| |
House
Hundreds of tastings,
all of the music,
all of the rambligs
and all of the enjoyable
(hopefully!)
Whiskyfun.com
Assured ad-free
copyright 2002-2024
|
 |
|
| Hello, that is one among our (virtually) day by day tastings. Santé! |
| |
|
| |
| |
|
October 6, 2024
|
|
  |
|
Listed here are a couple of extra random rums
You by no means get uninterested in them—they’re so various, these rums (and people spirits which might be offered as rum however aren’t fairly the identical, although nobody actually cares as a result of they’re extremely worthwhile for everybody, together with gastroenterologists).
A Bellini, champagne with peach purée (Vacation spot Cocktails)
|
 |
|
|
Naga ‘Full Proof’ 10 yo 2011 (62.3%, OB, Royaume de Siam, charred American oak, 2,752 bottles, 2022) 
The reference to ‘Royaume de Siam’ on the label lends a barely colonial air, as Siam grew to become Thailand in 1939, so we’re a bit behind the instances right here. That mentioned, we did attempt the Naga at 40%, and it wasn’t half dangerous (WF 76). Since this 2011 Full Proof, they’ve additionally launched a 2012, so it have to be working! It’s additionally good to see that Thailand now appears to permit increased strengths, which wasn’t the case previously. Color: amber. Nostril: a number of bicycle restore glue and recent varnish at first, then orange liqueur, coconut, and banana, seemingly from the American oak. These oranges are fairly good. With water: softer, extra on toast, pancakes, corn syrup, and vanilla cake… principally a breakfast rum, ha. Mouth (neat): highly effective and really syrupy, all about issues made with oranges and mandarins, plus a great little bit of cedarwood. With water: extra cane, some fir wooden, and even unique wooden like amburana. However the citrus nonetheless takes the lead. The feel is gentle behind the alcohol. End: not very lengthy, nonetheless on orange liqueur and a contact of cane. A faint Cuban word right here and there. Feedback: we’re removed from the top-tier Thai rums like Issan or Chalong Bay, however that is fairly drinkable, ideally over ice.
SGP:630 – 77 factors. |
|
|
Distillerie du Galion 3 yo ‘Simple Peasy’ (56.3%, Swell de Spirit, Martinique, agricole, bourbon barrel, 600 bottles, 2024) 
A younger rhum vieux that’s ‘Grand Arôme’, that means it is excessive in esters. Le Galion additionally produce rhum traditionnel (column nonetheless, molasses-based), however this appears to be pure cane juice. (Replace, it’s molasses – I doubt you are able to do Grand Arôme with cane juice). Color: gold. Nostril: as if somebody by chance spilled a canister of pineapple juice combined with wooden varnish in a barely run-down petrol station. You get the image. With water: motor oil, mashed bananas, and linoleum. Mouth (neat): a devoted continuation of the nostril, so petrol and pineapple, with a hearty dose of salty liquorice. With water: add some seawater and people well-known olives we love. End: lengthy, with tar displaying up and a briny rigidity that’s all the time most welcome. Feedback: in fact age issues, however maybe much less in rum than in whisky. An excellent younger bottle.
SGP:563 – 87 factors. |
|
|
Rhum Brun Vieilli 2023 (56.4%, Distillerie de Lyon, Cuvée Collaborative, molasses, +/-2024)
A collaborative cuvée, produced in mainland France by an meeting together with Distillerie de Lyon (who additionally, consider it or not, make cucumber liqueur), together with Caves Gilles Granger and BIM. Relaxation assured, I doubt it smells of cucumber… Color: gold. Nostril: this jogs my memory of some artisanal American malts we’ve sampled not too long ago. Pine bud liqueur, sandalwood, wild peppermint, a family-sized pack of salty Scandinavian liquorice, and above all, heaps of camphor. I’ve received a little bit of a sore shoulder – I’m certain this incomparable potion (on the nostril no less than) will type that out. With water: a fairly pretty varnish – let’s say image varnish and rubber tree sap. Mouth (neat): barely bonkers, within the vein of an outdated natural liqueur made lengthy earlier than the conflict in some forgotten Central European nation. You already know the sort (perhaps). Nonetheless full of resin, camphor, clove, and cumin, but in addition bitter orange and, oh sure, cane sugar! With water: continues alongside the identical strains, with a contact of violet liquorice as nicely. End: lengthy, staying the course. Feedback: it seems like being on an island, however to be truthful, Lyon has a type of peninsula at its coronary heart, between the Saône and Rhône rivers. Although I’m undecided that’s the place the distillery is positioned. In any case, this inconceivable rum is supremely wonderful. Actually!
SGP:472 – 87 factors. |
|
|
Single Property French West Indies Rhum 2017/2023 (58.3%, L’Esprit, cask #BB7, 240 bottles) 
We’re hoping this may resemble a Saint James from Martinique. Color: golden amber. Nostril: very floral and fairly gentle, leaving little doubt. Rose petals, jasmine, and lily of the valley, alongside cane honey and acacia honey. Within the outdated days, one might need mentioned it was delightfully female. With water: hints of shoe polish emerge, and even a bit of recent Tupperware. Poor Tupperware! Mouth (neat): magnificent blood oranges with Timut pepper and an amusing little hoppy aspect. The rose is again, and so are Turkish delights and lychees. A faint woody/earthy word too. With water: that is its greatest section. Cedarwood, incense, citrus zests, and once more some rose, together with barely overripe apple… End: not immensely lengthy, fairly gentle, nonetheless very aromatic and floral. A gently earthy aftertaste. Feedback: a little bit magnificence, thus far but so shut ‘in spirit’ to the ester bombs which might be all the fad lately.
SGP:551 – 88 factors. |
|
|
Fiji 22 yo 2001/2022 (59%, Rock & Rhum, 244 bottles) 
Vive les Fiji! It is value noting that this dram has been introduced right down to 59% with water. One can solely marvel what it will need to have been like earlier than, after 22 years, for the esteemed bottlers to make such a call. Color: gold. Nostril: easy, direct, and sincere. Petrol, olives, charcoal, tobacco, and liquorice wooden. With water: pickled gherkins and candy liquorice. Mouth (neat): we love these Fiji rums, and this one much more so, because it’s ventured into barely fruitier territory than typical, with guavas, mangoes, and the ever-present bananas. The remaining is dominated by olives and tar. With water: hints of tomatoes, rooibos, calmly smoked tea, and marjoram… End: lengthy, related, much less fruity, saline, extra matte, virtually acrid. Not a hint of sweetness within the aftertaste. Feedback: there is a faint ecclesiastical contact in direction of the tip. Amen.
SGP:463 – 90 factors. |
|
Properly then, the subsequent one we’ll style out of Christian charity… Assist, extra PX once more!
|
|
|
Hampden 2023/2024 ‘Pedro Ximenez’ (62.9%, The Colors of Rum, Jamaica, cask #28, 329 bottles)
This may nicely be one thing unlawful—1500 to 1600 gr ester/HLPA, they are saying. Ah, that may be DOK. ‘Aged in Europe’, they add, however I doubt that makes the slightest distinction after only one 12 months. Proper then, let’s maintain tight and dive in rapidly… Color: amber. Nostril: if all ex-PX casks have been like this… Crayola crayons, tar, incense, cedarwood, black olives, and brake pads. That mentioned, it’s attainable the PX has barely tamed this little monster, however we’ll want water to actually choose. With water: hmm, undecided it’s helped a lot—nonetheless these traditional Hampden markers of tar, tarmac, carbon, inexperienced olives, smoked fish, and sauna oils. Mouth (neat): carbon, tar, pepper, and rubber dissolved in turpentine. You get the image. With water: ah, there it’s, a tiny little bit of sweetness creeping in… However no, we’re joking, it’s nonetheless splendidly brutal. Maybe that trace of dried apricot and the 2 little raisins duelling within the background do come from the PX. Who is aware of. End: very lengthy, but someway not that lengthy (?). Beautiful smoky brine. Feedback: between us, if there’s one distillery that’s magnificent each in its youth and in its aged variations, it’s this blessed Hampden, which we nonetheless can’t appear to fault.
SGP:563 – 89 factors. |
|
We’ll end off with some older Jamaican music then…
|
|
|
Clarendon 24 yo 1997/2022 (49.2%, The Colors of Rhum, #13, cask #28, 192 bottles)
That is an MMW (Monymusk Wedderburn), so we’re taking a look at round 300 gr ester/hlpa. Color: white wine. Nostril: fully totally different from what you may count on, virtually gentle, with early morning rosebuds and an abundance of winery peaches, adopted by an increasing number of mango. It seems like there is a transmutation of the esters, akin to how peat can evolve in outdated Laphroaigs. Completely pleasant, with an amazing delicacy. However let’s not name it ‘female’—no want for that! Mouth: magnificent. As soon as once more, these winery peaches shine via, alongside Sauternes, pinot gris, white raspberries, all laid on a mattress of quince, sesame oil and a touch of smoked fish. The mango lurks within the background, ever current. End: not immensely lengthy however completely balanced with its fruity tones. There is a trace of Bellini, so champagne and puréed peach. Feedback: from time to time, a little bit bottle like this slips by virtually unnoticed, solely to whisper magnificent tales in your ear.
SGP:652 – 91 factors. |
|
Since we have been at Clarendon…
|
|
|
Clarendon 40 yo 1984/2024 (64.2%, The Nectar of the Day by day Drams, Famille Ricci, Jamaica, 90 bottles)
Clarendon 40 years outdated, are you able to consider it! The opposite 1984s we have had the pleasure of tasting have been from the ‘MMW’ marque, so this one may be related (200-300 grams ester per HLPA). Color: darkish amber. Nostril: nicely, right here we’re—heaps of varnish and wooden glue, petrol too, then we transfer into black olives and darkish tobacco, walnut stain, loads of charred issues (bread, wooden, cake), and eventually, fermenting fruits like prunes and different near-rotten fruits (these splendidly overripe bananas we love a lot on the nostril). With water: lashings of gasoline oil, greater than sufficient to warmth you thru the winter, and brine (olives and anchovies). Mouth (neat): chic bitterness, it’s as if you’re tasting a mixture of walnut stain certainly, with pine resin, pipe tobacco, and a few very excessive salmiak. As they are saying within the Scottish isles, this one blows your hat off. With water: we’re nearing extra civilised territory, but it surely’s nonetheless very acetic, salty, tarry, with oysters and even stewed Belgian mussels. End: very lengthy, with notes of black garlic and recent varnish. Nonetheless that excessive salmiak on the very finish, together with fermented darkish tobacco (Italian Toscano cigar). Artichoke, and really, very darkish tea. Feedback: evidently even 40 years is not fairly the age of cause for some rums, and all the higher for it, if you happen to ask me.
SGP:383 – 91 factors.
PS: there’s a contact of oak, thoughts you. |
|
|
Hampden 41 yo 1983/2024 (53.5%, The Nectar of the Day by day Drams, Famille Ricci, Jamaica, 90 bottles)
A really high-ester ‘HGML’ marque, standing for ‘Hampden George MacFarquhar Lawson’ (1000-1100 grams ester per HLPA). I am fairly sure that is the oldest Hampden I’ve knowingly tried. Color: pure gold. Nostril: these rums appear everlasting. Whereas the chic Clarendon was formed by the wooden, this Hampden feels as recent as a daisy, adorned with all its pure traits—plasticine, new tyres, seaweed, diesel gasoline, grapefruit, bitter almonds, carbon mud, and seawater, with only a trace of roasted pineapple and French dressing. With water: a contact of chlorine, municipal swimming pool, and a brand-new wetsuit whereas we’re at it. Ha! Mouth (neat): essentially the most chic salty liquorice, with a little bit of tobacco, olives, pure rubber, and yuzu. That’s it for now, and it’s already loads. With water: grandiose, a lot punchier now, with a manzanilla-mezcal hybrid really feel, as if aged in a burnt rubber barrel. You already know what I imply. The varnish and acetone turn into extra outstanding, together with seawater. A little bit of pepper and ashes begin to prickle, however even that, we love. End: lengthy, on gasoline oil, carbon, lemon, seawater, inexperienced pepper, black pepper, and salty liquorice. Feedback: not really easy, in the long run. However the one actual flaw with this drop is which you can’t down a pint of it identical to that—it calls for your full consideration. Then once more, maybe that’s for the perfect. All in all, a little bit of a troublemaker.
SGP:464 – 93 factors. |
|
 Test the index of all rum we have tasted thus far
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
