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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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May 8, 2022 |
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A crazy rum session because
it was about time |
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| Map of Guadeloupe from an old Air France magazine ad |
Rums have been piling up while we were busy with brandies. Time to have a few beasts, randomly and with an open heart. Only the apéritif won't be chosen at random (or it wouldn't be a proper apéritif)… |
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Dictador 'Claro - 100 Months Aged' (40%, Rum, Colombia; +/-2021) 
This well-aged baby (100 months = more than 8 years, as far as I can tell), is filtered after maturation, probably through some sort of charcoal, to catch that particularly pale colour while retaining the flavours, supposedly. Reminds me of all those 'light' whiskies in the 1970s… Colour: pale white wine. Nose: cellulose, a little paint thinner, sugarcane syrup, vanilla sugar… All that is extremely unobtrusive, you would really believe you're nosing cane syrup. . Mouth: akin to the fairly nice rhums they're having in Madagascar. Very light, smoother than smoothness, with touches of sugarcane indeed (check!) plus vanilla and some kind of wood varnish. It is really whispering and gets almost silent after around thirty seconds. Finish: almost non-existent. A little fruit alcohol, fantasy kirsch… Well, anything. Almost cane vodka. Comments: do not get me wrong, this is not horrendous at all, it's just, I believe, the lightest rum I've ever tried. All you need is a few ice cubes, Steely Dan and a swimming pool. I find it better than an earlier version from 2014.
SGP:210 - 70 points. |
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Mauritius Diamonds 7 yo 2015/2022 (64.8%, Alambic Classique Collection, Mauritius, cask #20025, 181 bottles) 
In theory, this could/should be the excellent Labourdonnais, but that's just a wild guess. I'm also glad to see that Alambic Classique keep firing on all cylinders. Colour: deep gold. Nose: a fresh agricole style, already complex despite the scarily high strength. A little burnt fudge, some tin, roasted peanuts, coconut liqueur, barbecued marshmallows… But then again, almost 65% vol., so let's not push our luck any further. With water: touches of vegetables (wee cabbage), metal polish, asparagus, cane juice, plasticine, new fir needles, grapefruit, a little seawater… It's a very unusual style for sure. Mouth (neat): a little shoe polish again, olive, lime, even a feeling of cachaça… But then again, 65%. With water: the best part, very vegetal, on high-class green tea, fennel, celeriac, liquorice wood… Finish: both a tad thin and pretty long, not a contradiction mind you. More roots and vegetables, parsnips for example… Comments: a very unusual style, much less 'obvious' than other recent distilleries, but really full of charms. Forgot to mention a drop of pastis in the aftertaste.
SGP:562 - 85 points. |
Random mode temporarily inactivated… |
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Chamarel 2014/2021 (55%, OB for LMDW and Navigate World Whisky, Mauritius, Highveld Aging Series, oloroso, cask #B30, 664 bottles) 
Matured for six years in Mauritius, then one year in South-Africa. This is pure pot-still distillation from sugarcane juice. Colour: amber. Nose: a fan. Feels much older, displaying wonderful hardwoods, polishes, toffee, chocolate, cigars, walnut stain, molasses (I know), earth, liquorice, cedarwood, coffee, camphor, roasted pecans… And much more. Rather riche and playful this far and you do feel that it was top oloroso. With water: touches of soy sauce coming out, hoisin… That's nice! Mouth (neat): this time there's a sweetness that feels a little 'pushed' but it's true that we've found this coffee-liqueury side in several Mauritian rums. Triple-sec, Kahlua, black chocolate, oloroso dulce perhaps… With water: water brings some welcome dryness, more tobacco, menthol, walnuts (from the oloroso I suppose), cocoa powder rather than coffee liqueur… That's all better news. Finish: medium, a tad salty and olive-y, which is great. Fermentation. Comments: a much rounder, sweeter Mauritian after the Alambic Classique, but water works well.
SGP:651 - 83 points. |
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Panamanian Rum 15 yo 2004 (62%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, #R9.7, 'Patacones with Pikliz', second-fill bourbon barrel, 229 bottles)
The only word I was knowing of in the nickname here was 'with'. Colour: deep gold. Nose: ten times more coffee liqueur in this one! Plus easter eggs, sugar-coated peanuts, cotton candy and, err, Bailey's Irish cream. With water: oh nice! Light cigars, walnut oil, a drop of oyster sauce, bagasse, tangerines about to start to begin to smell foul (wonder-foul!) Mouth (neat): huge sweetness, huge cane syrup as well. Plus a petroly side that, as far as I can remember, I had never found before in rums from this region of the world. With water: super good, despite some excessive sucrosity here and there and touches of cologne. Finish: medium, sweet, a tad liqueury but the core remains of high grade (given that this is a Panamanian). Comments: I suppose this was Don José. I'm not sure anyone could do much better within this style.
SGP:730 - 85 points. |
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Bonne Mère 6 yo (59.6%, Sample X, Rum Mercenary and Kintra, Guadeloupe, 242 bottles, 2021) 
This is 'rhum de sucrerie' or 'industriel', distilled in Sainte-Rose from molasses rather than cane juice. They used to produce the brands Delisle and Palmier. While not exactly part of the aristocracy of Guadeloupe or Martinique, these rhums can really deliver. Think Le Galion. Colour: gold. Nose: great fun! Citron and tangerine liqueurs, plus plain cane juice and a touch of aniseed. Very straight, pure, and pleasant. With water: even nicer! Wonderful whiffs of wormwood, genepy, verbena… All things that do not, as far as I can tell, grow in Guadeloupe. Mouth (neat): totally excellent and much more than just a filler. Once again, this is pure citron and tangerine liqueur, just probably better than citron and tangerine liqueur. Fennel seeds and celery in the background. Awesome freshness. With water: grassier, with olives, carbon, engine oil and liquorice. Fantastic. Finish: medium long, fresh, rather on mint, aniseed and liquorice. Salty absinth in the aftertaste. Comments: I think this is a first. Wonderful pure drop, very well caught, 'Sample X'.
SGP:651 - 88 points. |
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Domaine de Courcelles 1972/1973/2008/2009 'Grande Réserve' (58%, OB, Guadeloupe, for Rhum House Winterthur) 
These were the very last batches of Courcelles. There were different variants, at 42% (WF 90), 47% (WF 91), 54% (WF 91), plus this stronger one at 58% vol. that we haven't tried yet. It is ex-molasses as well, so rhum de sucrerie, made with the ex-Courcelles stills that had been moved to Sainte-Marthe after Courcelles Distillery was closed in 1964. These stills have then been in use only from 1964 to 1972. No ideas where they went after 1972, but I'm sure true rum experts could tell (please advise!) Just to make things clear, this was distilled in 1972, put into oak in 1973, casks disgorged in 2008, bottles filled in 2009. Colour: amber. Nose: you could really believe this is a very old agricole – or a very old Yquem. Flabbergasting pralines, chocolate, prunes (tons and tons), sloe, natural rubber, dried porcini and morels, tiny drops of rose and orange blossom waters, sandalwood and incense… But prunes are having the upper hand this far. With water: same, no changes. Mouth (neat): it's One and its myriads, would a bad poet say. Salted caramelised prunes. Oh, what a oneness (calm down, S.) With water: very old Yquem, once more. Caramel, mushrooms, apricots, quince, roasted nuts and, again and again, tons of prunes, plums of Ente, quetsche…. Finish: perhaps the weaker part because of touches of alcohol/ethanol, but we're nit-picking, it's still within the first decile, and easily. Comments: almost 93. Probably the best within all the Courcelles 1972. Hope we haven't tried them all, having said that.
SGP:641 - 92 points. |
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Plantation Barbados WIRD 1986/2022 (55.1%, West Indies Rum Distillery, Barbados, Extreme Series V, 286 bottles)
Mind you, this one is 34 or 35 years old. It is molasses rum, batch-distilled at the West Indies Rum Distillery, aged for 34 years in ex-bourbon in the tropics, then finished for one year in a 'Ferrand cask' – I would suppose that's ex-cognac. I would also suppose that last part is a gimmick, like the umbrella in the boot of any Aston Martin, which does not make them any faster or more reliable. Ha. Colour: gold. Nose: I'm not sure we've ever been this close to pure olive oil. And to old books and magazines, with a lot of old paper and ink, obviously. New-sawn plywood, sauna oils, a tiny bit of onion chutney, perhaps… With water: who remembers carbon paper? Also leather polish, old cars, old garage… Mouth (neat): you need to bow. Luminous citrus, marginally acetic, very faintly smoky (coal) and fermentary (chen-pi). With water: rather exceptional and somewhat in whisky territories. The oak starts to feel (was it already before the finishing part?) but at 35 years of age, there's strictly nothing to quibble about. Finish: medium, with some parts that do feel a little Jamaican. Brine, olives, tar… Comments: no 'sweetness' or 'dosage' as they call that funny practice whatsoever in this old WIRD, Any honest, candid taster will bow, I think. I certainly do, and we know that it wasn't easy after the Courcelles '72. Well done, trap thwarted!
SGP:562 - 91 points. |
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South Pacific 17 yo 2003/2020 (58.6%, The Rum Cask, Fiji)
What's a little strange is that our very good friends in Germany would have finished this entrancing (probably) Fijian rum in a 'Jamaica JNY cask'. I would be offended. Colour: gold. Nose: these Fijians are not very well known but they do deliver, with their smoky dried herbs and teas, the banana skins, drawing gum, leatherette, plasticine, camphory oranges, these whiffs of petroly and smoky hard cheese (see what I mean? Like some very old roqueforts)… With water: first rainwater after two months of drought, tarmac, olives and tinned bamboo shoots… Mouth (neat): very excellent, but is it the Fijian or is it Jamaica? Smoked and salted mangos marinated in olive oil. With water: super good, really. More smoky olives, rotting mangos, Swiss cheeses, carbon and rubber… Finish: long, salty, olive-y, with a little plastic and rubber. Which I find pretty Fijian. Comments: lovely, but careful with H2O. What's a 'Jamaica JNY cask', by the way?
SGP:463 - 88 points. |
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Enmore 30 yo 1998-1990 'Alpha & Omega' (51.6%, Jack Tar, Guyana, casks #42, 40, 55, 251 bottles)
A multi-vintage offering with a very constructivist label. I hope we'll soon be able to quote Russian art freely and lightly again. Colour: amber. Nose: very unusual, very lovely. Pine and thuja woods in the end of a hot summer day, caraway, cedar, cloves, borage, more cedarwood, even more cedarwood, eucalyptus wood, more thuja, more cedar, more eucalyptus, pencil shavings… I find this wanzenig (couldn't find a proper word in English). With water: extraordinary, otherworldly woodiness. Visiting any of Leonardo's workshops, in Italy or France. Mouth (neat): sublime. Maracuja, cedar and eucalyptus, all synchronised to perfection, like the Bill Evans Trio (whatever). With water: not sure it needed any water. Water's almost an interloper in this game. Finish: I'll dare say that we're in early 1970s Ardbegs territories. Aren't the greatest old spirits about convergence? Salty, tarry… Only the aftertaste is a tad bitterer, on propolis. Comments: what a session today! Now let's be fair, the tougher finish and aftertaste made it lose one %. Dura Lex etc.
SGP:373 - 92 points. |
We may be going overboard at this point, but is this Whiskyfun or is it only a pansy lifestyle blog for sissies? (diving to even lower lows now, S….) |
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J.Bally 1949 (45%, OB, Martinique, agricole, 75cl, 1980s)
An amazing old bottle from the Plantations Lajus du Carbet, in Martinique. This very rhum z'habitant was already labelled as 'agricole', even if the proper appellation (AOC) was only given in the year 1996. Now let's be honest, the oldest vintages are not always the best, my favourite Bally being the 1960 (which, very incidentally, is also my own year). Colour: deep amber with bronze hues. Nose: very dry, almost oloroso-y, with rather a lot of chocolate as well as a little pinewood. Espresso and a drop of fir liqueur, plus one drop of nocino (green walnut). Drops of meaty sauces as well, dry gravy… That's a lot of drops, eh. Mouth: a little jumbled, very meaty, bouillony, cardboardy, salty, dry… It's almost like some old bone-dry Madeira (remember Madeira has also got an agricole appellation!) Tends to become more cardboardy and salty over time, this is almost some kind of condiment for sashimi. Finish: medium, ultra-dry, oxidized, oloroso-y indeed. Beef stock and caramel in the aftertaste, not a bad feeling mind you. Comments: intellectual old rhum. Let's be honest, it couldn't fight the Enmore, the WIRD or the Courcelles.
SGP:361 - 85 points. |
That's ten, what a session again! Thank you everyone, there will be more soon, much more… |
 Check the index of all rums we've tasted so far
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