Is Atlantico on the sweeter side? Absolutely. It doesn’t bother me as much as it does others. If you’re looking for a dry rum though, this isn’t the rum for you.

Personally I found this rum tasting very artificial, as if some form of flavouring was used to quickly give it the citrus- and tangerine peel flavours that quickly turn to rooty tones in mouth. The sweetness is also too much for me – clearly a product made for the American markets. Sadly more & more rums are sweetened to a point that only pleases palates overly used to artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sorbitol) which achieve up to 200-times more sweetness than sugar does.

All in all, Atlantico may be ok in some cocktails, but a fine run – well, that’s a matter of opinion.

Sadly, Atlantico was one of them. At our forum we long established a section called “Twiggie Tie Dye Rums” for those very few rums that we believe have been secretly altered or flavored to an excessive extent. Although presented as “premium rums”, these are really highly modified concoctions best described as rum liqueuers.

Atlantico could well be the poster rum for this section. Here’s an exerpt from Sue Sea’s review…

“Atlantico Rum has a lovely and inviting aroma. It presented first as leather over a background of brown sugar, caramel and vanilla. The latter came forward – way forward – with airing. The early palate presented with great smoothness and honeylike sweetness, followed by a growing clove heat. The end palate was slightly astringent, with transitory molasses and leather. The finish too is clove hot and medium long. Atlantico leaves a not entirely pleasant sherry aftertaste and has a bit of what I call an exhale (a secondary experience that is actually pretty rare).

All in all, Atlantico is not particularly complex, surprising for an allegedly solera method rum of 15 plus years. It is consistent, but this rum is really a bit hollow (good entry and exit only). It struck me as heavy, thick bodied and liqueur-like and left a sweet residue on my lips.

What does this mean? Jim feels very strongly that Atlantico is anything but a pure rum and I am inclined to agree. With airing the vanilla becomes so dominant that it is almost offensive, at least from the viewpoint of the pure rum it purports to be.”

In my opinion Atlantico is just another taste engineered product of the marketing department. Their solera claim of 15 to 25 years does not withstand scrutiny. No green edge, and those scary, sloooooow legs that should give anyone pause. The lick-your-lips sweet residue, plus the need to clear the palate afterwards were likewise not favorable. Honestly, if I learned that someone had poured an entire bottle of artificial vanilla extract into my bottle as a joke, I’d have believed it. This rum is rather hollow and lacks complexity.

Hint: if a rum is hyped as “delicious… unlike anthing else in the market”, you can be sure it has been seriously altered.

In closing, if you seek a real and relatively pure Dominican/Cuban rum of real quality and memorability, I’d suggest Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva. Cartavio 5 Year is yet another.

Our complete review:
http://rumproject.com/rumforum/viewtopic.php?t=231&sid=dc17d443bd28c081fe86f29a030f8bd7

Hand crafted rum simply brilliant, best Dominican Rum I tasted yet.

Are you sure this isn’t just a private label of Ron Matusalem?

I heared about this Rum a lot lately. I had the opportunity to try it a few days ago in a private party and oh my God!! is simple delicious. I never expected Atlantico rum could be that great. Is far away better than others i tried before.

Glad you enjoy the site. Looks like you’re well along the way on your own path to rumvana as well.

Dood! Yeah mate, I kinda went missing for a while but I’m back now!! Life got in the way… how come I haven’t found your site before?! lol Rest assured I’ll be coming back regularly, great work! I’ll be writting some new posts soon so pop over and say hi again sometime