The Confined Sessions Today some rum


March 22, 2020

The Confined Sessions
Number One
Today some rum

One week of confinement already here in Alsace. Wife and cats at home, children in Paris or in Strasbourg, and thousands of spirits to choose from, should the postal services or couriers stop working. We could hold out for between two and three years at the current pace, but of course, we’d have to gradually taste the boring stuff we’ve always been procrastinating with. Bah. So, a few rums today, let’s see what we can find in the stash. By the way, hope all the distilleries that have columns are now producing 95% vol. ethanol to make hand gel! Anyway, stay safe, don’t drink too much, and take heart!

Worthy Park 12 yo 2007/2020 (58%, Thompson Brothers for The Whisky Exchange, Jamaica)

Worthy Park 12 yo 2007/2020 (58%, Thompson Brothers for The Whisky Exchange, Jamaica)
Very lovely label there, kudos to the artist. Colour: gold. Nose: instant tarry pleasures. S&M snorkelling outfit, olives, gherkins, hints of mango tarte. Or a tarte tatin made with mangos instead of apples. Dornoch Castle, are you game? With water: green olives and seawater. Say rather the Mediterranean. Mouth (neat): fantastic. Mint drops, liquorice lozenges, mango jam, banana liqueur, black olives. With water: anchovies and sardines. Careful whisky folks, these Jamaicans do not take water as well as most malt whiskies do, so please add H2O drop by drop or you may just kill them. Finish: long and salty. Pineapples and guavas and liquorice in the aftertaste. Comments: it’s not a difficult WP at all, it’s even kind of easy, but quality remains high. Extremely high.
SGP:563 - 90 points.

Yeah right, go try to climb over such a WP… But Bielle can do it!

Bielle 13 yo 2006/2019 (47.9%, Rasta Morris, Marie-Galante, cask #RM019, 56 bottles)

Bielle 13 yo 2006/2019 (47.9%, Rasta Morris, Marie-Galante, cask #RM019, 56 bottles)
As you may know, Marie-Galante is a small island that’s administratively part of Guadeloupe. The rums they make over there are nothing short of spectacular. Colour: gold. Nose: indeed, Bielle can survive both Worthy Park and Hampden on your tasting table. In truth this is out of this world, less big than the Jamaican s for sure, but much more complex. In this very case, I’m finding (hope you’ve got some time) bananas, liquorice, mangos, olives, putty, ylang-ylang, vanilla fudge, peach pie, peat (yep), grenadine, raspberry yoghurt, gorse, motor oil, menthol… and god knows what else. Mouth: mah, the best teas there ever was. Superb oaky concoction, that is to say obvious strong oak but all in balance and elegance, then liquorice and mint lozenges. Not as complex as on the nose, and probably a little more rustic, but it wouldn’t spare you. It’s powerful rum. Finish: long, a tad pungent and gritty (oak), but otherwise just perfect. Saltier aftertaste – we’re almost eating Belgian mussels. Cheers Rasta Morris! Comments: what a stunner again! Only the oakiness was a wee tad too obvious, not sure if this was aged in the tropics or in Scotland or Holland. Ha.
SGP:462 - 89 points.
Update: this lovely babay matured in the Tropics and spent only three months in Europe

Since were doing bigly stuff (Donald!)…

Lost Spirits ‘Cuban Inspired Rum’ (75.5%, OB, USA, +/-2019)

Lost Spirits ‘Cuban Inspired Rum’ (75.5%, OB, USA, +/-2019)
At this strength we’ll do it fastly because we have importanter issues to deal with, believe me (Donald, come out of this poor body!) – unless, having said that, we use it as hand gel. What should we do? Colour: deep gold. Nose: nice! Coffee liqueur, liquorice, cured ham. This one rather goes towards the Santiago range as far as Cubans are concerned, which is great news as the rest is… forgettable. With water: nice black earth and mushrooms. But are you allowed to write ‘Cuban’ on an American bottle? Wouldn’t that send you straight to Guantanamo? Mouth (neat): some intriguing flavours here and there, but coffee-infused cologne, no thanks. With water: not bad, really, bu the distillate’s a tad thin, I would say. Too ‘columny’, where’s the pot-sill aguardiente? Finish: bizarrely shortish. Coffee liqueur in the aftertaste. Comments: interesting, but probably not needed, except if you live in Orangeland, I suppose. No that’s not the Netherlands. Loved other Lost Spirits much better.
SGP:441- 72 points.

WeiRon Cask 01 (52.7%, Svenska Eldvatten, 320 bottles, 2017)

This has been finished in Swedish virgin oak barrels, while I had thought our friends up there had used all their old oak trees to build warships! Colour: gold. Nose: olives, tar, liquorice, ripened bananas, touch of vanilla. No complains so far. With water: lighter. Mouth (neat): very Jamaican, with some extra-fruitiness and touches of sweeter and rounder vanilla-led rum. Column stuff. With water: once again the columny rums are having the upper hand once water’ been added. Coz I suppose this is a blend, am I not right? Finish: same. Coffee. Comments: very good, but maybe a little thin. I would humbly suggest that the pot vs. column proportions are a little too much in favour of those bl**dy columns. Better make 95% ethanol for making hand gel these days!
SGP:641 - 82 points.

Uitvlugt 25 yo 1993/2019 (51.2%, Cadenhead, Guyana, barrel)

The mark here is ‘MPM’. That’s the thing with continental aging, which is obviously the case here, while I perfectly understand why a few distillers would prefer that their make would be integrally aged in the tropics, the best ones still stem from Europe in my book, unless you dig straight oak juices. Some tough decisions to be made here as far as GIs go … (I’m not talking about junk double-ageing, unlikely finishings in brandy casks, or suspicious sauced-up casks). Colour: gold. Nose: I would say you feel the ‘slower’ aging here, even if it’s lighter Uitvlugt in this case. Hay, olives, notes of copper, brine… With water: curiously light. 25 years are fine, of course, but in this case we’re closer to grain whisky. In my book a 25 yo grain whisky is a very young grain whisky! Mouth (neat): good, pretty easy, not thick, with oranges, aniseed, and apple juice. Perhaps the thinnest Uitvlugt I’ve ever tasted. With water: even thinner. Did this come from BoJo’s own reserve? Finish: very short, but not ugly at all. It’s just pretty frustrating. Comments: some Uitvlugt unlike most other Uitvlugts. I mean, this is much thinner, but it is still very good rum.
SGP:441 - 79 points.

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