A good little flight of rum


May 10, 2020

The last of the Confined Sessions!!
Day 54
A good little flight of rum

Well, lockdown is over tonight at 0:00 in France, let's only hope this won't happen again. For our last session in isolation, let's have a few rums as they come, all pretty recent unless stated otherwise.

Chairman’s Reserve 8 yo 2011/2019 ‘Master’s Selection’ (46%, OB, for The Whisky Exchange, St. Lucia)

TWE had a great 13 yo last year. Now how could a spirit be both the ‘Chairman’s Reserve’ and the ‘Master’s Selection’, I don’t quite know, but I suppose some distilleries are organised in cunning ways… Hey I’m joking! Colour: gold. Nose: pretty brilliant, that is to say both a little ‘agricole’ and rather petroly, in a Caroni kind of way. So cane juice and benzine, then rotting pineapples and bananas coated with some civilised and well-behaved vanilla and liquorice. Perhaps the best of both worlds, let’s see what happens on the palate… Mouth: a wee tad on the sweeter side on the palate, so rather easier. We’re reminded of some good young agricoles that are part of our daily life here in France. Clément and such. Orange sweets, honey… A little less oomph than expected. Finish: medium, with a wee tad more liquorice and tar this time. Nice tangerine liqueur in the aftertaste. Comments: rather sweeter than expected on the palate, but naturally, that’s all , err, natural. Very good, I think.
SGP:652 - 84 points.

Port Mourant 21 yo 1997/2019 ‘MPM’ (49.4%, High Spirits, Guyana, cask #155-1, 198 bottles)

A bottle that, apparently, is very hard to find. Well I for one couldn’t find it on da Web. This from the famous double wooden pot still. The lower natural strength suggests European aging. Colour: light gold. Nose: soot, ashes, coal dust, diesel oil, olives. Behind that, quite some camphor and cough syrup, while the coal dust would just never disappear. That makes it a little different, pleasantly so. Also growing notes of anchovies in salt. Mouth: very salty indeed, extremely brine-y, this is almost anchovies or sardines in thick brine, mixed with banana and mango juice. Does that work? You bet it does. The usual liquorice and tar coming out as well on the palate. Usual in the ex-pot still Demeraras that is. Finish: long, with just a wee bonbony touch that will make it miss the 90-mark. Dura Lex, sed Lex (pff…) Comments: excellent, as expected. Now go find a bottle…
SGP:553 - 89 points.

We were mentioning agricole w.r.t. the St. Lucian…

Rhumerie du Simon 15 yo 2004/2019 (61%, The Duchess, Martinique, agricole, cask #14)

This baby aged in the tropics for 4 years and was then shipped to Europe. Rather Holland, I suppose, since this excellent wee bottler is Dutch. Rhumerie/Habitation du Simon is the place where they make the new A170 rhums, and produce some new-make agricole for the brands Clément and HSE (Habitation Saint Etienne). Unless I’m mistaken! Colour: gold. Nose: burns a bit, with a lot of acetone, nail-polish remover, and simply varnish on top of fresh pear and pineapple juice. I believe watering it down’s in order… With water: a lot of aniseed, ouzo, pastis… I have to say I’m a sucker for these kinds of notes, even more so since fennel, dill and wild carrots are also part of this. I’ve found these aromas in some pretty artisanal pot-still rums in Cuba (aguardientes). Mouth (neat): feeling of cachaça and Cuban aguardiente indeed, pastis, vanilla… With water: gets firmer, a tad fizzy perhaps, with quite some grass and fruit peel. Always a lot of aniseed-like notes, and drops of Fanta or Orangina. Finish: rather long, grassy. Caraway and capsicum in the aftertaste. Comments: a little mysterious, very fresh, and even unpolished at 15 years of age. Not a style that’s very common, and probably more for connoisseurs and connoisseuses.
SGP:461 - 84 points.

Foursquare 18 yo 2001/2019 (56.9%, The Duchess, Barbados, bourbon barrel, cask #18)

Foursquare 18 yo 2001/2019 (56.9%, The Duchess, Barbados, bourbon barrel, cask #18)
I suppose this is the usual blend of ex-column and ex-pot-still Foursquare (blended at birth) the proportions of which are being guarded by half a dozen Dobermans that are only fed once a week. Colour: gold. Nose: coffee, caraway, liquorice, wormwood (absinth), then crushed ripe bananas and wee whiffs of garden bonfire. Well, as I remember them since it’s been streng verboten to do garden bonfires for ages now. With water: gets tighter and purer yet. Garden bonfire, really, also chocolate, figs and tobacco. Orange blossom. Pretty elegant. Mouth (neat): very Foursquare, with oranges and fudge, some flavoursome herbs, some plain cane juice, and touches of muscovado sugar – or any brown sugar that would be more appropriate in this context. With water: it’s rather light-bodied, as if it was mainly ex-column, but these notes of sugarcane and fudge/popcorn just work. Finish: medium, sweeter, with orange and honey candies. Light molasses ‘honey’. Comments: it’s a fairly lighter Foursquare that I find very elegant.
SGP:551 - 87 points.

Foursquare 12 yo 2007/2019 ‘Plenipotenziario’ (60%, OB/Velier, bourbon, 6000 bottles)

This one was blended at birth indeed, and entirely aged at the distillery. The name would suggest that the good people involved are willing to engage in smooth diplomacy, unless I’m not getting it right. I suppose I am not getting it right, am I? Colour: amber. Nose: pumpkins, ripe mangos, and pencil shavings all over the place. As usual, rums aged in the tropics are more extractive and display more oak tones, sometimes towards cedarwood, as is the case here. Whiffs of geraniol (bees love that!) and brown liquorice. A curious wee meatiness too. Beef jerky? With water: thin strips of duck slow-cooked in orange juice and honey and further flavoured with cedarwood extracts. Or something like that. Mouth (neat): perfect, just too strong. But that’s easy to fix… With water: works. Oak in abundance but that’s sweet fruity oak, plus liquorice, figs and pipe tobacco. Notes of citronella and basil sauce, Thai-style. Hold on, give me a world map… Finish: long, not thick, with good coffee and triple-sec. Kaffee-Schnapps, as my ancestors used to say. Liquoirce in the aftertaste. Comments: still young and straight (years aren’t actually any longer in the tropics, as Einstein found out), but as a child-rum it’s pretty perfect, this little Plenitopen… hold on, Peltinozent… I mean, Pinelpota… No, wait, let’s gather our forces… Plenipotenziario! Phew!
SGP:651 - 90 points.

CU later.

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