
January 17, 2021

More rums and hopefully more malternatives

It was a great session last week, I doubt we could fly as high on this Sunday. Figuratively (well not that figuratively). Apéritif please!

Santa Teresa 'Gran Reserva' (40%, OB, Venezuela, +/-2020)

The lazy word 'reserva', on any bottle of booze, is always a little scary and sometimes even bad news. Now, Venezuela needs our support for sure. Colour: gold. Nose: it's a gentle, easy, rather subtle nose, on fresh-broken branches, fruit peelings, white asparagus, and rather vanilla yoghurt than full-blown vanillin. Some lovely floral notes too, geranium, wisteria… Really, a very nice surprise, but as always with these ranges, only the palate will really tell… Mouth: it is really very light, you'd almost believe this is Absolut Sugarcane. Grasses and sugar syrup I would say, not much else. The good news is that it's not been dosed-up in any way (well, as far as I can tell). Very, very light rum. Rather pleasant notes of bananas and apples coming out after thirty seconds. Finish: extremely short, thus very clean. Comments: I find this honest, if really too light. Like it better than that other Venezuelan oddity, Diplomatico a.k.a. 'Diplo'.
SGP:430 - 75 points.

Let's do one of the heavies…

East London Liquor Company 'Navy Strength Rum' (57%, OB, Guyana, +/-2018)

I suppose I should have tried this one before Brexit, but there. It's the kind of stuff you could only find at The Whisky Exchange anyway. Said to be three years old, let's only hope they haven't added any sugary sauces right when filling the casks, as I believe they often do at Diamond. Colour: gold. Nose: light, without much Demerara power and aroma, and rather in the style of a light Cuban, really. Things may change once water's been added. With water: nope, they do not. Mouth (neat): it's okay, simple rum, with some caramel, burnt wood, molasses, vanillin and some grass. Okay. With water: a notch better, since some pineapple's coming through. But it remains rather empty and soulless. Finish: short. Sugar, caramel. Comments: really very 'Cuban' – many Cubans are better though - and frankly a little disappointing. For cocktails only, I suppose.
SGP:430 - 65 points.

Demerara!...

Port Mourant 2006 (40%, OB, Guyana, +/-2019)

Branded El Dorado. At some miserable 40% vol., will they get away with… murder? I like how Master of Malts describe this, 'a satisfyingly dumpy bottle'. The fine art of deeply conscient copywriting… Colour: deep gold. Nose: oh, no! I mean, it's absolutely lovely, which makes the fact that they've murder… I mean, bottled this at 40% vol. even more excruciating. Roses, litchi, gewurztraminer, diesel oil, pineapples, liquorice, musk, liquorice allsorts, earl grey, bergamot, Chinese noodle soup, old pack of cigarettes, old raisins in an old tin box, lovage, charcoal… I mean, really, wow, this is fantastic! But let's pray to sweet Vishnu… Murder or not? Mouth: yes and no. Sure they are assassins, but this reminds me of some older bottlings by Macallan, or there, Gordon & MacPhail, many made us cry because of the low strengths, but that was because the juices were absolutely stunning. Same here, I believe it's a wonderful rum (same flavours as on the nose, there), it's just that it's weak and feeble. No power and no steam whatsoever on the palate. Finish: almost none, which doesn't happen often with Port Mourant. Some nice liquorice and perhaps pinot gris, shall we say. Comments: high and heavy frustrations. Great rum badly executed, shall we say.
SGP:352 - 80 points.

Good, so far the session is struggling to take off. Let's try to do something…

Diamond 2012/2020 'VSG' (58.9%, Barikenn, Guyana, 186 bottles)

Aged for almost 3 years in the tropics and then in Europe. The marque VSG means this is from the old wooden pot still of Versailles. Remember, Versailles' still was moved to Enmore, then to Uitvlugt, then to Diamond. Doesn't the pan make the soup? Colour: gold. Nose: old pans, best soups indeed. Some kind of salty, bouillony broth, with rotten bananas, crushed sardines, cloves, tar and liquorice, and the obligatory olives. Parsley and watercress soup (I adore that even if I'm not English - ha). With water: some kind of mentholated earthiness, just beautiful. And fresh sugarcane juice! Mouth (neat): perfect, salty, liquoricy and herbal. Perfect focus, body, balance and power. With water: superb salty liquorice indeed, oyster plant, mushrooms, anchovies, tapenade, green and black olives… In fact I believe this is one of the most olive-y rums I've ever tasted. Finish: very long, and you just ate a large pack of olives. Comments: one of the best salty/briny rums I've tried. I mean, my favourite, sorry Mother.
SGP:363 - 91 points.

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