Chairman‘s Reserve Original
A solid stepping stone rum that’s easy to approach yet characterful, with vanilla, spice, light funk and oak. RumX members love it as a value mixer and simple everyday sipper around 40%.
- Great value
- Light funk character
- Versatile mixer
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How does Chairman‘s Reserve Original taste?
Aggregated from 182 community reviews.
Great value, characterful allrounder A solid stepping stone rum that’s easy to approach yet characterful, with vanilla, spice, light funk and oak. RumX members love it as a value mixer and simple everyday sipper around 40%.
Value seekers and beginners building their palate who want an honest, lightly funky rum that works neat in a pinch but really shines in Cuba Libres, Daiquiris and tiki-style cocktails.
Fans of high-ABV, complex sippers or those wanting long, intense finishes; its 40% strength and thinner body will feel underpowered and simple.
How is Chairman‘s Reserve Original rated?
RumX's 0–10 scale is strict — 7.1 lands squarely in the "Good" band. 52% of tasters rate it Good or better; only 2% rate it below average. See the full rating guide →
Rum reviews
A selection of the most popular reviews from our community. You can view the complete list in our app.
Review by Schnapsschuesse
Toasty, woody and spicy on the nose. Vanilla, coconut, chocolate, caramel and some funk. Dried fruit and raisin very subtle in the background. Unfortunately then on the one hand a bit thin and partly alcoholic in the mouth. Not really bothersome, but quite noticeable. Woody toffee sweetness with coffee notes are up front here. Slight bitterness, dark chocolate afterwards. Becomes stronger with time. Overall in character very peculiar. I like. Bonus points for the great price / performance ratio.
Review by Steve the Barman
All my Tastings and Scores are purely based on “Rums under £50”. I rarely look at Rums over £50 for my YouTube.
Review by steffen
Et fantastisk dejligt glas
Review by rum_sk
Well I am not a fan of this base version to be honest. 👃is not offering anything interesting for me. It is rather sharp, peppery and alcoholic. It is initially sweet on the 👅 with notes of vanilla, caramel blending into peppery elements and bitter tones of burned sugar / caramel, charred barrel (too much) but not in a good way. Finish is medium long with unpleasant burned woody taste. Master's selection or legacy is a completely different story though.
Review by Tano
A classic for a reason. Really solid blend that lacks the complexity and refinement to be a top quality sipper (it's an ok sipper), but shines on cocktails. It has enough pot still to make the blend shine with some light funk notes, while retaining the smoothness. Makes a pretty good cuba libre and Daiquiri (you need to go hard on the rum IMO). Very good rum overall considering the price. We need more honest and undosed rums like this.
Review by Stefan Persson
Most people wants to find rum with good value for money. Well, here it is. It’s very hard to find anything better for this amount of money. The only one I found is the English Harbour 5yo. It’s a blend of separately aged rums in ex-Bourbon barrels distilled from Coffey and pot stills. After blended it’s aged for six months more in oak vats. The average age of the blend is 5 years. There’s really something special with its flavours and nice afterburn. After what I have heard it’s the most consumed rum in St. Lucia. So it can’t be more karibik. This is a very good everyday rum to a very low price.
Review by Gregor
From the distillate itself is little perceptible. Instead, there are many barrel nuances. As if you would let wodak mature in bourbon barrels
Review by LukaŽiga
7,7:On the nose, it feels like a dry and woody rum, with lots of tropical fruits, a bit estery, dried fruits. The American oak barrel has definitely left its mark. Aromas of tobacco and vanilla are also present. The rum is light, round and certainly fresh. 7,7:On the palate, it is pleasant, round, not sweet at all, quite dry. We feel nice tropical fruits, dried fruits, some saltiness. It is the woodiness that takes over the palate, after a while. 7,3:The finish is quite long, dry and dominated by dried fruits, vanilla and tobacco.
Review by Tim
Considering the price, you get a lot here, with delicious and round flavors. However, I think the rum is too thin, which affects the mouthfeel in particular. Therefore a recommendation for cocktails or for beginners.
Review by Steffmaus🇩🇰
Tasted this one from the 1423 christmas rum-calendar, of 2023. Have tasted it before though. I find it spicy in the nose, with some hints of raisin and oak. In the notes I found molasses, vanilla and more oak.
Review by crazyforgoodbooze
surprisingly strong for 40%. very good PLV. and very nice entry into the world of st Lucia !
Review by HenryL
Good, honest rum with a pleasant cinnamon spice note. A little thin in the mouth on its own, the finish is short. But I can imagine using it very well for mixing. Maybe in the Old Cuban? The price-performance ratio is definitely top!
Review by Rowald Sweet Empire
In the nose it reminds me a lot of Wortht Park. Fruity. Floral. Some wood. A bit of funk. Tastewise the same. Some licorice. Plums. Peaches. A bit too light/mild/thin though. This would be awesome around 50% I think. A very alround tasty rum. Very Jamaican-esque...a lot more than I expected
Review by Lutz Lungershausen
24 Days of Rum 2023, Blue Edition, Day 4 So this is it, the famous Chairmans Reserve. Beautifully fruity and fresh on the nose, powerful on the palate and in the finish - simply very "rum "ig.
Review by Mateusz
Greatly blended rum. There are characteristics of differently distilled and aged mollases really coming through. Retasting and for its so far the best value for money rum so far :)
Expert reviews
Reviews from RumX's blog partners, independent experts who have tasted, evaluated, and described this rum..
Expert review by Rum Diaries Blog
Read full review →
Expert review by Zucker und Zeste
"I like the nose better than the taste. A little watered down"
Community purchases
274 bottles logged by 52,000+ RumX members. The ratio of closed / opened / emptied, indicates whether this rum is meant to be drunk or is a collector's item.
Also on the wishlist of 91 members.
About the Saint Lucia Distillers distillery
The Saint Lucia Distillers distillery is located in Saint Lucia. Rums from Saint Lucia Distillers have been reviewed 4,602 times with an average of 8.2/10.
To Saint Lucia Distillers →You may also enjoy
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Oliver · FounderBy rum lovers, for rum lovers
I'm Oliver — together with Jakob, Robert and Lukas, we started RumX in 2018 as a small passion project in Stuttgart, back then under the name Rum Tasting Notes.
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