
July 1, 2018

Rums at random again

As it says…

Caraïbes (40%, Compagnie des Indes, blend, +/2018)

Caraïbes (40%, Compagnie des Indes, blend, +/2018)
A wee blend of rums from Guyana, Trinidad, and Barbados. Lovely label and bottle. Colour: white wine. Nose: all is fine. Pineapples, cane juice, one little olive, a few old coins, and more pineapples, both tinned and fresh. Works very well, this is a rather lighter side of the ‘light English style’. Mouth: it’s good, it’s not challenging, it’s not too complicated, and you could improve some very average series by Netflix by just sipping this while watching the episodes. Sweet pineapples, cane syrup, banana liqueur… Finish: medium, really very sweet. Comments: feels a bit ‘dosé-ed’, Plantation-style, but balance has been preserved. The better easy side of rum, I would say.
SGP:630 - 80 points.

Diamond 13 yo 2004/2017 (61.2%, The Rum Cask, Guyana)

We’ve had all kinds of Diamonds, some superb and some rather ‘meh’, as they say on Facebook. Colour: straw. Nose: hurray, it’s a heavily petroly one. Rotting tropical fruits, olive oil, capers, diesel oil, brine, lime juice. Now maybe that’s the high strength, maybe is it rather gentle after all… With water: well, it is pretty gentle! Plasticine, cane juice, ink, chalk… Mouth (neat): ever tried kerosene blended with nail polish remover? Me neither, but I imagine that would be a bit like this. Just a bit. With water: yeah there, smoked pears. Not the first time we’re having this in Diamond, if I remember well. It’s OK. Finish: medium, rather brine-ier, with crushed sardines and anchovies covered with cane syrup. I know, that sounds a bit weird – well it is. Comments: not bad at all, quite the contrary, but it hasn’t got the magnitude of most other ‘original’ Demeraras.
SGP:452 - 83 points.

Travellers 11 yo 2005/2017 (46%, Hunter Laing, Kill Devil, Belize, 397 bottles)

Colour: full gold. Nose: typical soft bananas with coconut and white chocolate, plus some clear floral touches, around ylang-ylang and perhaps lilies of the valley. A rather sinful nose, but not quite a devilish one, I would say. Mouth: Travellers are making some good rum, easy and quite complex at the same time. Sure they’re not the Ardbegs of the rum world, but remember not everyone enjoys Ardbeg. So, custard, coconut water, praline, cane juice… Finish: medium, sweet, easy… Comments: some easy rum of good quality. In my book it’s sitting right between the high-class authentic rums and the disgusting concoctions some shameless brand-builders are putting out these days for good people who do not listen to their dentists. Neither would they listen to their diabetologists, by the way.
SGP:640 - 80 points.

Appleton Estate 8 yo (43%, OB, Jamaica, +/-2016)

Frankly, I thought the older Appletons were brilliant, but the newer expressions are rather uninspiring in my opinion. Any resemblance to what’s happening in the whisky world… is not casual. Colour: gold. Nose: nice, but a tad thin, lacking depth. Cane juice, biscuits, a drop of maple syrup, a touch of preserved pineapples and mangos… It’s really all very nice, it’s just a tad weak. Hello? Mouth: fair and good, for sure. Good liquorice (#1) and caramel, plus sultanas and, well, more liquorice. Really heavy on liquorice. Also heavy honeys such as chestnut and oak honey. Finish: surprisingly long, thick and very liquorice-y. Comments: rather a better one. Not sure it’s all 100% natural, but there you have it…
SGP:631 - 80 points.

Foursquare 10 yo 2007/2018 (64.4%, Excellence Rhum, Barbados, cask #14)

Seen the strength? Assassin! Let's say a little prayer… Colour: gold. Nose: I seem to be able to nose humidors, balsa wood, green bananas, hay… And well, I’m rather proud of myself. With water: pencil shavings, wallflower, grated coconut, marzipan. Mouth (neat): sweet oak and cane juice. That is all this far. With water: good, for sure. Cinnamon cake, liquorice drops, honey sweets, ginger and incense… Then pepper and ginger. Finish: long, with emerging pineapples, as they say on Cuba (making this up, really). Comments: really very good, it’s just lacking a little depth, as if the distillate had been a little ‘superficial’, or as some may say, ‘not enough pot still’, while others would add that that doesn’t matter, at all. Endless debates and intrigues, typical Facebook stuff. This is neither the place nor the time.
SGP:641 - 80 points.

Port Mourant 10 yo 2008/2018 (62.2%%, Excellence Rhum, Guyana)

Love it that these excellent bottlers would have felt the need to tell us that this was ‘cask strength’. Totally love it. Colour: white wine. Nose: kills the Foursquare. Stunning cucumbers, olives, brine, lime, carbon, plasticine, lanoline, rhubarb juice… You see… With water: new tyres galore! We’re at a tyre dealer’s, while a new shipment just arrived. Mouth (neat): sweet Vishnu! We’re drinking perfume now. That was not the plan, was it? With water: no, wait, things get better, but it’s rare to encounter such a blend of all things brine-y (olives and stuff) with all things tarry (tar, rubber, tyres, cologne, new leatherette…) Extreme rum, less gentle than other Port Mourants /Morants I’ve been acquainted with. Finish: extremely long and tarry. Comments: watch the young Port Mourants! Whether the wooden part of the stills has anything to do with this style, I couldn’t tell you, but what’s sure is that this is Guyana at its most Jamaican.
SGP:454 - 88 points.

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

June 2018

Favourite recent bottling:
Ben Nevis 21 yo 1996/2018 (52.9%, Cadenhead, Single Cask, hogshead, 210 bottles)
- WF 92

Favourite older bottling:
Royal Brackla 60 yo 1926/1985 (40%, OB, James Buchanan, for Japan, 60 decanters)
- WF 92

Favourite bang for your buck bottling:
Kilkerran 8 yo (55.7%, OB, 2017) - WF 91

Favourite malternative:
Hampden 10 yo 2007/2018 (64.1%, Hunter Laing for The Whisky Barrel, Kill Devil, Jamaica, 290 bottles) - WF 90