Longueteau VSOP Rhum Vieux Agricole – Review

 No Responses »
Jul 232017
 
Longueteau VSOP Rhum Vieux Agricole - Review

#379 Much as I had with the Longueteau Grand Réserve, a ten year old agricole from Basse-Terre (Guadeloupe), I felt the 42% strength on the six year old VSOP was perhaps too timid and too wispy for a rhum which could have been more had it been made stronger.  Longueteau, a distillery which has been in operation since 1895 and produces the Karukera and Longueteau lines of rhums, seems to eschew fierce and powerful expressions and is quite content to keep on issuing standard strength work, but since their quality is nothing to sneeze at and is readily approachable by [Click here for the full review…]


Revisiting the Appleton 12 Year Old Rum

 1 Response »
Jul 192017
 
Revisiting the Appleton 12 Year Old Rum

#378 No matter how many other estates or companies make and market Jamaican rum, it’s a fair bet that when it comes to recognition, Appleton has cornered the market in their own land, much like DDL has in Guyana, or how FourSquare is currently dominating Barbados.  Recently I ran a few Appletons past each other (it’s one of the few decent rums one can get in the rum wasteland that is Toronto), and while the 21 year old, Master Blender’s Legacy and 30 year old are not on sale there, the rebranded “Rare Blend” 12 year old was. Re-tasting the [Click here for the full review…]


Bristol Spirits 1974 30 Year Old Jamaica Rum – Review

 No Responses »
Jul 162017
 
Bristol Spirits 1974 30 Year Old Jamaica Rum - Review

#377 Bottled in 2004 at a lukewarm 43%, Bristol Spirits have somehow transcended the living room strength of this classic 30 year old rum and produced one of the best Jamaicans of its kind.  Even under some time pressure, I still had that glass on the go for two full hours, smelling it over and over, tasting it in the tiniest of sips again and again, comparing, retasting, rechecking, making more and more notes, and in the fullproof company of Guyanese and Jamaicans I was trying alongside it, it was a standout of no mean proportions.  We simply do not [Click here for the full review…]


Savanna Lontan Grand Arôme Vieux 2004 12 Year Old – Review

 No Responses »
Jun 282017
 
Savanna Lontan Grand Arôme Vieux 2004 12 Year Old - Review

#376 With the advent of the Hampden and Worthy Park rums which pride themselves on high ester counts, it seems that one of the emerging trends in the rumworld may well be such tasty, clear, bags-of-fruit rums with not just a single sapling populating the salad bowl, but an entire damned orchard. Yet on the other side of the world, Savanna has been doing this for some years now with their “Intense” and “Grand Arôme” lines, of which the reigning porn queen might well be the HERR 10 year old that so impressed me.  That rum was startling and original, [Click here for the full review…]


Velier Port Mourant 1975 32 Year Old Full Proof Demerara Rum – Review

 1 Response »
Jun 262017
 
Velier Port Mourant 1975 32 Year Old Full Proof Demerara Rum - Review

#375 Velier rums have now become so famous that new editions and collaborations disappear from the shelves fifteen minutes before they go on sale, and the “classic” editions from the Age of the Demeraras are all but impossible to find at all.  Still, keeping one’s twitchy ears and long nose alert does in fact get you somewhere in the end, which is why, after a long drought of the company’s rums in my battered notebook (if you discount the legendary Caputo 1973), I managed to pick up this little gem and am pleased to report that it conforms to all [Click here for the full review…]


Secret Treasures St. Lucia 2005 9 Year Old (John Dore Pot Still) Rum – Review

 No Responses »
Jun 222017
 
Secret Treasures St. Lucia 2005 9 Year Old (John Dore Pot Still) Rum - Review

#374 Two bottles of  Secret Treasures St. Lucian rum came my way in early 2017, entirely unexpected and unannounced, and both were fascinating variations on a theme.  Did I say thanks to Eddie K?  I think so, but let’s just tip the trilby to the man one more time, because even next to its very sound brother, this baby from a John Dore pot still is no slouch either, and not much has been written about either one, and it’s entirely possible that they are among the most under-the-radar value-for-money indie rums around. Since there’s not much more to say [Click here for the full review…]


Opinion: Why Negative Reviews Matter

 6 Responses »
Jun 202017
 
Opinion: Why Negative Reviews Matter

Two comments I came across in my reading last week stuck in my mind and dovetailed into conversations I’ve had with others over many years.  The first was from a reviewing website which stated (paraphrased) that they don’t review what they have nothing good to say about.  The other, from a high-end watch-review site called Hodinkee, quoted a journalism professor as saying “If you’re going to write about something bad, it needs to be bad in an important way. Just being bad isn’t enough.” Which got me thinking.  Why write negative reviews at all?  They’re often depressing experiences, however easily [Click here for the full review…]


Secret Treasures St. Lucia 2005 9 Year Old (Vendome Pot Still) Rum – Review

 1 Response »
Jun 192017
 
Secret Treasures St. Lucia 2005 9 Year Old (Vendome Pot Still) Rum - Review

#373 In recent years, St Lucia and its eponymous distillery has been inching towards its own understated cult status: pot still rums, no additives, a finish-variation here or there, good barrel strategy, all round good stuff, and somehow (don’t ask me why) still lacks the cachet of the big four (Trini Caronis, Guyana’s DDL, Bajan FourSquare and, of course, dem Jamaicans).  Many of my rum chums swear by their rums, however, whether made by independents or issued on the island, and I can tell you, they deserve the plaudits, because they’re good. Assuming you’ve already gone through various batches of [Click here for the full review…]


Rhum des Plantations St. James 1932

 No Responses »
Jun 182017
 
Rhum des Plantations St. James 1932

Rumaniacs Review #050 St. James has taken its place as the source of the most ancient rhum I’ve tried in my life (the 1885), and to this day they continue to make some very good agricoles.  But you’ll forgive me for yearning for their old, out-of-production rhums, made in times that predate my own grandfather; and I like trying them not just because they’re so old and so appeal to the collector in me, but because I find it fascinating how different they are to what’s made nowadays with the appurtenances of modern technology and skill.  Such dinosaurs don’t always [Click here for the full review…]


Compagnie des Indes Guadeloupe 1998 18 Year Old Rum (Denmark) – Review

 No Responses »
Jun 142017
 
Compagnie des Indes Guadeloupe 1998 18 Year Old Rum (Denmark) - Review

#372 It’s always a pleasure to circle back to the now-established independent bottlers, especially those with which one has more than a glancing familiarity; they are the outfits who have carved themselves a niche in the rumiverse which for us consumers is composed of one part recognition, one part curiosity and eight parts cool rum.  The Compagnie des Indes is one of these for me, and while everyone is now aware they have started to issue the cask strength series of rums alongside lesser proofed ones (much like L’Esprit does), there will always remain a soft and envious green spot [Click here for the full review…]


 Older Entries
error: Content is copyrighted. Please email thelonecaner@gmail.com for permission .