and I also find it hard to rank the 1986s - but definitely awesome stuff.
Review by Angel's Share 92
Simply one of the best in the world 👏 unbelievable this rum.
Review by Gianca Zil
Definitely the best of the tasting!! An explosive and very long finish. Slightly sharp alcohol for my taste but other than that... lots of fruit and honey 😍
Review by Jarek
RumX Cross Tasting 24-10-2025: WIRD Rockley 1986 by Jakob Thanks to Jakob for the chance! I also added a "leftover sample" of the Plantation Extreme No. 5. Today, I like this one best of the five 1986s, also because of the slightly dirty note. I also like that the alcohol is a bit more noticeable here than in the RA. That gives the rum some power, which I missed in the RA. I notice that I rated all the 1986 Rockleys below the community average today. Probably not my favorite profile, even though I find it interesting and exciting.
Review by Adrianv
Rockley 86 tasting, direct comparision keeping up with RA (Cadenheads still to come:), well balanced but lack some complexity
Review by Mopar Rules
Second cross tasing of the Rockley‘s 1986. As much as I like Silver Seal bottlings, I am not convinced here.,This one is average and my number four. They all lose out on the palate which is much mor subtle compared to the nose. Abv not well integrated. A bit unbalanced and too woody/bitter (a light bitterness) which unbalances the flavors of the yellow fruits
Review by Arthur Wunderlich
Wird nice but far from the classic Wird lacks iodine and smoke!
Review by Martin Spooner
Blind tasting Advent calendar 2024: relatively unremarkable nose. Slight glue notes. On the palate, almost whiskey-like peaty note. Later a bit of sweetness. Slightly metallic. Not really my taste profile.
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Expert reviews
2 critics scored it, averaging 9.5/10. Reviews from RumX's blog partners, independent experts who have tasted, evaluated, and described this rum.
Expert review by Single Cask Rum
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Expert review by Barrel Aged Thoughts
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Community shelf
30 bottles logged by 17 collectors.
A collector's bottle.
13% opened, 2 emptied.
What does Silver Seal West Indies Barbados BRS 1986 cost?
Community paid 553–1,014 €.
Current best price: 1,490.00 € – above the typical community range.
Purchase prices reported by members, not a shop price. Avg. 598 €. Full price & collection history in RX+ ›
30 purchased · 66 tasted · 40 wishlist · as of
Details about Silver Seal West Indies Barbados BRS 1986
A Pot Still Rum from Barbados, bottled by Silver Seal, at 58,8%.
Read on in the RumX Guide
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I'm Oliver, and RumX began in 2018 as a small passion project in Stuttgart, back then under the name Rum Tasting Notes.
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