Aroma visualization from community tastings
English Harbour 25 Years 1981
Sip this one neat and slow — it's an old-school Antigua column-still rum, distilled 1981 and aged 25 years. Caramel, vanilla and molasses lead, with a soft smoky, woody finish. Round, balanced and gently sweet, everything sits in its place. The catch that comes up again and again: bottled at 40%, it reads thin and diluted, and several drinkers wish it had kept its cask strength.
The community says- Rounded and balanced
- Genuine 25y depth
- But: Thin at 40%
View price history
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The look inside the bottle
How does English Harbour 25 Years 1981 taste?
Aggregated from 16 community reviews.
Elegant old column-still rum, soft at 40% Beautifully polished and rounded, but the 40% dilution is the recurring gripe — tasters love the elegance yet wish for more power and body.
fans of soft, aged column-still rum
anyone wanting cask-strength power
How the community classifies this rum. Each category takes you to similar rums.
Which glass for which rum? The community guide →
7 of 16 left detailed tasting impressions · Click an aroma to explore similar rums
Recommendation
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How is English Harbour 25 Years 1981 rated?
RumX’s 0–10 scale is strict: 8.0 sits in the “Very good” band. 87% of tasters rate it Good or better; only 0% rate it below average. See the full rating guide →
Community voices
What does the community say?
69% rate it 8 or higher. 5 selected write-ups from 16 community ratings. You can view the complete list in our app.
Review by Stefan Persson
Most helpful positive review
It’s a great super smooth rum and the best column still that I’ve ever tasted. Earlier before the price went up to todays levels I bought every bottle I found following the advice I read somewhere “If you got the chance to buy a bottle, don’t miss it”.
Review by DomM
Most helpful mixed review
I like the nose. On the palate you can detect that this is aged for quite some time. However, it feels very thin and diluted (here compared to Appleton 21y) and rather sweet overall.
Review by Leo Krüper
Beautiful rum from another time. Very round, balanced, sweet, old, woody. Without flaws. Unfortunately, we are used to more rough edges and %% these days, otherwise my rating would be much higher. Top rum certainly at the time.
Review by Jarek
Die Zuckerzugabe könnte man noch verzeihen, die Menge scheint nicht hoch zu sein. Aber die Verdünnung auf 40% raubt dem Rum alle Kraft und bleibt eine unverzeihliche Sünde. Schade… Nachtrag: Heute nochmals ein 2cl Sample gegönnt und der Eindruck bestätigt sich wieder. Gerne hätte ich den Rum in Fassstärke probiert.
Review by wally74
Mega leider aber nicht mehr zu bekommen
Expert reviews
Reviews from RumX's blog partners, independent experts who have tasted, evaluated, and described this rum..
Expert review by The Fat Rum Pirate
Read full review →Yes I'm pretty sure I would. This isn't rum that will put hairs on your chest nor is it Pyrat or Zacapa - it does a lot of things very well but ultimately lets itself down when really it had no need to.
Live auctions
Current bids for this rum at Europe's leading auction houses.
Market value
What this bottle last achieved at auction. A research indicator, not a forecast.
Auction results 315 € – 552 €
from 2 sales, latest 07/2026
Prices incl. buyer's premium — what a buyer pays, not what a sale nets you.
Avg. community purchase price 334 €
What members paid for this bottle, self-reported. Not a market value — the purchases are over three years old at the median and unverified.
Details about English Harbour 25 Years 1981
A Column Still Rum from Antigua, distilled by The Antigua Distillery, at 40%.
Community purchases
43 bottles logged by 32 collectors.
A collector's bottle.
11% opened, 3 emptied and repurchased.
What does English Harbour 25 Years 1981 cost?
Community paid 125–331 €.
Current best price: 399.00 € – above the typical community range.
What members actually paid for their bottles. A typical range, not the current shop price. Full price & collection history in RX+ →
43 purchased · 17 tasted · 19 wishlist · as of
About the The Antigua Distillery distillery
The The Antigua Distillery distillery is located in Antigua. Rums from The Antigua Distillery have been reviewed 1,382 times with an average of 7.9/10.
To The Antigua Distillery →Read on in the RumX Guide
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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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