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Habitation Velier Mount Gay Last Ward 2009
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Most people rate this a genuinely good, quality Barbados pot-still, but plenty admit the palate doesn't quite match the nose. Expect vanilla, oak, sweet spice and pepper, marzipan and a solvent/glue edge, with tropical fruit underneath. Drier and more herbal than a typical Foursquare, and the 59% can read sharp — a few drops of water help most tasters open it up.
The community says- Complex, inviting nose
- Real Bajan character
- But: Alcohol not integrated
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How does Habitation Velier Mount Gay Last Ward 2009 taste?
Summarized by AI from community reviews.
Dry, spicy Barbados with a solvent edge Well-liked Bajan pot still: complex nose, spicy woody palate, natural sweetness. Common gripes are a slightly disjointed alcohol, some bitterness and a metallic finish. Water helps.
Aroma profileFans of dry, spicy Barbados pot-still bottled at strength
People wanting a soft, sweet, easy sipper
Style & occasion: Mature & oakySipping neat
Full aroma profile Aroma families · nose & palate · top aromas
Relative to this rum's strongest aroma family
41 of 107 left detailed tasting impressions · Click an aroma to explore similar rums
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Rated better
Velier Foursquare Plenipotenziario 2007
8.8/10295.00 €
More intense
Habitation Velier Mount Gay Last Ward 2007
8.3/10
Similar rating, cheaper
Mount Gay Rum Artesanal Barbados Rum BMMG 2000
8.1/1095.89 €
Nothing for you?
5 more similar rums ›
First choice: 41 of 49 tasters who tried both prefer it.
What does the community say?
107 community reviews
34 selected write-ups on this page, all of them in the RumX app
Top 23% of Barbados rumsTop 19% at Mount Gay
Rate it in the app
Positive from 8.0 · Mixed 6.0–7.9 · Critical below 6.0
Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
Most helpful positive review
Retasting this one on a regular basis and today I enjoy it again. A lovely rum from nose to finish. Got this one today and it is a wonderful rum well worth the price tag. Slightly dry in the finish but great overall from nose to finish.
Review by Rodolphe
Most helpful mixed review
Compared with the 2007, it's the same but without the citrus and menthol on the nose, although the bitterness of the wood is very much present. It's much more classic Barbados. I'm a little disappointed by the palate, which I find a little thin, very crushed by the bitterness of the wood. A clear win for the 2007.
Review by Clément Boetto🤤🇫🇷
The nose is fruity and complex, but in the mouth I find it backward with an alcohol not very well integrated
Review by Rene Pfeiffer
Lots of wood, very spicy to peppery. Pleasant, not too sweet vanilla. Some banana, but not overripe and a few herbs. The alcohol remains a bit edgy, but not unpleasant. Liked.
Review by Jakob
This has long been my favorite from Mount Gay. Compared to other representatives of the distillery, I like the slightly more pronounced caramel sweetness here, which makes for an overall more harmonious basic aroma. Accessible rum at a high quality level.
Review by Basti
Nose becomes rounder after about 1 hour. The alcohol and fruity notes are less present and a slightly smoky/leathery note emerges. Taste then completely atypical for everything I know from Mount Gay, with a biting note that I don't like. Certainly a top-quality rum, but not my taste. I like other Mount Gays from clear bottles much better. Edit 2. Tasting: Better, but still not my profile. The nose is actually quite appealing, but on the palate it just can't convince me.
Review by DomM
Intense and more on the spicy side than expected. Alcohol is not integrated perfectly, however. A few drops of water help to mitigate.
Review by TheRhumhoe
A powerful rum that develops beautiful notes of glue at first, then continues on spicy (chili) and woody notes before plunging to soft notes of marzipan and toffee and finishing towards a more fruity register. Still intense in the mouth, the rum keeps a slightly fruity profile, but mostly dominated by spicy and woody notes, with a hint of vegetal, toasted and leather aromas. The finish, quite long, reveals tannins and some bitterness brought by licorice, but retains the same spicy, woody and leather profile with a touch of herbs and caramel. An intense and dry rum that represents its distillery as it should.
Review by Timo Groeger
Yes, this is definitely a very solid rum. We have wood, spice and also herbs on the nose. On the palate there is vanilla, caramel, wood, as well as some spice. Quite okay, but nothing special about this rum.
Review by Lukas Jäger
Exciting rum with a great nose, but poorly integrated alcohol! The nose makes me extremely keen on the rum and comes across as very complex. In addition to glue, I primarily have pineapple and marzipan, which are only slightly muted by the very present and slightly pungent alcohol. The palate is much woodier, more astringent and with a slight cherry note. Here too, however, the very present alcohol inhibits the enjoyment somewhat. All in all, an exciting rum, with the nose slightly ahead of the palate and with a slightly better integrated alcohol, in my opinion definitely a candidate for more than 8.5 points. For me, it just scrapes this mark.
Review by Mathieu C.
Nose: fine woody background, tropical fruits, and dominance of sweet and pastry aromas (almond paste, crème brûlée, caramel, vanilla, pastry) then nuts. Extremely gourmand nose! Palate: very intense, warm, round, gourmand, woody, pastry. Good length.
Review by cigares
Day 22 of the Samples de Luxe calendar. Tobacco and herbal aromas, tropical fruits and varnished wood. Lots of aromas here. The palate is a little duller, although the alcohol is well integrated and everything is balanced. The finish is medium-bodied and the varnished wood aromas come back strongly. A fine rum straddling the line between funky Jamaican and dark, deep Demerara.
Review by Righrum
A good Mount Gay, not the better one but a good expression indeed. The usual profile is always there, the nose driven by almonds, marzipan and solvent, and is consistent also when drinking. A good one
Review by Santo
A bit too herbal, licorice and menthol for me and I find the alcohol not well integrated. But overall it's a good rum.
Review by Florent Apl
Edit: comparing it to the last ward 2007 from velier. The habitation velier one is sweeter and last tanich się to it's younger age, but alcohol is more sharp. The glue/metallic note is also more present on the velier bottling. I'm still very happy with this one, and I think the last wards are definitely something to check out, way better than the Mount Gay usual range. On the nose, there are the typical sweet spices of Barbados, vanilla, a medium oaky note, neither too young nor too old, and a slight hint of chili pepper. It's less sweet than what you might get from a Foursquare ECS. The first taste is woody, spices, less sweet this time, and fruit that appears. Coming back to it, it's spices, even nuts, that come to mind. The alcohol is present; I wouldn't say it's poorly integrated, but the alcohol level is noticeable. As I keep coming back to it and moving further into the green, I now have olives, even green beans; it goes in all directions. The finish is long and bitter, with spices again, but this time with a herbaceous bitterness, the chili pepper still present, then the vanilla gently resurfaces and brings a slight sweetness to the whole. This is a drier rum than what I'm used to tasting in Barbados. It's complex, not easy to grasp, but I'm very happy to have a bottle.
Review by Michael Schillheim
Initially chemical components like solvent and glue on the nose. Followed by tropical fruits, wood, spices and herbs. On the palate, the Last Ward is dry, intense and complex. Plant and woody aromas, vanilla, herbs, spices. Unfortunately also a bit bitter. The aftertaste remains spicy with a herbal note. But the bitterness that appeared on the palate continues in the aftertaste and unfortunately ends metallic, which costs the 2009 Last Ward a few points.
Review by Michael Ihmels 🇩🇪
Here a very nice Mount Gay Habitation Velier. Already very fruity on the nose, pear, apricot, apple, orange and these also come through in the taste. The alcohol is very well integrated here.
Review by FischeJ
Somehow I find it very alcoholic, even after long breathing. Otherwise nice spice, caramel. Vanilla and wood. Very astringent and a bit bitter at the back.
Review by Thunderbird
The nose rises caramel with light spicy notes! In the background ripe orange! Overall, very gentle and noble. Alcohol is barely noticeableOn the palate initially caramel, young wood with pepper, slightly toasted out the back! The alcohol is perfectly integrated. In the finish, the spicy slightly woody notes predominate! This is but relatively short!A pleasant tasty Barbados
Review by Schnubbii
Nice profile, nice sweetness, slightly bitter and resinous, but not unpleasant. Still nothing that blows me away.
Review by Benoit Mahe
It's well made but the profile of this palate didn't please me. Too bad because the nose promised nice things.
Review by passlemix
Gomme gomme. A very WP-like side on the nose. Lacks fruit. I like it but it's not wow even if I like the almond / financier side. A hint of bitterness a little too present for me.
Review by ilRummista
Naso eccezionale! Palato molto interessante. Uno dei miei Habitation Velier preferiti! Grande prodotto!
Review by Alexander Rasch
My RumRatings review from 5 years ago: The nose totally surprised and overwhelmed me. I've had a few Barbados rums in my glass before. This one is a bit different. It almost reminds me of Jamaica. Strongly fruity with a distinct glue note comes the rum. Dried fruit is present. But also grassy notes. The longer the rum stays in the glass, the more the wood notes come through. Oak and vanilla. Caramel. Fantastically complex, there's a lot to discover here. On the palate, the picture continues. Fruity notes dominate with a slight vanilla note. Fresh berries. Young oak and bourbon. Multilayered, full-bodied and complex it goes to the finish, which is accompanied by more cask notes and some bitterness. The aromas stay long and confidently in the mouth. Exciting rum that is edgy and angular but also has many aromas if you take your time. Authentic and powerful, it's not for the faint-hearted. A piece of rum history that everyone should try. Barbados like you've never seen before. Would love more of it.
Review by w00tAN
Good rum with high complexity but in this price range there is big and very strong competition so only a good.
Review by Peder Frits Nielsen
A fantastic rum. The relatively high alcohol-percentage gives you “bang for the bucks” but in a very tasteful way. The natural sweetness actually makes this rum very harmonic 😋
Review by TheCelticRumFan
Nose: Plum, grape, anise, slightly medicinal, rose water, kiwi, raisin, wood varnish Mouth: Plum, almond/marzipan, anise, strawberry, light diesel, cherry Finish: Very gradual burn and rising flavour intensity which slowly fades into a medium to long finish What a wonderful Bajan expression. I'm not overly familiar with many Mount Gay expressions, but this really stands on its own against their island competitor Foursquare's style. Really lovely flavours and very noticeable punchy character. I think Frank was really onto something with this distillation. An absolute quality rum to savour.
Review by Rum Runner Labs - Will
In many ways very classic Barbados. On the nose there’s plenty of vanilla and oak, but a subtle herbaceousness as well, and gentle red fruits. On the palate there’s vanilla, oak, spice, as well as some dried pineapple and something a little metallic—a little like sticking a penny in your mouth. Strong finish sticking to profile.
Review by Philip M. 🇧🇪
21/01/2026: tasting at home. Decent Mount Gay with dry, spicy and woody notes. The nose is very promising, but the palate is a bit of a let down for me. It's rather sharp and adding a few drops of water is advised. Nevertheless, happy to sip it because the quality can't be denied.
Review by Stijn Zino
I'm tasting this Whisky Jury Mount Gay and Mount Gilboa next to eachother. What a nice tasting. Out of this 3 this one is the most complex. Nice balance between fruit and wood. More herbal in the mouth with a pleasant sweetness. Long finish. Recommend this one.
Review by David
A superb peppery fruit salad!
Review by Anonymous
Tastes like cherry cola for some reason
Review by Rhum Mirror 🇧🇪
🟤 HV Mount Gay Last Ward 2009 – 59% A blend of rums distilled in Mac Millan pot stills, a unique triple distillation process, all distilled in 2009. Aging 9 years under Barbadian climate in ex-bourbon barrels, then bottled by Velier at 59% (4488 bottles – so still findable without selling a kidney). The name pays tribute to the Ward family, historic owners of Mount Gay until the takeover by Cointreau in 1989. Little reminder: Mount Gay = the oldest rum brand in the world (1703). In the spirit of the Warren Khong 2008, and clearly to my taste. 👉 Fruity and complex nose 👉 Palate more woody, spicy (pepper), with a vanilla framework and some herbal notes 👉 Verdict: I like it a lot ✔️
Review by Sebastiaan Linssen
Tasted at German rum festival Good rum.
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Expert reviews
3 critics scored it, averaging 8.4/10. 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 The Secret Rum Bar
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Expert review by Rum nagykövet
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Expert review by L'amateur éclairé
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Community shelf
189 bottles logged by 166 collectors.
Both drunk and collected.
23% opened, 15 emptied.
What does Habitation Velier Mount Gay Last Ward 2009 cost?
Community paid 80–132 €.
Current best price: 109.80 € – within the typical community range.
Purchase prices reported by members, not a shop price. Avg. 120 €. Full price & collection history in RX+ ›
+7 additions in the last 3 months.
Additions per month over the last 12 months; dark bars: the last 3.
189 purchased · 110 tasted · 43 wishlist · as of
Details about Habitation Velier Mount Gay Last Ward 2009
A Pot Still Rum from Barbados, bottled by Habitation Velier, at 59%.
Read on in the RumX Guide
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