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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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May 3, 2026 |
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The Rum Sessions,
today a new journey through rum, from France to Trinidad |
After that stunning headline, so bold that even David Ogilvy wouldn’t have dared to write it and that is bound to revolutionise the way tasting notes are written (all you adorable newborn recyclers/regurgitators on YouTube or elsewhere, do take note!) let’s get straight to it… For once, in any case, we’ll be setting off from France, as we usually do with ‘world’ whiskies.
Old vintage bottles of Trois Rivières, such as this 1953, can still be found fairly easily in France for a few hundred euros. However, be cautious when buying any oldies online from unknown sellers: AI now makes it very easy to artificially raise the fill levels or refresh the labels in photos. |
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Trois rivières ‘VO Cuvée du Moulin’ (40%, OB, Martinique, agricole, +/-2025) 
On the label they specify ‘French plantation rhum’, and I who thought the word plantation rather recalled our colonial past and smelt a bit too much of Tarantino’s Django. Here the bottle is at €18.92 at E. Leclerc at the time of writing, as part of the ‘French Days’ (don’t ask), I have just seen that. Colour: light gold. Nose: a rather lovely agricole nose, quite aromatic, floral (hyacinth, slightly spicy) and lightly on aniseed and liquorice. Also touches of blood orange and cumin. For now, it is well worth its price (good one, S.). Mouth: entirely consistent with the nose but less precise, a little more on stewed fruits of all kinds and candied sugar. But it remains typical and the liquorice and mint duo at the end is rather charming. Finish: light saline touches. It holds its 40% vol. well. Comments: I find it clearly better than the brown-liveried version from some fifteen years ago (WF 80).
SGP:562 - 84 points. |
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El Supremo 5 yo (38%, OB, Paraguay, +/-2025) 
All these slightly inflated cuvée names in South or Central America. Have you noticed that the more basic the cuvées, the more grandiloquent their names? Here it is a cane honey rum, whose 8-year-old version had nevertheless pleased us quite a bit two years ago (WF 80). Colour: gold. Nose: I remember, the style of the agricoles of Madeira, with that earthy side, on tobacco, pepper, old walnuts, caraway, leather, and even ashes, then pink pepper and touches of patchouli. Mouth: a little oily, probably slightly ‘darkened/obscured’, but we find aniseed, liquorice, caraway, peppermint, and quite simply sugar cane, very lightly peppery. It is really rather lovely, what a shame it is bottled at 38% vol. Finish: not very long of course, but this one too is fairly saline. Some sweetness in the aftertaste. Comments: a lovely little beast. If only it were at 40%, like the eight-year-old.
SGP:551 - 79 points. |
Come on then, another little five-year-old… |
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Doorly’s 5 yo (40%, OB, Barbados, +/-2025) 
We had quite liked it some ten years ago (already!), but it had been eclipsed by the excellent 12-year-old. Time to revisit it. It is rather an entry-level version (the distillers generally say ‘core range’) from Foursquare Distillery, as everyone knows, even if it seems that Doorly’s is pure column still, and not a blend of column and pot still. But as usual, the sources of information diverge in this post-truth era. Colour: gold. Nose: vanilla, coconut, light varnish, mashed banana, orange cake, acacia syrup, marzipan, orgeat. A certain gentleness but no naivety (what?). Mouth: the sugar cane is more present than in the others, while the structure is light, a little more herbaceous. Touches of sherry, nuts, but all in great discretion. Finish: rather short, soft, very lightly spiced. A touch of tobacco in the aftertaste. Comments: a jolly little Foursquare in a lighter style. We shall have Doorly’s of greater calibre shortly.
SGP:441 - 80 points. |
Right, purely for scientific purposes, we need a Foursquare here and now, let’s pick one entirely at random… |
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Foursquare 22 yo 1998/2021 (58.8%, The Colours of Rum, No.8, ex-bourbon, cask #25, 227 bottles) 
I believe this one too was pure column. Colour: gold. Nose: it is amusing how we remain close to the Doorly’s, but with, naturally, more power and a more chiselled combination of mango, orange, coconut and vanilla. With water: we move closer to sugar cane but also to a bag of entirely unrefined brown sugar. Mouth (neat): those oranges spiced with pink pepper and light ginger are magnificent. A very fine freshness on the citrus fruits. With water: are we convinced there is not a small proportion of pot still? Or is it the maturation mainly in northern Europe that has preserved the esters? Light tar and petrol, even a little seawater, even a touch of varnish. Gently… Finish: rather long, with a pleasing texture and a style that is at once more earthy and coastal. Comments: if it was column, it was short column, and the plates were mostly raised. Whether that is possible at FS, I have absolutely no idea, I am not a rum blogger.
SGP:541 - 87 points. |
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Venezuela Rum 20 yo (57.2%, Roaming Road, ex-bourbon, 2024)
A ‘single column rum’. Ah, now that is a concept! As long as there is that magic word ‘single’, it can only be excellent, right. Probably rum by Corporacion Alcoholes Del Caribe (CADC). Colour: mahogany/coffee. Nose: it is rather lighter than the ABV suggests, we are somewhat on very strongly infused black tea to which fennel and liquorice have been added, along with fir honey. For now, it does not feel like its 57%. With water: it changes very little, except that cedarwood and fir emerge. Mouth (neat): it is very good, on orange zest dipped in dark chocolate, with a present but pleasant woodiness. With water: again it changes little, let us say we are on a very lovely combination of orange, chocolate and liquorice, always underlined by those pleasing woody notes (dark chocolate, fir, cedar, black tea). Finish: fairly long and a little fruitier, dominated by orange zests. Crushed pepper and tobacco arrive right at the end. Comments: a very pretty bottle, great Venezuelan rums are not so common. Will they be serving this in the new White House ballroom? An absolute miracle of refinement and the ultimate culmination of 5,000 years of architectural history; Ramses II and Julius Caesar themselves would be jealous. We now await a new Colosseum and to find out whether they’ll use tigers or lions.
SGP:551 - 86 points. |
Right, a word from the American empire… |
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Mainland Rum 11 yo 2014/2026 (65.2%, Superlative Spirits, USA, Louisiana, ex-rye cask, 64 bottles) 
Another micro-batch of Mainland Rum, we had very much enjoyed their ‘Barrel Number 01’ last Sunday (WF 88), but it was Californian, whereas this one comes from Louisiana, where many speak French by the way, sorry dear Charles III. Colour: apricot amber. Nose: this is café latte, garnished with triple sec and ground cinnamon, but let us not forget we are at 65.2%. With water: high-class bourbon. Mouth (neat): oh that magnificent young high-pedigree bourbon side! Everything is there, black pepper, acetone touches, varnish, candied zests, spruce… Are we quite sure this is not bourbon? Or does it all come from the ex-rye cask? With water: the same! One of the best ‘bourbons’ it has been given to us to taste in recent months. Finish: long, on wood, varnish, pepper and rye. Comments: excellent. I imagine it is technically rum but believe me it tastes like bourbon. Perhaps does a country as liberal as the good old US of A allow bourbon to be bottled under a name such as ‘Mainland Rum’?
SGP:561 - 89 points. |
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TDL 25 yo 2001/2026 (57.2%, Compagnie des Indes, Asia Exclusive, Trinidad) 
TDL has truly been the discovery of recent years, thanks to the independents. Who would have said, when we were tasting rather simple, let us say not terribly complicated Angosturas, that such distillates were lurking behind them? Colour: red amber. Nose: oh my, what fruity beauty, it feels like a blend of a Benriach 1971 or 1976 with a pre-war grande champagne cognac. Everything is sublime here, peaches, mangoes, cranberry, guava and honeys of every kind. Sublimely beautiful, truly, and we have not even mentioned the flowers. With water: we shall not even dwell on it. Let us say it is the same after reduction, only a little softer. Also astonishing notes of honeysuckle and hibiscus. There we are, we have mentioned the flowers. A light fresh mastic, more good news. Mouth (neat): utterly exceptional, between fir bud and mango, and everything that may lie between those two markers. All the dials are at maximum. This is it, turned up to 11 (forget, boomer stuff). Quite a lot of propolis too, both dark and green. With water: it moves towards mints, resins, and indeed propolis. A touch of salmiak as well. Finish: it is superb to the point of becoming almost tiring, we begin to run short of adjectives. Comments: this will do nicely!... Was expected, that said.
SGP:752 - 92 points. |
Right, to try to counter such a beast, and also to bring this wild session to an end, perhaps we might call upon a… blend. A blend? |
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The Duo Chapter 4 (54.2%, The Whisky Jury, Long Pond & HD, Jamaica, refill bourbon, 183 bottles)
Well then, our friends at The Whisky Jury (love it that they have never created The Rum Jury, that is class) have decided to assemble 60% Long Pond 1998 and 40% Hampden 2014 <>H, which must be the same as <H>, or conversely, therefore +/- one kilo of esters per hectolitre of pure alcohol. It is probably time to drink a large glass of water… there, that is done. Colour: white wine. Nose: incredible how the molecules have combined, it feels like a single distillery hitherto unknown. Smoked bananas, soft liquorice, flambéed oysters, brake dust, salted butter caramel… With water: indeed, Paris metro brake dust, new rubber boots, oysters… Mouth (neat): the HD seems to have the upper hand, it is very saline, briny, the oysters are back, with tar and new rubber, but also lemon balm, wakame, olives, capers… With water: magnificent, on olive oil with lemon and a dash of seawater. Salmiak then takes back the lead, in the company of its friend lemon juice. Finish: very long and even more saline. You almost feel as if you are tasting the Atlantic Ocean. Comments: magnificent, it is simply not that easy to follow the incredible fruity bomb that was the TDL.
SGP:462 - 90 points. |
Right then, let’s try a triple backflip to properly wrap things up… |
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TDL 8 yo 2016/2025 ‘Trinidad Xmas 2025’ (53.6%, The Colours of Rum, #8, 132 bottles)
Well, let us just say it, when you are tasting a Christmas spirit in May, you frankly look a bit of a fool. This will not do much for our self-esteem, especially as it is far from the first time… Colour: pale gold. Nose: nothing like the splendid Compagnie des Indes, this is very pleasant but more on geraniums, prickly pear, rye, buckwheat, bananas… There are, as you know, various TDL styles. With water: hay and herbal infusions. It is not ultra-distinctive, but it does the job. Mouth (neat): artisanal pear eau-de-vie and grain vodka from ex-pot still. With water: some saline elements return, alongside the artisanal pear spirit. Finish: long, with a few bitter touches. Comments: thoroughly good, to be enjoyed with a Savoyard or Swiss fondue, at Christmas indeed. Or to be poured into the fondue.
SGP:641 - 82 points. |
 Check the index of all rums we've tasted
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