Real McCoy 12 year Single Blends

so, i've recently come into some single blend bottles of Real McCoy 12 year, selected by Smuggler's Cove and Lost Lake, from San Francisco and Chicago respectively. Anyone open either of these?

i have to confess i had an old fashioned with this rum at Lost Lake and it was pretty amazing. I tried the SmugCo bottle neat and wasn't very impressed but then had it in a barbados rum punch, which is basically a planter's punch with slightly less rum, and it was instantly the best thing i've put in my mouth, kinda like what drinking crystal clear caribbean sea would taste like if it was delicious and good for you.

anyone else using these? any suggestions on how to make the most if i open them up?

Off the top of my head, I can quickly offer the following options:

1. Generally, single-barrel 12-year "anything" is often intended to simply and slowly be sipped neat. But if you're not in love with them, then consider making cocktails.
2. Make a daiquiri with each and see how you like it. A number of us use the daiquiri as a simple cocktail for taste-testing new rums.
3. Grab a cocktail recipe book, pull up some recipes which call for that particular type and style of rum, and have fun with some experimental cocktails.

I looked up Bill McCoy in Wikipedia. Helluva rum runner (and yacht builder) in the early part of the 1900's. In my brief search I was not able to find solid evidence that "the real McCoy" saying can truly be attributed to him, although the distillery sure leans heavily on that story. There are a number of local stories about him here in my city. For example, that he often evaded government revenue men by hiding (and cooling) some of his stock underwater in the shallows of the cool St. Johns River. We have a great craft cocktail bar, "The Volstead," which has a few photos of him on display on their walls.

Cheers!

Edited to add #1 above - doh - should have had that in there right from the start.

The NSA can't see what's in your VCR.

[ Edited by: AceExplorer 2018-04-18 10:44 ]

Just edited my answer above to add this and re-number the text:

1. Generally, single-barrel 12-year "anything" is often intended to be simply and slowly sipped neat or with a single ice cube. But if you're not in love with the McCoy 12s, then consider making cocktails.

I haven't had the 12-year. If it's not great when you sip it neat, then cocktails is an honorable option.

Once in a while we get new rums with great names, good backstories, and awesome packaging. This does not guarantee the rum itself is great. I honestly have not heard negative reviews of the McCoy, so I hope the 12-year is good for sipping. Let us know what you do and how you find it. The base McCoy rums are not hard to find here in my part of Flori-duh, but the 12 year I have not seen yet.

Cheers!