Aroma visualization from community tastings
RA Barbados Rum Rockley Style BBR 1986
Barbados that doesn't taste like Barbados — that's the first surprise. This 1986 Rockley leans smoky, waxy and medicinal, closer to an old Speyside than tropical rum, with honey and honeycomb running through it. Layer in mango, litchi, tannin needles and resin, and you get a rum tasters call surreal. The recurring catch: for all its complexity, the finish sometimes runs shorter than the nose promises.
The community says- Deep honey character
- Alcohol perfectly integrated
- Layered, complex nose
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The look inside the bottle
How does RA Barbados Rum Rockley Style BBR 1986 taste?
Aggregated from 89 community reviews.
Smoky, honeyed old Rockley for sippers Loved to near-perfect scores for its honey, smoke and beautifully buried 53.7% alcohol. A few find it too smoky, too sweet, or simply not their profile — and some feel the finish falls short.
Rockley fans and drinkers who chase smoky, waxy, honeyed old rums
Anyone put off by smoke or medicinal, whisky-like notes
How the community classifies this rum. Each category takes you to similar rums.
39 of 89 left detailed tasting impressions · Click an aroma to explore similar rums
How is RA Barbados Rum Rockley Style BBR 1986 rated?
RumX’s 0–10 scale is strict: 9.3 sits in the “Excellent” band. 98% of tasters rate it Good or better; only 0% rate it below average. See the full rating guide →
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Current bids for this rum at Europe's leading auction houses.
Community voices
What does the community say?
4% rate it between 6 and 8. 17 selected write-ups from 89 community ratings. You can view the complete list in our app.
Review by Tom Buteneers
Pretty much perfect. One of the very best rums I could taste to date. A bit more medicinal in the nose than I'm used to from Barbados. Alcohol is perfectly integrated. The whole thing is extremely well balanced.
Review by Guido Pohlig
Das war DER nahezu perfekte Rum
Review by Christoph H.
One of the world's best rums fällig? For me, this applies to this one in many respects, even objectively considered. Because what the perfectly selected barrel in fasst 35 perfect years here with the rum has organized, is just madness and definitely liquid gold.After about three quarters of an hour, you get here in the form of intense honey, beeswax, pine needles, resin, mango, vanilla and smoke Rockley essence presented...and in its most intense form. Not an ounce of alcohol here tangents this outstanding aroma package. The palate is incredibly oily, sweet, velvety, warm and not a trace of alcohol. The only thing that keeps me here from 100 points, are the perhaps 4% too little ABV and that the world's best PMs according to my gusto are again somewhat more complete
Review by Mr. Stups
Diese Honigsüße ist der Wahnsinn. Vom Geschmacksprofil total anders... Leichte Zitrusfrüchte sind zu schmecken. Im Abgang eine wunderbare dezente Rauchnote
Review by Sebastian Kornett
Not at all recognizable as Barbados on the nose. You can taste that it has been matured continentally. The nose is very complex. I don't know many others that have so much to offer. Very floral, soft and elegant in the mouth. Finishes slightly sweet with some saltwater olive and young wood. Would love to try one that has been tropically matured.
Review by tojo
So, jetzt ist er dran, der hochgelobte RA Rockley. Zurecht? Ja! Schon mit der ersten Geruchsprobr kommt einem die volle Bandbreite an süßen Früchten entgegen: Litschi, Orange, Mango, allerlei gelbe Früchte. Zudem tolle Noten von Honig und Bienenwach. Angenehme Holznoten. Im Geschmack ein ähnlich guter Eindruck. Tropische Früchte, Mirabellen, Kaffee, Gewürze. Auch hier eine angenehme Süße mit Honig und Bienenwabe. Kleiner Wermutstropfen: Der Abgang ist eher kurz. Hier geht auch ein Danke an Oliver für das 30DoR-Sample!👍
Review by Johannes
Benchmark Rockley! ❤️A liquid dream!Compared to the SS, Nobilis and Plantation, it has both the best nose and the best palate. Very nice roundness, alcohol top integrated, some smoke, but overall a honey monster!
Review by crazyforgoodbooze
by far the most complex of the 8 1986 Rockleys I know. incredibly creamy, drinkable & harmonious. For me, on a par with the silver Seal, even if it is stylistically somewhat different. but this combination of mango, papaya, allspice, olives, vanilla and fresh acacia honey with creme brulee, sandalwood and tonka/vanilla is simply gigantic! Hammer! absolutely brilliant stuff, chapeau to RA, you delivered great cinema here back then!🙏🇧🇧💥💣
Review by SaibotZtar
What a grenade ... words fail me ! A rum for the whole evening ... enjoyment and amazement in the glass! Incredibly complex mango, papaya and honey with a hint of smoke. One of the best bottlings from the master Dominik Marwede... too bad that this chapter is over.
Review by Christoph
This rum is almost surreal. The alcohol is so well integrated here that you can fully engage in a relaxed aroma journey through a flower meadow, a forest and a plantation with tropical fruits.
Review by Pavel Spacek
Sweet vanilla, floral woody on tongue that I have tasted never before EDIT: soo technical and fruity on nose. Glue, peaches, flowers, vanilla, wood on tounge. And sooo fresh! This one is the best WIRD 86 among all I have tasted.
Review by Thomas Wille
Danke, liebes RA Team 🥃👍🏻
Review by Carlitooo
Present and intense from the start (SS needs some time, DT too). Super balanced in comparison (SS brings more corners and edges / DT slightly diluted).
Review by Piddusan
Impressive rum for complexity power and length. It has all the good notes of the best wirr 86 without any bitterness. Chapeau
Review by mto75
der RA 86er im Vergleich mit dem Nobilis 86er. Beide mit dieser einzigartigen kräutrigen, medizinischen, blumigen Rauch-Honig-Note an der Nase. Beim Nobilis habe ich noch Orangenschale. Der RA wirkt etwas kantiger bzw. ausdrucksstärker, und das obwohl der Nobilis etwas höher beim ABV ist. Am Gaumen beide getoastes Fass, Grapefruit.
Review by Mirco
Rockley Tasting 1986/87/2000 Absolut grossartiger Rockley. Für mich die beste Abfüllung.
Review by Lukas Jäger
Online tasting from Rum Depot: Brutally good stuff that is difficult to describe. In particular, the nose is so horny and complex that I digressed again and again while sniffing and did not get what Dominik Marwede actually tells. Even the finish develops first and becomes more intense. A rum with a great name, which he rightly carries!
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Expert reviews
4 critics scored it, averaging 9.5/10. 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 Zucker und Zeste
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Expert review by Barrel Aged Thoughts
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Details about RA Barbados Rum Rockley Style BBR 1986
A Pot Still Rum from Barbados, bottled by Heinz Eggert GmbH, at 53,7%.
Community purchases
138 bottles logged by 39 collectors.
A collector's bottle.
5% opened, 4 emptied and repurchased.
What did the community pay for RA Barbados Rum Rockley Style BBR 1986?
Community paid 321–1,040 €.
What members actually paid for their bottles. A typical range, not the current shop price. Full price & collection history in RX+ →
138 purchased · 90 tasted · 129 wishlist · as of
About the West Indies distillery
The West Indies distillery is located in Barbados. Rums from West Indies have been reviewed 7,507 times with an average of 7.6/10.
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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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