Mount Gay Rum Distilleries, a brand of New York-based Rémy Cointreau USA, unveils the first edition of the Master Blender Collection with the launch of XO The Peat Smoke Expression. The limited-edition blend is a complex amalgamation that marries the aromas of ripe bananas and toasted notes of Mount Gay XO with the salty and smoky notes coming from peated whisky casks, the company says.

Crafted by Mount Gay Master Blender Allen Smith, XO The Peat Smoke Expression embodies the meeting of two exceptional lands: the island of Barbados, the birthplace of rum, and the island of Islay, the homeland of peated whisky, it explains.

To produce this batch of only 6,120 bottles, Smith carefully selected and combined column and pot still rums, matured for eight- to-15 years in American oak barrels. The blend is then finished in peated whisky casks from the Isle of Islay, Scotland, for an additional six months resulting in a complex array of salty and smoky notes, the company adds.

"For this limited-edition blend, I have worked to capture the perfect balance of elegant rum overtones and mellow, peated whisky undertones," Smith said in a statement. "This one-of-a-kind blend is sure to please the most discerning of palates with its unconventional character, freshness and aromatic complexity," he explains.

Each bottle features vintage-style labels and is individually numbered, adding to the rarity of the collection. The edition is bottled at cask strength, 57 percent alcohol by volume (ABV). Offered in 750-ml bottles, 1,200 bottles of XO Peat Smoke Expression will be available in the United States at select premium retailers and eCommerce merchants for a suggested retail price of $250.