Aroma visualization from community tastings
MHOBA Bushfire
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"Barbecue rum!" is how one member summed it up, and that's the honest picture. MHOBA charred local sickle bush staves into this, and the result is huge bacon, campfire smoke and grilled-meat notes over cane juice and funky esters. Several tasters found it thinner on the palate than other MHOBA, with the smoke almost swallowing the rum. Genuinely unlike anything else — but very much a love-it-or-leave-it thing.
The community says- Truly unique
- Bacon and BBQ notes
- But: Smoke overwhelms rum
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The look inside the bottle
How does MHOBA Bushfire taste?
Summarized by AI from 114 community reviews.
Liquid barbecue: bacon, smoke, grilled meat People agree it's the most unusual thing they've tasted — liquid BBQ, bacon and campfire smoke. Some love the experiment, others find the smoke drowns the rum. Not a daily sipper.
Aroma profileAdventurous drinkers who want smoky, meaty, one-of-a-kind rum
Anyone who dislikes heavy smoke or wants a classic rum profile
Style & occasion: Mature & oaky
Recommendation
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Rated better
MHOBA Strand 151 2021
8.5/1085 €
Milder
Albert Michler Distillery Uitvlugt 1998 Guyana
8.2/10
Similar rating, cheaper
MHOBA American Oak Aged Rum 2019
7.6/1036 €
Nothing for you?
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First choice: 28 of 31 tasters who tried both prefer it.
Community voices
What does the community say?
114 community reviews
32 selected write-ups on this page, all of them in the RumX app
Rate it in the app
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 crazyforgoodbooze
Most helpful positive review
Pure BBQ! Smoky, bacony, and all that goes with it. No idea how they do it without fatwash, etc., but this thing is a blast. But only if you're into meat 🤣
Review by TheRhumhoe
Most helpful mixed review
A unique Mhoba thanks to its ageing in local wood, which gives it exceptional aromas. The nose offers real meaty notes: meat, bacon, smoky and roasted notes make us think of a Sunday barbecue. The woody notes are followed by esters for funkiness, sugar cane for vegetation and banana and dried fruit for fruitiness. An atypical profile that comes across quite well. On the palate, dark, empyreumatic notes take center stage. Esters, spices, dried fruits and salt share the little space on the palate crushed by the improvised barbecue. At the crossroads of funk, barbecue, heaviness and fermentation, this is a highly original profile. The finish, of decent length, leaves a sensation of burnt wood and smoky notes. Floral and sugarcane notes counterbalance the empyreumatic warmth. A rum to enjoy with a barbecue, of course.
Review by Timo Groeger
Mhoba is not bad, this one is okay, but there are much better ones. The nose is mostly woody but also a bit smoky. On the palate also lots of wood, very dry, intense and smoky rum. Alcohol well integrated.
Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
#4915 Whisky Live in Paris 27.09.2024-30.09.2024. Another great event meeting a lot of RumX new and old friends. This year three weren't as many new releases as in 2023, but I still had a great time. Nose Faint wood, smoke, light grass, light olive, fruits, sugarcane, light citrus, light tomato. Palate Warm, smoke, light wood, grass, light cherry, olive, sugarcane.,light salt, light earthy, light tomatoes, medium dry, light cinnamon. Finish Long and warm, light wood, smoke, cinnamon, light banana, light cherry, light grass, light salt. I would prefer this one in a mixed, but it's still pretty amazing as a sipper.
Review by Jussi Piirainen
Edit: Added a photo On the nose: Woody, smoky notes upfront. More sugarcane and agricole notes appear after the sits in the glass. Taste: Oh yeah, its like having a quite intense smoky barbeque in your mouth. The alcohol is integrated well in this rum. Finish: Sugarcane juice notes try to appear in vegetal and floral notes in the background of smoky notes. Again the finish is quite dry. I have give extra points on creativity and originality for these guys. You have to have a palate for intense rums and smoky aromas in order to enjoy this rum.
Review by Stefan Persson
Tasted this, my first Mhoba Rum, at the Rhum Fest Paris 2026. The distillery was founded by Robert Greaves and started to distilling rum 2013 using a self-built pot still. Mhoba don’t always age their rum in a traditional way using barrels, instead much of their rum is aged using glass demijohns with input staves of wood. These staves is commonly made of American or French oak, but in this case it comes from local wood called sickle bush that’s charred. As most of their rum also this one is produced from cane juice in a pot still. The nose is burnt, smoky, woody, buttery, fruity, roasted and spicy with scents of sugarcane, popcorn, dried fruits, pineapple, banana, leather, ester and vanilla. At the palate it’s intense, dry, funky, woody, smoky, burnt, roasted, charred and spicy with flavors of sugarcane, caramel, pineapple, banana, ester, salt and pepper. The finish is medium long.
Review by Александр Иванов
Color: intense ruby. Nose: Powerful! Sweet toasted cherry wood, dry apricots, sweet cherries, sugarcane, burn cedar, some tobacco, cinnamon, caramel, maple syrup. Taste: Sweet & powerful. Lot of toasted plums & pears, bananas, cherries, maple syrup, some cinnamon, dark honey, molasses, brown sugar, some coil. Wery tasty! Aftertaste: medium-lond. Dry wood, sweet apricots, cherry candies, cinnamon, little bit of ginger & some bitter chocolate. Very nice.
Review by Johannes
Now I understand the name of the rum. It has a lot of influence from smoky aromas, campfires, probably from a very heavily toasted barrel. The DNA of Mhoba is still recognizable, but it doesn't meet my taste.
Review by Air-one
This Mhoba Bushfire rum is rather atypical due to its smoky notes. The nose is complex, smoky, meaty and smooth offering a nice introduction. The mouth, in the same vein, is clearly dominated by smoky and charcoal notes. The finish lives up to the nose and mouth.
Review by Rhum Mirror 🇧🇪
Haaa, the nose is atypical. It's a mix between cane juice, smoke and BBQ. It is rather strange but intriguing (positively). On the palate, the 55% do the job, it's hot as a fire. We find heavy and meaty notes: well grilled bacon, meat coming out of the smoker, it's salty and very aromatic. The finish is very long on the ashy-burnt. There is also a little touch of flambéed banana in the dessert. I don't know what Mhoba did to get this flavor profile, but it's pretty amazing and successful.
Review by Henry Davies
This was an interesting one. The nose is relatively muted, but comes to life on the mouth. Lacks the normal Mhoba elements of tropical rotting fruit and leads with something more whisky like, with venison and biltong notes at the back of the mouth - not something you find often. The smoke is reminiscent of a Laphroaig or similar but more BBQ in nature and builds as if you have inhaled BBQ smoke. In terms of taste it’s not perfectly balanced, with some red wine notes alongside the meat and smoke. I don’t love it but can appreciate the experimentation and glad to have tried
Review by Richard Krupa
This is crazy. My first rum in which I smell smoked and salami
Review by Gil Firth
Bottle What is this cool thing! Maybe not a rum to drink every day but interesting and fascinating. Impressions of za'atar. Burnt spices. Esters. Meat towards the finish. Full of interesting things, annoying, burnt, light grassy, olives. Great fun and definitely unique.
Review by Palo - V Poháriku
Tasting this was an interesting experience, but I wasn't blown by the flavours as much as some people are.
Review by Rowald Sweet Empire
Very unique dram. Funky high esther spirit with dry smoky braai wood and a vegetal/greenhouse taste (like the a-typical 2000s Clynelishes). I never tasted anything like this before and its weird...but its good weird you know.
Review by Gd Flo
It's an experience! But not to my taste 😳I had preferred the 2021 version to the 2022 version of the Rum Society.
Review by Adam Rajchert
Z moich starych notatek: Zapach: pieprz, wosk, skóra, gałka, drewno, toffee, kawa, chipsy bananowe, BBQ Smak: pełny, pieprzny, pikantny, trawiasty, banany, kawa, toffee, przyprawy, ostrożyny z ołówka, gałka muszkatołowa, cynamon, gorzka czekolada, chili, papaja nasiona, kakao, dym, mięso z grilla Finisz: długi, pikantny, czekoladowy, trawiasty, popiół
Review by Roman Lelek
Beautiful aroma of Burnt Wood, reminds me a bit of Jamaica, also in taste - alcohol...but the finish is smoother...I'm writing it down in my wishlist...
Review by xasmx
Holy smokes. No wonder they called this a bushfire. I'm sure there are people who will enjoy this, but not my rum profile at all.
Review by Tomáš Jankovský
I like mhobas. But for me this is really unique. All review i read tells true. This is like liquid barbecue. It smells and tastes like good barbecued meat on oily grill. Smokeness. Bacon tones. Really interesting experience.
Review by Philip M. 🇧🇪
08/05/2026: Road Rummers S09T05 @ TastToe. At first, this is a weird experience, even for Mhoba. Apparently they used heavy burnt staves and put those into the barrel. You get huge bacon, BBQ and smoky notes. I kind of liked this experiment, but won't be a daily sipper.
Review by John Coffey
Quite a taste of barbecue... Alcohol not super integrated though...
Review by Kamil Kopij
It's a crazy rum. Never tasted something like that. Barbecue rum!
Review by St. Dubs
Very interesting, and I can understand how this one could be controversial. The smokiness is dominent across the whole palate. The finish is a bit more earthy or like pencil shavings. All in all, tastes and smells like a barbecue/campfire. Enjoyable and unique.
Review by Maarten Leewis 🇳🇱
On the nose a nice surprise. On the palate my first impression was too much smoke. Don’t like too smoky flavours in my drink. But after a few sips it mellowed out and became more pleasant.
Review by Jacques etdom
Nose of tropical fruits, banana, smoke (which intensifies with aeration) and a grilled meat side. A nice presence on the palate on these same markers, accompanied by a nice sweetness. Very decent finish on the smoke, a salty side and a bit of fruit acidity. Rated taking into account this nice quality-price ratio.
Review by Stijn Zino
Nice promosing nose, but the flavours don't deliver. Salty umami flavours, but could be stronger imo.
Review by martin slezák
Farba tmava az do cervena. Vo voni drevo, slanina, salama, lak na parkety, V chuti raselina, barbeque omacka, udenina, klinceky, zaver stredne dlhy
Review by Chaos Tsume
Great experience
Review by Pavel Ungr, RumRock
With 7.8 out of 10 it is a good, though not exceptional rum.
Review by High Ester Maitai
It is very intense rum. Something like unage jamaican or agricole. On the nose, it hit with a chemical nail polish like smell. In the background is smoke, fried smoked bacon. On pallet, it's nearly completely different. Inense smoke something close to smoked meat, campfire, BBQ, toasted wood. Latter fruits, something close to berry liqueur (tatratea forest fruits), and subtle black tea. Finish is medium-short smoke slowly disappear. I really love this rum. Intensity is for me on the edge; smoke is very nice and complex. The only bad thing is that this rum is too much of a vessel for smoke.
Review by thomas m
Macerated bbq wood
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Expert reviews
3 critics scored it, averaging 6.6/10. Reviews from RumX's blog partners, independent experts who have tasted, evaluated, and described this rum.
Expert review by Zucker und Zeste
Wicked stuff. Smoky, bacony, even smokier on the palate than on the nose. Seems thinner in mouthfeel than other Mhoba
Expert review by The Dunder Hut
Uff, this is really rough. You hardly recognise the rum behind the raw cured ham. But not the good kind. More the cheap industry hams. I really find it hard to enjoy this The rum is kind of okay. But in the end it just has too many off notes...
Expert review by Single Cask Rum
Read full review →
Community shelf
52 bottles logged by 48 collectors.
A drinker's rum.
44% opened, 6 emptied.
What does MHOBA Bushfire cost?
Community paid 46–68 €.
Current best price: 57.90 € – within the typical community range.
Purchase prices reported by members, not a shop price. Avg. 52 €. Full price & collection history in RX+ →
52 purchased · 117 tasted · 32 wishlist · as of
Details about MHOBA Bushfire
A Pot Still Rum from South Africa, distilled by MHOBA, at 55%.
About the MHOBA distillery
The MHOBA distillery is located in South Africa. Rums from MHOBA have been reviewed 2,524 times with an average of 8.2/10.
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Oliver · FounderBy rum lovers, for rum lovers
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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