A few rums to warm us up


September 28, 2025

A few rums to warm us up

In Alsace, temperatures have dropped by over 15°C in just one day, and now it’s raining cats and dogs - sadly not bottles. Thankfully, the rums are here to whisk us straight off to the tropics and warm our hearts. But let’s start with an aperitif or two from the lower shelves, as we often do...

Ampov Distillery in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (Ampov)

Ron Quorhum QRM '30 Aniversario Solera' (40%, OB, Dominican Republic, +/-2025)

Everything is there, the grandiose '30' implying an age statement – gleefully adopted as a genuine age by a good number of retailers, naturally – the grandiloquent 'Old Vintage Rums' signature and all that jazz. All this for €70. What a state of affairs! Naturally, this is also a 'solera'. Colour: full gold. Nose: not the worst, it's not particularly expressive, with some coffee liqueur and corn syrup, we're mercifully spared the tenfold pineapple essence one fears in such cases. But we know the real action begins on the palate... Mouth: we're still somewhat teetering on the brink of overt sweetness, though that glucose edge is felt. Still, one can't shake the impression of a bargain-bin coffee liqueur, the sort peddled in (real) duty-free outlets for €5.50 a bottle. Finish: short, faintly bitter, with more of that syrupy character lingering in the aftertaste. Comments: we've nosed and sipped far worse this year. With copious ice or Coke, one could get away with this, it's acceptable.
SGP:620 - 49 points.

Matusalem 'Gran Reserva Original - Solera 15' (40%, OB, Dominican Republic, +/-2025)

We last sampled this well-known baby back in 2009 and found it rather good (WF 75) though we've since gained a little more experience. Here again, the '15' is just a number, not a true age statement, though most retailers – Amazon included, naturally – market it as a 15-year-old. In fact, the label reads 'Solera 15 Blender'. It also recalls that the house was originally established in Santiago de Cuba. Colour: gold. Nose: more on honey than the Quorhum, though conversely less on sugarcane. In short, very inoffensive... Mouth: somewhat similar to the Quorhum, albeit drier, and yet with a touch more orange liqueur this time. Finish: the finish is passable, short but not unpleasant. Comments: not a sipper either, that’s for sure. Let’s not trouble ourselves trying to rank them... In any case we were rather generous back in 2009, though perhaps that was a different batch altogether, especially as the livery has changed since.
SGP:520 - 49 points.

Right then, time to shift up a gear...

Ampov 2023/2025 (45%, OB, Cambodia, ex-Porto cask)

Here we are in Phnom Penh, confronted with molasses and pot still rum. We do so love tasting spirits from new distilleries! All the more so as the sugarcane itself hails from the Phnom Penh region. Colour: pale gold. Nose: ah, how we adore these feral, fermentative distillates, bursting with vegetal notes and those briny touches we treasure so dearly, especially olives, with hints of acetone and other solvents that rather charmingly evoke... Jamaica. Or, let us say, the agricoles of Madeira rather than those of the French islands. There's also a coastal character, a whiff of sea water, and mercifully, not a clear jot of Port. Mouth: a bit of a masterstroke, really, all the more so as it feels utterly singular, with an earthy and tarry edge that’s quite unlike anything else. Still plenty of solvents, esters, olives, capers, brine, intensely fermented fruit, and still no Port in sight. Finish: long, somewhat petroly and salty, but quite manageable thanks to the reasonably low strength. And once again, no Port. Comments: what a relief not to have encountered any Port! An excellent young rum, faintly reminiscent of those new ‘French’ Thais. And of course, Jamaica.
SGP:473 - 87 points.

Long Pond 15 yo 2007/2023 'Queen Nanny' (57.1%, Precious Liquors, Jamaica, cask #5, 134 bottles)

This is an ITP marque, so low ester content (around 100g/hlpa). Queen Nanny, a Jamaican national heroine born in Ghana, was one of the most iconic figures of the Maroon resistance in the 18th century. Colour: deep gold. Nose: imagine someone cold-smoking orange zest after slathering it in honey and drizzling it with cough syrup and petrol. A stroke of genius really, this is a nose of splendid compactness and coherence, precisely balanced between fruit and fuel. With water: it leans a touch more towards the ocean. Mouth (neat): immensely powerful, on green pepper, varnish, and strawberry cream. Yes indeed, strawberry. With water: more ashes appear, even a hint of new plastic. Possibly some smoked oysters. Finish: long, still walking the tightrope between ultra-ripe fruit, brine, and diesel oil. Comments: there's a charming hesitation here, oscillating between the friendly and the feral sides of Jamaican rum. But you see what I mean.
SGP:562 - 88 points.

Ah yes, we were also talking about Thailand...

Liberia & Thailand Blend (55.8%, The Whisky Jury, The Duo Chapter 3, 390 bottles)

Now what on earth is this? We know Thai rum well enough – there are some lovely examples (Chalong, Issan) and others that are more, erm, well, you know. But Liberia? Never tried a Liberian rum, I must admit, though we now learn that ‘Sangar’ exists – thank you, Google. Still, the notion that someone decided to blend aged Thai rum with white Liberian spirit does leave one rather dumbfounded. Hats off, Whisky Jury! Colour: gold. Nose: ace!, as they used to say at Loch Fyne Whiskies. What’s amusing is that we find these recurring strawberry notes, along with a wee procession of briny pickles and herbal reductions, all generously blanketed in exhaust fumes. Fortunately, only seasoned aficionados read WF, otherwise they’d think we’ve lost the plot. What’s that? You say they already do? With water: more brine and nail polish remover. Mouth (neat): it’s certainly unusual, and in some ways it brings to mind Ampov, though this is even more on pinewood smoke, scallops in Noilly (a double knockout), and – imagine that – a fino-like edge. En Rama, naturally. With water: seawater and resinous wood smoke. It gets more bitter now, perhaps just a tad too much so for me. Finish: this is where it grows more complex, with an increasingly austere bitterness in the aftertaste. This finish is a bit reminiscent of amateur jazz or rock bands who never quite know how to end a tune. We, for our part, can’t even manage to start one, you might say. Comments: there’s a mildly acrobatic and slightly WTF streak here, especially toward the end, but otherwise we’re fans. We’d love to try the Liberian on its own.
SGP:363 - 85 points.

Monymusk 24 yo 2000/2024 (62%, The Whisky Blues, Jamaica, barrel, cask #13908, 148 bottles)

Back in Taiwan again. We’ve tried some utterly marvellous Monymusk/Clarendons from these vintages in recent months, brimming with an unstoppable fresh fruitiness that cuts clean through the phenolic and petrolic barrage. Colour: white wine. Nose: well then, let’s say pink banana and mango steeped in a mix of motor oil, seawater, wild garlic, and crème de menthe. There you are. With water: splendid nose, fresh and philosophical, as if it had just wafted out of the House of Guerlain. Mouth (neat): sublime purity. Salted mango and peaches in camphor, or something along those lines. With water: I give up, it’s too good. Finish: oh yes. Comments: one could almost imagine a liberated blender, high on ketamine, having mixed four-fifths of very old Bushmills with one-fifth young Ardbeg. Plus a few drops of seawater.
SGP:652 - 91 points.

Right then, let’s end by coming back to France, since we’re posting this from Whisky Live Paris. Even if all these rums didn’t come from Whisky Live Paris...

Le Galion 'Rhum Grand Arôme' (54%, Poh! Spirits, Martinique, ex-eau-de-vie-de-vin cask, 2025)

Now here’s a proper sugar refinery rum (rhum de sucrerie), so ‘traditional’ or ‘industrial’, which amount to the same thing, and not agricole. This is from molasses, with extremely long fermentations, a rum chiefly used to beef up blends. Worth noting, the rums from Baie du Galion do benefit from a GI, albeit not an AOC/AOP. Colour: gold. Nose: above all, this is immensely oily, nothing remotely ‘columny’, and it feels like you’ve just dunked your nose into twelve tonnes of extremely, and I mean extremely, ripe bananas. Alongside a generous dose of assorted fresh varnishes. With water: lovely now – tarmac, first rain, coal tar, new trainers, and parcels from Temu (straight in the bin). Mouth (neat): somewhere between Réunion and Jamaica, but for now it’s mostly just vast quantities of salted liquorice. With water: actually, I quite love it, even though the texture itself remains rather light, if pretty ‘schnitt’. Finish: fairly long, with a deeply marked coating around a lighter core. And again, shedloads of salted liquorice, followed by something more medicinal. Comments: truth be told, this is quite an unusual profile, though seemingly rather typical of Le Galion. We’ll dig a bit deeper into this matter later, if that’s all right with you...
SGP:632 - 87 points.

Go on then, one last one...

Papalin 5 yo 'Jamaica High Esters' (57%, Velier, Jamaica, 2024)

A blend of three ‘pot still’ Jamaicans. This ought to be compact, with each of the three distilleries naturally cancelling out some of the others’ character. Or not – let’s have a look, especially as nowhere is it stated that the three distilleries are present in equal proportions. Colour: gold. Nose: dry-cured ham with dried banana and pistachio oil, plus some new plastics à la supermarket bag – alas those were banned here some years ago, so I’m relying on memory. In any case this feels more like ‘low esters’ than ‘high esters'. With water: go easy with the water or it drifts off into rainwater and silt. Not a great swimmer, then, but that doesn’t mean anything. Mouth (neat): now we’re talking – excellent, young, a little rough, sharp and dry, but with notes of rambutan in syrup. Really. With water: some floral touches. Finish: not very long, truth be told. Comments: excellent stuff, though it does feel a little as though the components have somewhat cancelled each other out indeed, yielding a rather light rum. Light for a Jamaican that’s not Appleton, of course. Wait, is there Appleton in here? Either way, this is the gentlest of the high esters we’ve tried in recent months.
SGP:441 - 84 points.

Hold on, we’re also going to treat ourselves to a little monster as a final signature...

Hampden 1 yo 2023/2025 'C<->H Pedro Ximenez' (61.7%, The Colours of Rum for Catawiki, Jamaica, cask #146, 75 bottles)

A very young 1300–1400 g/hlpa thrown into PX – I doubt even Ivan the Terrible, Genghis Khan, or Vladimir Putin would have dared. Colour: deep gold. Nose: frankly, the poor PX has little to contribute, this is full-on carbon-and-bitter-chocolate, with even a few jabs of formic acid. With water: barbecuing in the rain and a brand-new scuba diving suit. Mouth (neat): of course it’s glorious, if you’re part of that 0.0001% of humanity who, like us, are into this sort of thing. An unbelievable creature, verging on the BDSM side of things, no kidding. A few shellfish well past their use-by date too. With water: like downing a bottle of ink in one go. Finish: pickle juice, ink, ashes, hellfire, damnation and despair. It’ll drive you mad. Comments: the PX is clearly just here for show, it’s had virtually no impact. I do wonder whether enjoying this, as we do greatly, isn’t a sign of serious psychological disorder.
SGP:274 - 90 points

Check the index of all rums we've tasted