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Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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December 14, 2014 |
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This is Sunday, let’s have rum |
Our usual bag of rums from various countries and continents… Holidays! |
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Atlantico ‘Private Cask’ (40%, OB, Dominican Republic, +/-2014) As often with rum, information on various websites diverges. It seems that this contains rum aged ‘up to 25 years’. Well… It also seems that the brand is doing a Beckham, as they’ve partnered with singer Enrique Iglesias. Colour: amber. Nose: rounded and very sweet, with notes of orange liqueur and corn syrup, then cranberry juice, then rather burnt wood. A new pack of sweets. I don’t find this very cane-y. Mouth: extremely sweet and sugary. Pass! Finish: rather long, very liqueury. Sugar syrup, plum jams and jellies, a few spicy herbs, a little bitter chocolate and sawdust in the aftertaste. Kahlua. Comments: an anti-malternative. I have a lot of trouble with most Dominican rums and often find them sickly sweet. More liqueurs than spirits. Adios, Enrique, you’ve added way too much sugar. SGP:830 - 50 points. |
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Medford (40%, OB, GrandTen, USA, +/-2014) This is small batch rum distilled in New England from molasses. Not too sure about where those molasses are coming from. It’s probably very young rum, and ‘craft’. Colour: gold. Nose: it’s a sweet and syrupy style yet again, but there’s more to this, such as some tar Demerara-style, pine tar liqueur Scandinavian-style, then more apple pie and natural vanilla. Certainly not unpleasant so far. Mouth: in keeping with the nose, with a tarry side, apples, a little burnt sugar, then more and more oak that may make this baby rum a little planky. A little pine sap yet again, which adds some kind of herbal lightness. Finish: rather long, herbal and sweet at the same time. Have you ever tried Bénédictine? Comments: fair young rum with a different style. Pretty much to my liking despite the sweetness. SGP:740 - 75 points. |
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Travellers 8 yo 2005/2014 (44%, Compagnie des Indes, Belize, cask #B86, 400 bottles) Another new one by this skilful new French independent bottler. Sure Travellers isn’t Caroni, but let’s see… Colour: gold. Nose: unusual, herbal again, with strong notes of mint tea, caraway, ginger liqueur and then a wee tarry smoke once again. I also find a funny briny/coastal side. Anchovies with fresh mint? Sardines with woodruff? Then more usual apricots and raisins. Mouth: some character! Imagine you’d have selected some good light Cuban rum, added 1/3 heavy Caroni, and then let some vanilla pods, mint leaves and apricot halves marinate in that brew. Add a little clove, cumin and juniper, et voilà. Fun rum. Finish: long, all on liquorice, cumin and spearmint. Good medicine for winter. Comments: smart selection once again. A little less my style, but a lot of fun and difference. Again and again, vive la difference! SGP:651 - 83 points. |
I think we’ve got another ‘French’ Travellers… |
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Travellers 2005/2013 (46%, L’Esprit, cask #BB11, 252 bottles) This by an excellent French bottler in Brittany, check them out, they also do whisky. Colour: dark amber. Nose: a bit different, seemingly sweeter and rounder, so more liqueury. Cointreau, fudge, banana flambéed, then more flowers, lilies and lilac, honeysuckle… I also find a little woodruff again. Quite love that floral side. Mouth: we’re closer again, so quite tarry/heavy, with some liquorice and juniper, cumin, thick fruit liqueurs (apricots, plums) and then some sweet clove. Thick and heavy mouth feel but this never gets cloying or common. Finish: long, now with some orange liqueur. Cloves and cinnamon in the aftertaste, a little sawdust, and lastly, ten liquorice rolls. Comments: another sweet yet characterful rum. It appears that you can be sweet and not be an awfully repulsive sugar bomb. SGP:651 - 82 points. |
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Versailles 1990/2007 (45%, Samaroli, Demerara) Versailles is really becoming rare! Its single wooden pot still seems to still be in use at Diamond Distillery (for the older El Dorados), and is said to be at least 150 years old. Colour: white wine. Nose: tja! Plain and pure sugar cane, with an oily and tarry fatness as well as a wonderful minerality. Black olives, graphite oil, flints, tar and lime. Perfectly pure, not heavy, no light, not sweet… Perfect! Mouth: t‘s so funny, with these notes of tinned sardines, tinned peaches, black olive brine, salty tar, copper, gherkins, sour apples, samphires, engine oil, silver spoon… It’s not unlike a very petroly riesling, except that this is saltier. Great salinity, as wine guys would say. Finish: quite long, very sour, metallic, salty and briny. You just had ten olives. Comments: not quite a surprise, but wow, Samaroli! I’ve only tried two or three Versailles so far, and this one’s now my favourite, by far. It’s got something Old-Ardbeggian. SGP:372 - 90 points. |
Ouch, I had planned to go a little further but many rums would get death seats after that royal Versailles (pfff…) Unless we try to find something totally whacky… I think I’ve got an idea! |
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Grhum (43%, Silver Seal, grappa, +/-2014) So this is grappa from Trentino matured in an ex-rum cask. We don’t have further info but as the mad bottler has named it ‘Grhum’ instead of ‘Grum’, the cask may have come from a French-speaking island. No, rhum is not obligatorily agricole, contrarily to what some have written elsewhere. Colour: gold. Nose: grappa, and a nice one. I do not find much rum, but while very different from each other (of course), I believe both spirits can share many aspects. I do seem to detect some kind of gewürztraminer, but I may be totally wrong. Good grappa anyway. Mouth: the rum might be more noticeable on the palate. Well, I’m sure it’s very noticeable if you try the grappa alone and then this rum-aged version, but all the raisins, for example, could come from either spirit. Anyway, a good sweet palate, rounded, raisiny, which has kept a wee freshness. Very easy to sip and I’m sure a few ice cubes would work well. Finish: maybe it’s a little too sweet and sugary now. Loses a few points. Comments: on second thought, this funny baby would need ice. Maybe not the best balanced spirit of all times. SGP:730 - 70 points. |
Check the index of all rums I've tasted so far |
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