Tasting two rhums Bellevue from Guadeloupe

June 21, 2013

Tasting two rhums Bellevue from Guadeloupe

Because we still have a tropical climate over Alsace at time of writing. After the French Martinique, we’ll fly to sister island (and best enemy) Gualedoupe. There are quite a few indie Bellevues around these days...

Bellevue 15 yo 1998/2013 (46.8%, Sansibar, Guadeloupe)

Colour: deep gold. Nose: it’s a bigger, fatter style than other agricoles and in a way, we’re rather closer to heavy rums such as Caroni or some of the Demeraras. It’s actually the tarry side that’s quite spectacular, these green olives, the liquorice, the motor oil, the burnt bread, then the oranges… I like this! Mouth (neat): terrific rum, the pineapples are fantastic, and so are the mint, the eucalyptus, the liquorice… It’s not spirit, it’s a sin. More and more oranges after a while, which gives it more lightness. A few grassy notes too, all fine. Finish: long and fruitier. Citrusy notes lift the whole and make it… more-ish. Aaaargh! Comments: the fact that it’s whisky bottlers that made me discover Bellevue a while back takes the biscuit (and yup I’m still French). And the story goes on, thanks to Sansibar/The Whisky Agency… Danke schoen! SGP:651 - around 87 points.

Bellevue 14 yo 1998/2013 (54.4%, The Rum Cask, agricole, Guadeloupe, cask #84)

Colour: mahogany. Nose: even further toward phenolic, tarry and spicy notes, with also herbs such as parsley, lovage, soy sauce, then more rotting fruits (that’s great in this context), oranges, raisins… A big beast, this baby. With water: whah! Tar, tar and tar, then new rubber boots and strawberry jam. Lots happening here… Mouth (neat): we’re not far from the Sansibar despite the much darker colour, but on the other hand, the high strength makes it a little hard to enjoy, more so than with strong whisky in my opinion. Strong rum tends to become too hot quite quickly in my opinion. So, with water: we tamed it! Sweeter, rounder, fruitier and easier. Sugar cane, sour apples, bananas… Finish: long, big, kind of invading. Like Caroni or, say Albion, it hijacks your palate! Comments: very same high quality as the Sansibar. That one was a little more elegant and sexy, this one is more beastly… And both are much to my liking. Perfect malternatives. SGP:661 - around 87 points. (PS, in my opinion, rum needs at least a ‘1’ as the P in the SGP, or it’s too sweet and lumpy. Ah, forget about that…)

Check the index of all rums I've tasted so far