July 19, 2015

Malternatives for a summery sunday: rum

A few rums, that’s perfect when you’re enduring high temperatures. We’ll pick them completely at random. I’m serious, totally at random.

R L Seale's 10 yo (43%, OB, Barbados, +/-2013)

A high reputation, and, apparently, no fiddling with caramel, sugar, ‘family recipes’, or other tricks. And the age is not that of an imaginary solera! Made by Foursquare. Colour: gold. Nose: olive oil. Really, this is olive oil, at least for a while. And then, we have plums, toasted bread, ripe bananas, liquorice, and lastly, ripe mangos and papayas. No extravagant artificial sweetness/fruitiness, all is fine so far. Mouth: it’s not got the knack of a Jamaican, and indeed there’s a slight lumpiness, but other than that, I enjoy the texture and the style. Liquorice, bananas, black olives, oak-aged limoncello, crystallised oranges. Tends to get drier after a few minutes. Finish: yeah, the finish is drier, leafy, grassy… But that’s not bad news, I literally h.a.t.e. sweetish, schmaltzy finishes. Comments: right up my alley, even if I prefer punchier rums. And yeah, the bottle’s very strange. SGP:551 - 81 points.

Espero 'Reserva Especial' (40%, OB, Dominican Republic, +/-2015)

The Dominican Republic and a solera ‘aged from 7 to 12 years’, that’s all what we need. Please fasten your seatbelts… Colour: full gold. Nose: sweet rum. I haven’t got anything to say against this, and nothing for it either. Sweet rum. Okay, perhaps is the vanilla a little too loud. Mouth: no, this isn’t bad, seriously! There’s plenty of spicy herbs, wormwood, verbena, lime, fennel, aniseed… and of course plenty of sugar, but there is a freshness. It’s just not rum, i.e. a by-product of sugarcane. More a liqueur. A well-made liqueur for sure, but a liqueur. Finish: rather long, herbal, between Jaegermeister and Unicum. Comments: made in the lab. A good lab! SGP:770 - 72 points.

That’s the problem with randomness, results may be random…

Trois Rivières 1998/2012 (46.2%, OB, for La Maison du Rhum, Martinique, agricole, cask #C8-200, 272 bottles)

Oh no, I’m sure this one will kill this little session. Colour: red amber. Nose: superlative spicy and fruity oak, extraordinary tropical fruits (tamarind first, then papayas), majestic coffee and tobacco, astounding brininess (black olives, capers, salmiak). This nose is amazing. Or why complexity is not the enemy of fullness. Discuss ;-)… Mouth: you have to enjoy loud, in-the-front-liquoricy-oak, but if you do, you’ll simply adore this. Concentrated, perfectly extractive, cane-y, greatly acrid and gritty, all on sugarcane, with a varnishy side that works well. Big, heavy, rich rum, without any obvious sweetness. Remember, sugar kills millions. Finish: long and oaky. Chewing on liquorice sticks for hours. Comments: good, this is not for everyone – and I’m not an elitist – well I might be one – but any new rum freaks who enjoy plain junk such as Don Papa, Kraken, or any other heavily marketed sugar bombs, please try to put your hands on one of these bottles. And we’ll talk later. SGP572 - 88 points.

That was quite a session killer, but we’re fearless and intrepid at WF Towers…

Six Saints (41.7%, OB, Grenada, +/-2015)

Don’t tell me Stranger & Stranger have designed this bottle as well! The fake strength (come on, 41.7%) makes this thing pretty fishy, but you never know. Indeed, like in whisky, decimals kill and the people, you know, they grow up and learn. Colour: pale gold. Nose: cancel what I just said, this is pretty nice. Light, grassy, slightly smoky and herbal, with notes of smoked bananas (eh?) and ‘ideas’ of bubblegum and Toplexil. Right, flash-pasteurised cranberry juice. Mouth: no, it’s honest juice, light, fruity, appropriately herbal and ‘phenolic’ (don’t expect Laphroaig, though), with a touch of salt. Seriously, it’s very honest rum. Finish: medium, sweet, slightly salty. Banana sweets in the aftertaste. Comments: honest and loyal stuff, not just a victory of brandisation gone mad. SGP:562 - 78 points.

Four is not a session. Five is…

Chichigalpa 15 yo 1995 (45%, Alambic Classique, Nicaragua, +/-2011)

According to may rum luminaries on ze Web, Chichigalpa makes Flor de Cana. I have no acquaintances with the latter, but I very well know that Alambic Classique is a very reputable German bottler of rum and whisky. Colour: full gold. Nose: it seems that we’re avoiding the dreadfully heady South-American style here, as this is relatively light and elegant. Burnt toasts, hay, caramel, fudge, smoked things, wood smoke, coffee, cake straight-from-the-oven. Nice (the guy who invented the word nice deserves our eternal consideration). Mouth: really, it’s nice. Rather hot and rich in style, and yet pretty elegant, with olive-y, phenolic, almost dundery notes. A Nicaraguan that’s making googly eyes at Jamaica. Finish: long, slightly smoky, salty, without any dull sugariness. That’s most appreciable. Comments: great distillate, between two worlds somehow. SGP:452 - 82 points.

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