Mar 142018
 

#496

It’s been two years since the furore created by the inadvertently premature publication of the Velier catalogue entries for the El Dorado Rare Collection ignited in the minds of the Velier lovers, and I’ve been sitting on the three bottles almost since that time, waiting to get around to them. One of the reasons the reviews were not written immediately was simply that I felt the dust needed to settle down a bit, so that they could be approached with something resembling objectivity. Two years might have been just about enough for me to forget the original reviews that came out that yearand then The Little Caner was glancing through the Big Black Notebook #2 and pointing out that here were notes I tooktwice! – and still not written about, so what’s your malfunction, Pops? Move along already.

Yes well. Leaving aside the young man’s disrespect for his geriatric sire, let’s review the stats on this rum, the Versailles, made from the near legendary wooden single pot still, marque VSG. First of all, no information on the outturn was ever made available, so I’m forced to go with Luca’s comment to me of “about 3000 bottles,” which DDL never felt it necessary to nail down for us. Distilled 2002, bottled in 2015, so a 13 year old rum. Strength was a beefy 63% and for that you could expect some seriously intense flavour when coupled with full tropical ageing. There are some other facts which I’ll go into in more depth below the tasting notes, but let me address these first, so you get the same impressions I had without anything else clouding your mind.

A bright orange brown in hue, the nose that billowed out as soon as the bottle was cracked, was deep and lush, and I liked it right off. Coffee and candied oranges, nougat and caramel, quite soft for a 63% beefcake, and quite rich, to which were added, over time, additional notes of furniture polish, muscavado, anise, florals and some light paint thinner. Having had a few El Dorados quite recently, I remember thinking this actually presented quite close to the 12 Year Oldstandardrum (at 40%), which, while stupefied to the point of near imbecility in terms of both strength and adulteration, also had Versailles pot still rum as a major portion of the blend.

That wooden pot still taste profile really comes into its own on the palate (much as the 12 year old did), and this was no exception. The whole taste was anise, pencil shavings and oak forward, and this became the bedrock upon which other, warmer and subtler flavours restedfruits like apricots, pears, plums, raisins and ripe apples for the most partbut the tannins were perhaps a bit too dominant and shoved the caramel, molasses, herbs (like rosemary and mint) and lighter fruity elements into the background. I added water to see what would happen and the fruits displayed better, but it also allowed a certain sweet syrup (the kind canned fruits come with) to become noticeable, not entirely to the rum’s benefit. It tasted well, was intense and powerful beyond question: I just felt the balance between the elements was weighted too heavily in favour of the woods and bitter chocolate notesat the expense of a more tempered rum that I would appreciate more. As for the finish, it really was too tannic for my liking, once again pushing soft fruits into the background and not allowing much except caramel, lemon zest, raisins and acetones to close off the show.

Overall, the rum displayed rather less of the hallmarks of careful and judicious balancing of the tastes to which Velier’s aged mastodons had accustomed us, and while it was not a shabby rum by any means, it also had components that subtly clashed with each other, in such a way that the showcasing of a wooden still’s profile was downgraded (though not entirely lost, thank goodness). More to the point, it feelswell, dumbed down. Straightforward. Edging close to simple.

Now, according to Henrik over on the Rumcorner, who reviewed this very same rum before passing it over to me, it was tampered withsome 14g/L of adulteration was present, and the Fat Rum Pirate noted 8 g/L himself. That’s not enough to disqualify it from the runningyou have to go way over 20 g/L to start seriously degrading the taste of a rum this powerfulbut the question is and will always remain, why bother? At the price point and relative rarity, for the purpose of the issueto take over from Velier and make a mark on the full proof rarities of the worldonly die-hards would buy it and they’re the ones who knew best, and know now, what they’re buying, so why piss them off (and worse yet, omit the disclosure)? Tradition? Gimme a break. (On the other hand, it is possible DDL merely mismeasured the true ABV and it’s actually not 63% and thereby fooled the hydrometers and calculationsbut I chose to doubt that).

That said, this is one of those times when I think that if there was dosage and not an ABV misreading (which some still maintain and DDL as usual says nothing about either way), then the addition served a purpose, and DDL were damned if they did and damned if they didn’t. The sugar (or caramel or whatever the additive wasremember, a hydrometer measures changes in density, it does not identify the sourcewe just assume it’s sugar) allowed the sharper bite of tannins to be tamed somewhat and made the rum a powerful, brutal drink with the jagged edges toned downbut this came at a price: it also masked the subtleties that the hardcore look for and enjoy.

Serge of WhiskyFun scored this 90 points, Cyril of DuRhum gave 86, and Henrik gave it 83 and RumShopBoy about 84, and they all made it clear what they experiencedme, I sort of fall in the middle of the Serge’s enthusiasm and Henrik’s despite, and can call it a good rum without embarrassmentbut alas, it’s not a game-changer, not a must-have, not a scene-stealer. It comes off as being just another limited edition bottling from a new independent bottler, featuring a marque that still has some lustre and shine, but not one which this rum burnishes to a high gloss.

(84.5/100)


 

 

 


  7 Responses toEl Dorado Rare CollectionVersailles 2002-2015 13 YO VSG

  1. I found it very curious from the start, how much the opinions differ, not only with the Versailles but also with the other two bottlings.

    Could you explain your last comment regarding this being a blend?

    • The blend remark was a mistake. I’ve corrected the post.

      I imagine DDL’s decision to go theVelier routegave people different emotional responses which possibly carried over into their assessments.

  2. The hero from the series released by El Dorado, no doubt about that. Port Mourant for example is not nearly at the level of this I feel.

    • I thought the PM was slightly better, as was the Enmore. But this trio seems to have wild variations in people’s assessment.

  3. I’m not so sure about your comment regarding a rum needing over 20g/L of additives to start degrading the taste. Admittedly, degrading is subjective but even allowing for the higher alcohol content, it would appear even lesser amounts can drastically change a rum. I know you are adverse to anything from the Rum Project, however this post details an experiment that is very revealing. With a 40% rum, the taste was changed starting from 5g/L

    http://rumproject.com/rumforum/viewtopic.php?t=1134

    It boggles the mind why they releasepremiumrums with additives, I’d even kill for a chance to try the 12 year oldau naturelif possible. However, I don’t think DDL knows how to bottle rum without putting sugar in it first.

    • I remember that RumProject post, and you’re probably correctthough for something bottled at 63%, I wonder how much a rum would be ruined by 14g/L. Affected it certainly was. Would I have noted it had I not known in advance? Not sure.

      That said, when you consider that the Rares were meant to be DDL’s own initial foray into the full proof Demeraras, you would think it would be the best they had, totally pure, so as to show Luca wasn’t the only guy who could do it and they could do better….and then they went and adulterated it? Makes no sense to me either. Fortunately the other two tested clean so….

  4. Pencil shavingsyesgreat tasting note I couldn’t place my finger on.

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