
December 12, 2021

Selected Rums for the Festivus season

More and more rum coming my way. We shan't complain, naturally, but rum and brandy were only meant to make for gentle diversions from whisky and only on Sundays! Let's do this at random for more fun, and yet start it with a little apéro…

O Reizinho 'Gold' (45%, Latitudes, Portugal, Madeira, +/-2020)

We've already tried the version at 57% and thought it was rather excellent (WF 84). Remember Madeira has got its own legit 'agricole' appellation, just like Martinique. I think this one's pretty young and that it had spent some time in Madeira wood. Which for once, makes sense (ha). Colour: white wine. Nose: it's agricole but it is absolutely not in the style of a Martiniquan, as it's got many more esters and does, indeed, display a rather congeneric profile. As if someone had blended away some Jamaican, some tequila, some liquorice liqueur, and would have let the end result further age in pinewood. I seem to remember some cachaças that were a little like this – you're right, a cachaça session is long overdue on WF. Mouth: I'm very fond of this salty and pretty smoky make that, this time, would rather remind me some grogues from Cabo-Verde. Same school, I would suppose. Also gherkins, cucumbers, brine, lemon, the liquorice again and only touches of vanilla. A wonderful spirit, to think that I've never been to Madeira. Finish: rather long, salty, diesely, with a smoky aftertaste. Pinewood and lemon wood. Comments: these agricoles remain little-known but I'm sure that's going to grow. Lovely, very idiosyncratic make. I think I like this one even better than the one at 100 proof.
SGP:563 - 86 points.

Perhaps another pure cane juice…

Chamarel 2012/2021 (55%, The Navigator, Mauritius, Highveld Aging Series, Moscatel finish, cask #MOS 03, 298 bottles)

Indeed, pure cane juice, and this time a finishing in one of the sweetest wines there ever was, Moscatel. A good part had been distilled in pot still, the remainder in columns, in a Foursquare fashion. Colour: red coffee. Nose: what came from the rum and what stems from the moscatel? Hard to tell, but I'm rather fond of these big whiffs of shoe polish and burnt cake mingled with some varnish and pineapple liqueur. Loads of raisins later on, as expected, some liquorice, roasted chestnuts, embrocations (camphor) and umeshu. With water: warm sawdust chocolate, the rest remains virtually unchanged, just drier. Mouth (neat): good and reminding me of some older French agricoles. Some thick varnish ala old bourbon, sweet clove and orange jam, thyme and caraway liqueurs or sweets… I'm happy to report that I am not finding any obvious muscaty notes, rather more and more chocolate over time. Runny chocolate cake. With water: saltier and curiously reminiscent or the Madeiran. A little tar, while the whole would become much drier. Black tea. Finish: long, very dry. Raw chocolate with some salt and perhaps a little mustard. Cinnamon in the aftertaste. Comments: very good use of some Moscatel cask. No cloying sides whatsoever. One of my favourite Mauritians, I think.
SGP:461 - 87 points.

Since we've mentioned Foursquare…

Foursquare 12 yo 2009/2021 (61.5%, Whisky AGE, Barbados, barrel, 250 bottles)

I won't stop blogging about booze before I know of Foursquare's proportions, between column and pot still batches. Talking about their 'regular' output. Colour: gold. Nose: relatively light and even a little 'grainy' (I know this is rum) but that's always worked in FS. Vanilla, coconut and oranges, roasted raisins, blancmange, peanut syrup (ever tried that?) and Weetabix. With water: wee roots… I won't mention beetroots as that would be pure historical provocation, but there. Wee whiffs of cappuccino. Mouth (neat): ha, the 61% don't even feel, this is fresh, fully on triple-sec and acacia honey, with just a mocha-spoonful of maple syrup. Light-not-thin. With water: extremely typical. Oranges, acacia honey, maple syrup, a little sunflower oil, roasted pecans… And no coconut in the way. Finish: medium, fatter. Brioche dough and then coconut macaroons in the aftertaste. Comments: to paraphrase The Stranglers, never a frown with golden Foursquare.
SGP:641 - 87 points.

Guyana 15 yo 2004/2020 (57.2%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, #R2.12, 'A precious treasure trove', 1st fill bourbon barrel, 208 bottles)

Stuff from El Dorado/Demerara Distillers, obviously, but I don't feel like I'll go try to find out about the marque in the remotest corners of the darkest Internet. Let's call it 'Diamond'. Colour: straw. Nose: Port Mourant? Rather big benzine and olive oil, carbon paper, capers, acetone and ammonia, rotting bananas… Nutshell: all is well. With water: what, mashed turnips and Jerusalem artichokes? Old hessian, basement dust, graphite, coalpit… Mouth (neat): the best they have, the Ardbeg of Georgetown. Not for lovers of Bacardi or Havana Club for sure, but there are deep polishes and soots, even some coal, liquorice aniseed and camphor, and more rotting bananas. Big varnish too. All remains well and good… With water: salt up, with a feeling of tarry anchovies and brine. Finish: same. Class. Comments: friends who are not into spirits will believe we're mad when reading our ramblings. And that we're gluttons for liquid punishment. Anyway, great selection by the very honourable SMWS (I've got this from their Advent Calendar 2021).
SGP:463 - 90 points.

Back to Barbados (sounds like a new series on Netflix, does it not)…

Foursquare 14 yo (57.1%, Watt Rum for The Nectar, Barbados, 2021)

Early landed rum from Barbados selected and handled in Campbeltown/Scotland for Belgium. What's this world coming to? Colour: amber. Nose: ooh. Honey, milk chocolate, praline, butterscotch, baklavas and just distant whiffs of orange blossom water. Pretty simple, very perfect and streamlined. With water: more honey, hay wine, Bailey's (I know) and butterscotch. Mouth (neat): same feeling of flawless simplicity. Orange cake, touch of varnish, honey, maple syrup, butterscotch, a drop of cellulosic varnish (you've already mentioned varnish, S.) plus a small coconut ball. With water: back to butterscotch. Next up on Netflix, 'Back To Butterscotch in Barbados'. Seriously, brilliant FS. Finish: medium and a tad more on triple-sec. Lovely and unexpected earthy aftertaste. Comments: very excellent selection, up there with the very, very best officials. As if the proportion of pot-still FS was much higher here. Oh and as usual, the Belgians have it good, I think I'll write a letter to the European Commission (now, it's either booze or football – joking)..
SGP:641 - 90 points.

Back to Guyana (more Netflix stuff…)

Diamond 17 yo 2003/2021 (54.3%, Morisco Spirit, Guyana)

It seems that this one came from Diamond's Savalle still, which would suggest, Watson, that this would be Uitvlugt. Colour: amber. Nose: lighter than the SMWS for sure, perhaps even a tad thin, but very elegant, with some milk chocolate, macchiato, orange wine (I mean wine made out of oranges), then Golden Grahams and a dollop of pancake sauce. A wee floral side too (early dandelions in the Spring). With water: caramel cream. Who would resist caramel cream? Mouth (neat): punchier, with rather a lot of coffee liqueurs at first, then fudge and pistachio nougat. Sweet soft liquorice taking over. With water: lovely, really. Devilish fudges and toffees, a drop of amontillado, one of Italian hazelnut liqueur, perhaps even a little, err, Nutella? I'm sorry, really. Finish: medium, very cappuccino-y. Once again, rather macchiato in the aftertaste, with an unexpected drop of Williams pear eau-de-vie. Comments: too good, almost decadent and actually a little perverse. Come on, Nutella…
SGP:631 - 88 points.

Let's change island. Remember, technically, Guyana (ex-British Guyana) is part of the Caribbean…

Appleton Estate 18 yo 2003/2021 (63%, OB/Velier, Jamaica, Hearts Collection)

There was a very appealing Zoom tasting with this one the other day but I had no other choice than miss it. I feel shame, I'm not any better at that social part than a crossbreed of a tardigrade and an axolotl. Having said that, we've got a lot of details here (they're on the bottle), that there are 688 g congeners per hectolitre alcohol, that they've disgorged casks #420930 through #420950, and that they came up with 1,280 bottles. Colour: amber. Nose: what I'm always finding in those Appletons is hardwood, rosewood, also cedarwood, sandalwood… Behind that, thujas, taxus, pine, sour wines, cherries, brine, olives and capers. With water: bitter brine, amers, samphires, muds, stale seawater (a favourite), olives, tapenade, Maggi, miso… Mouth (neat): mesmerising. I'm not exaggerating. Many many vegetal oils, hevea, sesame, pumpkin seed, with something very 'roasted' which I always loved (roasted sesame oil, when its good it's fab), cashews, then just cane essence, bitter teas, cinchona and turmeric… Well this one's pretty conversational, is it not. With water: olives! Olives would save any booze. Olives and liquorice, with some peppermint liqueur. Finish: long and saltier yet. We've had seawater from the Mediterranean. Comments: I have to be careful because we'll now have an even older Appleton, but what the fudge, it'll be…
SGP:472 - 92 points.

Yeah I've missed the stories, but as they say in contemporary retro-marketing, never let a story get in the way of a great product…

Appleton Estate 37 yo 1984/2021 (63%, OB/Velier, Jamaica, Hearts Collection)

2197 g esters per hlpa this time and 650 bottles from some lovely casks ranging from #3391 to 3399… Well, provided they bottled everything, there wasn't much left in those woods. We know marketeers are pushing tropical aging, but between us, what do accountants really think? Colour: red mahogany. Nose: it's going to be tough after the 2003, that's obvious. More jams, more old rose liqueur (Cyprus?), more cloves and cumin, putty, used engine grease (old gearbox), whiffs of peonies, even notes of high-brow sangria, but we're somehow missing the 2003's impeccable oomph and assertiveness. With water: old grocery store, old rubber hoses, charcoal, burnt pinecones… You just cannot make any spirit any drier. Mouth (neat): wood extracts. Spectacular, but really tough. The ristretto-est of all ristrettos, like, it evaporated even before it ever got to your lips. With water: a little easier – but it remains tough – and extremely piney. Rubber boots macerated then distilled and aged in new thuja wood. Finish: very long, which is part of the problem. Big resins. Comments: you wouldn't score the drawing of a mammoth done by a Neanderthal Picasso on a cave's walls, would you. Good, conservatory score. The magnificent 2003 totally slaughtered this 1984, while I'm reminded of those very old Irish that Cadenhead used to have 30 years ago. All pinewood juice.
SGP:182 - 80 points.

Good, so indeed, the 2003 any time; let's move on.

Trinidad 20 yo 20 yo 2001/2021 (65.6%, La Maison du Whisky, Conquête, 65th Anniversary)

What a stunning constructivist bottle! Between Malevich and Kandinsky, we'll find our way… Oh and I'm happy to report that the great folks at La Maison seem to have thought that it was important to add, at 65.6% vol., that this baby had been bottled at cask strength. They could not hide it any longer anyway. Colour: amber. Nose: Caroni or Angostura? I got an idea… It's one of those floral ones, with flabbergasting topical fruits plus jasmine and ylang-ylang, floral earths, compost, mangos, lemongrass, spearmint… and a rather petroly background. Well, I find this one sublime. With water: old Chinese grocery store, plastics, geranium and mutton suet. Mad stuff. Mouth (neat): sublime. Please call the Anti-Caroniporn Brigade. Sure the oak's a little loud and even dominant, but that would translate into collector-level notes of old Chartreuse and Bénédictine. With water: yes. Timut pepper, fennel and spearmint. Finish: long, fresh, almost mentholy. Comments: well, if this was a conquest indeed, we've been defeated. I could tell you about that amazing constructivist exhibition at the Guggenheim sometime in the 1990s, named Paris-New York, but that would be bragging way too much. If you need the catalogue, just ask. Sublime rum.
SGP:572 - 91 points.

We've already tried a lot from a whisky drinker's POV, but when there's a will, there's a way…

Clarendon 27 yo 1995/2021 (61.3%, The Whisky Jury, Jamaica, refill barrel, 270 bottles)

When do they call them Clarendon and when do they call them Monymusk? No ideas, we're only simple whisky guys… But great work on the labels, Jury, great spirits have always got something transcendental, if not religious. Every bottle is an ex-voto, is it not? Colour: rich amber. Nose: yah. Varnish, upholstery, seafood, soy sauce, old bourbons, beeswax, mint cordial, liquorice, menthol and terpenes, tar liqueur, absinth, acetone… With water: leafier. Autumn leaves, walnut skins, olives, glutamate, Maggi… Mouth (neat): below the limits of over-oakiness, that's sorted. A lot of menthol and liquorice, though, but remember, we're flying above the 61% vol. mark. This is almost the I.S.S. With water: more petrol and brine. Very salty brew, almost a little intimidating in that respect. Do they grow olives and oysters in Jamaica? No-ganja-to-be-found though. Finish: very long, salty, petroly, totally Jamaican. There's a debate to be had around the notions of 'aging', and 'location' and 'maturation', and 'climate' and stuff. Indeed, you could call that 'war'. Comments: olive-y glory. Have I mentioned olives? This is olive oil.
SGP:473 - 90 points.

This is not reasonable but since the next one comes from Kate and Mark Watt's racing stable, and since I'd trust them blindly and even when Covided-up to the brim… It's just that we'll do this quick…

Clarendon 16 yo 2004/2021 (57.1%, Watt Rum, Jamaica)

Colour: full gold. Nose: soy sauce, glutamate, quince jelly, olive paste, moss, menthol tobacco (Kools). And there. With water: model glue, balsa wood, nail polish and linoleum. We said we'd keep this short, right? Mouth (neat): yeah very good, salty oak, lemony olives, liquoricy menthol, acrid aniseed… With water: deep salty mossy lemons, a tad extreme now. Very grassy and salty, the more water you add, the more it would get herbal and tough. And very piney. Extremely hard to control. Doesn't swim very well, to say the least. Finish: long and tough. Very good at natural strength – but remember, 57.1% - getting difficult when watered down. Clarendon/Monymusk is tough and a dresser isn't a filler. See what I mean… Comments: I'm not sure this tasting note made any sense, but it is not an easy spirit for sure. Bitter olives, anyone? Leaves? Ueber-leafiness?
SGP:273 - 86 points.

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