January 31, 2016

Other rums, malternatives or not

WF’s mousers haven’t been very useful last time we asked them to select a few rums with their paws, but let’s give them another chance today. If they fail again, no croquettes today! Of course I’m joking… But let’s go…

Mocambo 20 yo (40%, OB, Mexico, Art Edition, barrica unica #106, +/-2014)

Looks fishy, I know, and the bottles couldn’t be uglier, but I have to say I really enjoyed other ‘barricas unicas’ by Mocambo. The Mexicans do not only make great mezcals… Colour: bronze/mahogany. Nose: yeah this could be old armagnac. It’s full of prunes and black raisins, with a medicinal background that fits like a glove. Camphor. Noses very concentrated, but never heady, and would rather go on with sugar cane and our beloved black olives. All for the better. Mouth: you’d expect some sugar, while there isn’t any. It’s actually very dry (manzanilla-dry), with some genuine chocolate, some olives, some gherkins (traces), and plenty of tobacco. Such a shame that they didn’t bottle this at a higher strength! Finish: still, the finish is long, quite salty, olive-y, briny, with more olives and chocolate. Comments: olives and chocolate? Something we shall try! Great spirits give you ideas. Oh and I found this cask much drier than other ones. Good job, Zooloo and Aston! SGP:472 - 88 points.

Port Mourant 13 yo 2002/2015 (59%, Compagnie des Indes, Guyana, cask #WPM36, 239 bottles)

This does not come from the original Port Mourant/Morant, of course, rather from its still that’s still in use at Diamond Distillery in Georgetown. Colour: straw. Great, some naked Port Mourant! Nose: makes you wanna sing. Pure, crystalline, high-ester, super-briny Demerara, in a style that’s almost Jamaican. You know, rotting bananas, olives, capers, vegetal earth… With water: at the petrol station. Mouth (neat): triple bang! Olives, limejuice, grass smoke, tar… Perfect! With water: right up my alley. It’s a wee tad smoother than the Jamaicans (say Worthy Park), and a notch more limy/citrusy, but everything is just totally perfect. Finish: ultra-long, with liquorice, tar, olives, and lemon juice. You can’t beat that kind of combo. Comments: just amazing. I just adore this purity, and how this spirit was chiselled. Great that the cask’s been fairly inactive! Ace selection. SGP:473 - 91 points.

The kittens are doing it right, this time…

WeiRon (50%, Svenska Eldvaten, blend, +/-2015)

Ah. I know these good people up there in Sweden are suckers for spirit-driven spirits (sounds like a pleonasm, or like stating the obvious, but we all know it’s not), so I’m really curious. What have they blended?... Did they add any surströmming? Let’s see… Colour: gold. Nose: as expected. It’s fairly ‘Jamaican’, but a notch lighter and easier, with also some milk chocolate and custard. Smoked butterscotch and olive-y praline, plus some tarry cinnamon. Of course, none of those combos exist in real life ;-). No water needed, let’s move on. Mouth: the lemon kicks in, and there is a faint sugary fatness (sugar cane syrup), but the tarry liquorice and the salty bananas (ha, another idea!) are soon to put things straighter. We’re between two worlds, in a way, but Jamaica dominates just like some peaty Islayers would dominate in a Scottish blend. Finish: long, banany, with a touch of honey, some corn syrup, and plenty of salted liquorice. Comments: if I ever call these good people up there ‘the Compass Box of rum’, will they send me their bodyguards? I’d have favoured even less sweetness, but that’s just me. Greatly done, fellows! SGP:563 - 87 points.

Shoot again, Zooloo and Aston…

Le Rhum par Neisson (52,5%, OB, Martinique, +/-2015)

Oh, a white rhum agricole. Do not forget, please, that it’s not because a spirit is white that it’s not aged. Sure that’s true with large commercial brands (vodka, gin, some rhums, eaux-de-vies), but some exquisite white distillates are being aged for years and years in inert containers. Because, again and again, oak does not equal age/time (bonkers, that!) Colour: white. Nose: right, this is extreme. Smoked ham, kippers, even game (well-hung pheasant), dirty earth, seawater… Some would even add old socks and wine vinegar. Not obligatorily wrong. With water: asphalty, shall we say. A road after a rain after a long dry period. Mouth (neat): a U-turn. This is much sweeter, simpler, and I have to say, less interesting. Bananas, pineapples, molasses, touches of litchis, liquorice allsorts, marshmallows, sugar… It’s good, it’s just a little… shall we say boring? With water: not quite. It got a little grassier, but there is this sugar… Really tastes of sugar. Finish: medium, very sugary, yet not extremely sweet. Comments: it’s not often that this happens. I thought the nose was fabulous, and I had high hopes, but the palate was just uninteresting (to put it mildly). Now, go score such a funny thing… SGP:363 (nose) 720 (palate) - 75 points.

That one was tricky, very tricky. Please…

Bellevue 17 yo 1998/2015 (54.3%, Cadenhead, Guadeloupe)

Many bottlers have or have had some Bellevue 1998, and most have been excellent in my opinion. Colour: amber. Nose: very agricole, so rather earthy, dry, without being wham-bam, a tad ashy, with a mentholy background, plus a certain tarriness. With water: more putty, paraffin, and vegetables. Cucumber pie (I know). Pencil shavings. Mouth (neat): really very good, right between the extreme earthy/tarry side of some of the Jamaicans, Trinidadians or Guyanians, and the sweeter, slightly rounder side of the Martiniquans, but without any of the stuffiness that can be found further west. Or, yeah, in the DomRep (great place, lousy rums if you ask me). With water: ah, good! Phenolic, liquoricy, and fruity. Blood oranges, mint, liquorice, and honeydew. Truly excellent. Finish: very long, on even more liquorice, honey, and lemon juice. Eucalyptus in the aftertaste. Comments: not an utter fan of the nose, but the palate was perfect in my opinion. SGP:562 - 85 points.

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