
July 21, 2019

Another wee bag of rums

Five of them as usual and as they come…

Dzama 6 yo (45%, OB, Madagascar, +/-2017)

Dzama 6 yo (45%, OB, Madagascar, +/-2017)
Madagascar’s rather on the French side as far as rum styles are concerned, but do not expect any pure agricole. I remember a very fair 1998 (WF 78) while the 15 yo was a little flabby for me (WF 74). Let’s check this younger one… Colour: gold. Nose: it’s rather full of jammy tropical fruits, especially bananas and pineapples, while notes of coffee liqueur and corn syrup do their stuff behind the scene. Seemingly quite syrupy, but you never know, we’ve seen many diverging palates. Which would be good news here… Mouth: it’s been sweetened for sure, as there’s even more coffee liqueur (Tia Maria) here, pineapple liqueur, fruit sauces, molasses honey… All that makes it a little too cloying, unless you pour it over a mountain of ice cubes. Well, I suppose. Finish: long but really too sugary, unpleasant, sticky… Comments: not the kind of rum that we enjoy at WF Towers, but we’ve had worse stuff in our tulip glasses. Don’t ever tell your dentist you’re sipping these kinds of sugar bombs!… A shame, the older ones are rather drier.
SGP:730 – 65 points.

Lost Spirits 'Navy Style Rum' (57%, OB, USA, +/-2018)

Lost Spirits 'Navy Style Rum' (57%, OB, USA, +/-2018)
We’ve tried this before, but I believe this is a newer batch. The one we tried before had been bottled at some homicidal 68% vol. (WF 85!) but this one is lighter. So to speak… As for how they make this, I’ve heard they’re using a decommissioned nuclear reactor and the engine from a Tesla prototype. Or something like that… It’s also been ‘matured’ in some sherry-seasoned American oak. Colour: copper. Nose: works, that’s the thing. Lapsang souchong and new sneakers, natural tar liqueur, ham cooked in molasses, eucalyptus and camphor, new Macintosh (complete with planned 3 year obsolescence), stewed overripe fruits, old rancio and other retro wines… Well, this works a treat, I have to say. With water: gets drier, which is perfect. Some mad home-blended pipe tobacco. Mouth (neat): a tad more ‘all-directions’ than on the nose, and certainly very singular. Some fruit wood, salty fruit sauce (something Chinese), tar and chlorophyll, deep-fried bacon, black raisins, glutamate, soy sauce… Unlikely, but works. With water: the wood comes out, but we remain below the limits, although I wouldn’t say the word ‘limits’ is very appropriate here. Crazy people. Finish: long, and relatively fresh, beyond the tea-ish and molassy side. Prunes, liquorice and mint, butterscotch. Comments: got to love all this madness. I’ll try to visit them one day.
SGP:563 - 85 points.

Perhaps some other young rocket fue… I mean, rums?

Port Mourant 8 yo (61.4%, Kinghaven, Guyana, 2019)

Port Mourant 8 yo (61.4%, Kinghaven, Guyana, 2019)
This one was distilled at Diamond in PM’s famous wooden still and has been finished in Swedish oak, like the rest of the series. The fine bottler is a Swede, you understand. Colour: white wine. Nose: petroly, gherkiny, and brine-y, that’s what we’ll say. It is the most ‘Jamaican’ side of those Demerara rums. Carbon paper, olives, paraffin, overripe bananas, new plastic, gherkins, thuja wood (is that the Swedish oak?)… With water: I’d have said a slightly lighter Worthy Park, and that may have been that funny Swedish oak. Brand new LP, leatherette, ashtray, leather polish… Mouth (neat): I think I get that oak, it seems that it’s pretty resinous, and kind of lemony as well. A little medicinal, I would say, and reminiscent of those concoctions they use in saunas. Other than that, more olives, smoke, gherkins, paraffin, and plasticine, then rather salty liquorice. With water: not as easy this time, you really have to have the water right or a dry cardboardy tannicity will come out. Otherwise, it’s pure smoky lime juice. Finish: long, very brine-y. Just the aftertaste is a tad bitter and greenly oaky. A tad. Comments: worked a treat, but how ‘world’ is that? Rum from Guyana in Swedish oak? What’s the carbon footprint?
SGP:364 - 89 points.

While we’re there, let’s stay there. I mean, at Diamond…

Diamond 9 yo 2008/2017 (62.2%, The Rum Cask)

The mark was MPM, so Port Mourant again. They sell a 50cl bottles of this for 39€, while others would sell the same juice for 150€. Such is the rum world these days… Colour: pale white wine. Nose: it’s really cool to try this after the Kinghaven, because that further stresses the impact of that Swedish oak. In fact, this one’s more coastal, perhaps a little narrower, but also cleaner, fresher, and with just as many electronics, new sneakers, and other new computers. Perfect touches of lime, and a drop of soapier tequila. With water: oh, aniseed-flavoured marzipan! That comes unexpected! A pastissy Port Mourant? Mouth (neat): burnt fruits, plastics, paraffin, Play-doh, tar, olives, salt, lime… Another blade-y, integrally spirit-driven Port Mourant. With water: salt and olives up, that’s cool. Imagine some young new-style Caol Ila. Finish: long, very olive-y. More olives than in Caol Ila, but less oysters ;-). Comments: so pristine, so good!
SGP:355 - 88 points.

More Diamond or change country? More Diamond!

Diamond 15 yo 2003/2018 (58.1%, Valinch & Mallet, Guyana, cask #19-1501R, 193 bottles)

Ex-column, so not pot still and not Port Mourant. But maybe not Diamond’s multi-column still, perhaps rather Uitvlugt? Colour: full amber. Nose: it’s amazing to which extent some of these ex-column Demeraras can be pretty close to some agricoles, while they’re molasses-based and not vesou/cane juice-based. Praline, heated-up maple syrup, caramel, butterscotch, banana cake, chocolate… Very low-ester rum, but it’s very nice, silky, well-polished… With water: rum-filled chocolate. I think the Camille Bloch company used to make that in Switzerland, and it was very good. Proper chocolate, proper rum. Mouth (neat): gin and oranges at first, then cinchona, tonics and bitters, chocolate, caramel, cornflakes, and marmalade. Notes of jasmine tea, that’s funny. With water: creamy, cane-y, very easy. The easiest side of Demerara rum – not talking about the sugared-up El Dorados, naturally. Finish: medium, and pretty honeyed. A good alternative to chestnut honey when the season isn’t good. Comments: what’s sure is that just the word ‘Diamond’ won’t tell you much. They’re making many extremely different rums over there in Georgetown, from this softer style to the funkier Port Mourants we had before. Once again, vive la difference!
SGP:551 - 85 points.

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