Velier Rhum Vieux Guadeloupe 1995 “Basseterre” – Review

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Jan 212016
 
Velier Rhum Vieux Guadeloupe 1995 "Basseterre" - Review

Slow, not entirely promising beginning, with a strong development and finish. In between its major releases from Trinidad, Guyana and Damoiseau where it made its bones, Velier occasionally took time off to travel the more traditional route of the indie bottler, and issue one-offs like this one (and the 1997).  I consider it a curious addition to the oevre, and not entirely a rum so good that it rates admittance to the pantheon, though nevertheless deserving of praise. I call it “curious”: it was distilled in October 1995 and bottled in January 2008…but in between those dates, it was, like [Click here for the full review…]


Opinion – The Flawed Intro of DDL’s “Rare Collection”

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Jan 202016
 
Opinion - The Flawed Intro of DDL's "Rare Collection"

“I hope for them that the rums are good,” muttered Cyril darkly, as a bunch of us exchanged comments on the newest DDL offerings.  We should have been happy, but we weren’t, not really.  Few of us rum watchers were. Back in December 2015, I read the tea leaves spectacularly wrong and suggested that DDL would not be issuing single-still Velier-style full proofs any time soon.  A month later they did: an Enmore 1993, Versailles 2002 and PM 1999.  I’m actually kinda surprised nobody ragged my tail about my utter inability to forecast what might even have been a foregone [Click here for the full review…]


Velier Caroni 1985 Heavy 21 YO Rum

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Jan 192016
 
Velier Caroni 1985 Heavy 21 YO Rum

Rumaniacs Review 016 | 0416 Two more Veliers to go before we move onto other old rums, this is the “younger” one, bottled in 2006, from that Port Ellen of the rumworld, Caroni.  Here in 2004, legend has it, Luca was (as usual) talking rum, chewing sugar cane and taking pictures, when he literally tripped over (not into) a warehouse of stored casks, probably forgotten, all of  which he eventually bought.  Talk about a coup de maître – they should make a film about him: Indiana Gargano and the Lost Warehouse, know what I mean? No one in the rumworld, [Click here for the full review…]


Trois Rivières 1986 Rhum Vieux Agricole – Review

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Jan 172016
 
Trois Rivières 1986 Rhum Vieux Agricole - Review

Like a kilt, this ten year old rhum proves that less can often be more. The Japanese art of ikebana is that of flower arranging, and if you think its principles lack applicability to rum, well, give that some thought. Sorting a big bunch of flowers into a vase is not what it’s really about (one could say the same thing about the chanoyu).  The true art is about selecting just a few elements, and finding the perfect way to arrange them so that they rest together in harmony.  Trois Rivières is unlikely to have studied the matter…but this rum [Click here for the full review…]


Chantal Comte Rhum Vieux Agricole 1977 20 Year Old Rhum – Review

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Jan 092016
 
Chantal Comte Rhum Vieux Agricole 1977 20 Year Old Rhum - Review

Another lovely Martinique agricole from Chantal Comte, lacking something in its construction to be truly great. Before I venture into fresh waters, the next few weeks will be about housekeeping – writing about rums to which I have referred elsewhere and which are now getting some attention of their own. Unsurprisingly, the first one is the older-but-not-quite-so-stellar brother to what may have been the best rum I tried in 2015 (the 1980 Chantal Comte), also from Trois Rivieres on Martinique, somewhat older (twenty years, versus seven), but with less power (45% ABV), more outturn…and less of a price tag. Note [Click here for the full review…]


Clairin Casimir Unaged White Rhum (2013) – Review

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Jan 072016
 
Clairin Casimir Unaged White Rhum (2013) - Review

This rum is like Hooters: delightfully tacky, enjoyable as hell, and unrefined to a fault.  And once you’ve given it a shot, it’s like you have a sneaking suspicion you’ll soon be back, grumbling all the while “Poukisa rum nan toujou fini?” The Clairin “Casimir” white rum, the third of the Haitian Clairins, is maddening and strange if you are not in tune with it, mesmerizing if you are. I noted in a comment on the Vaval that it’s tough to love, and the same applies here, only more so. If you have not thrown the thing away in disgust [Click here for the full review…]


Velier Blairmont 1982 29 Year Old Rum

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Jan 042016
 
Velier Blairmont 1982 29 Year Old Rum

Rumaniacs Review 015 | 0415 Happy New Year, everyone. 2016 is upon us, I assume everyone is all sobered up, and today we continue our examination of older Veliers…the 1982 Blairmont in this case.  I’ve looked at the 1991 edition before and I thought it was exceptional at the time, but that one was half as old as this lovingly aged monster supposedly taken off the French Savalle still in Guyana (the box may be a misprint unless it was referring to a now destroyed pot still).  Both are excellent, though. For those who are interested, Blairmont is a sugar estate on [Click here for the full review…]


Velier Damoiseau 1980 18 Year Old Rhum – Review

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Dec 272015
 
Velier Damoiseau 1980 18 Year Old Rhum - Review

  A marriage of the best of agricoles with the best of molasses-based rums.  We close off 2015 with the spectacular 2002 rum that opened the Age of Velier. Velier is better known for the pioneering full-proof Caroni and Demerara rums which have garnered it so much acclaim in the past decade; and more recently they have raised their profile even more with the issue of the Clairins, a close association with Richard Seale, and the “Gargano classification.”  Yet rum aficionados who track this company know that the true beginnings of its rise are contained within the first issue they ever [Click here for the full review…]


Trois Rivières 1975 Rhum Vieux Agricole – Review

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Dec 222015
 
Trois Rivières 1975 Rhum Vieux Agricole - Review

Proof that year of make does not confer exceptionalism. Trois Rivieres in Martinique is over 350 years old, formed in 1660 when Nicolas Fouquet, Superintendent of Finances to Louis XIV, won a large concession of about 5,000 acres in the south of the island, where it remains still, after many changes in ownership.  In 1953, the Marraud Grottes family, owners of their own distillery and the Duquesne brand, bought the estate and sold aged Trois Rivières Duquesne rhums under the brand until 1972. In 1994 the Trois Rivières distillery was acquired by the company BBS, which also had the La [Click here for the full review…]


Rhum Sant’ Andrea 1939

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Dec 202015
 
Rhum Sant' Andrea 1939

Rumaniacs Review 014 | 0414 The idea was to continue along with Velier’s Caroni 1985 and 1982 this week, but then I figured it was close to Christmas, so let’s go with something a little older. Perhaps a rhum from an age before ours, or even that of our fathers. Issued by the house of Fratelli Branca, which is akin to Rum Nation, Samaroli or even Velier: an old 19th century Milanese spirits maker (they created a liqueur of their own in 1845 which led to the formation of the company) and distributor, that rode the wave of “Fantasy Rhums” which were popular [Click here for the full review…]


Berry Bros. & Rudd 1977 Jamaica Rum “Overproof” 36 Year Old Rum – Review

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Dec 162015
 
Berry Bros. & Rudd 1977 Jamaica Rum "Overproof" 36 Year Old Rum - Review

BBR have made a rum that has all the fidelity and quality of the rums from times gone by, without compromise….a 60% velociraptor that really does get you and chomp you down. It’s Christmas, so let’s get another one of the pricier, rarer bottlings out of the way just in case someone sees it and wants one for his grandfather. In all honestly, with just 220 bottles of the Jamaica 1977 in circulation, and at the price point it retails for, one could be forgiven for wondering why I am reviewing a rum that very few people will ever try [Click here for the full review…]


Opinion – The Wasted Potential of DDL’s Single Barrel Rums

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Dec 152015
 
Opinion - The Wasted Potential of DDL's Single Barrel Rums

Introduction In 2015 it became widely known that DDL was severing its relationship with Velier, and Luca Gargano would no longer have access to their warehouses. With that simple statement, the Age of Velier’s Demerara Rums appeared to have come to an end. In October of that same year, I reviewed the three single barrel expressions DDL issued back in 2007, and the notes in that write up were so voluminous that I split them apart to form the basis of this essay. My thinking went like this: when you think of all the advantages DDL enjoys in the international [Click here for the full review…]


A.H. Riise Royal Danish Navy Rum – Review

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Dec 102015
 
A.H. Riise Royal Danish Navy Rum - Review

My mission, should I chose to accept it, is to get hammered on this crap. I drank it so you don’t have to. I can’t imagine what was going through AH Riise’s corporate minds when they made this ersatz faux-Navy-Rum wannabe, but I should point out that the few rum guys I know from Denmark think it’s something of an insult to the spirit.  It’s a sweet sugary Nicolas Sparks-level saccharine mess, with a grudging nod given to navy standards by beefing it up some.  Unless you’re masochistically into multiple insulin shots, my advice is to smell it and immediately [Click here for the full review…]


Velier Albion 1986 25 Year Old Rum

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Dec 062015
 
Velier Albion 1986 25 Year Old Rum

Rumaniacs Review 013 | 0413 Another old bad boy from la Casa Luca, as we continue our sojourn down memory lane with old Veliers. The Albion 1994 17 year old was the first Velier I ever tried and there’s still a soft spot in my heart for it.  This one, tried three years later, is perhaps not as good. It’s certainly older, being bottled in 1986 and it’s a weighty, meaty 25 year old…from one barrel.  Good luck finding more of this thing. Perhaps only the Albion 1983 is rarer. Note that its actual provenance from Albion is subject to debate since [Click here for the full review…]


Chantal Comte Rhum Vieux Agricole 1980 – Review

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Dec 022015
 
Chantal Comte Rhum Vieux Agricole 1980 - Review

This rhum is a quietly dazzling masterpiece. The Chantal Comte 1980 purrs away in the glass, containing so many quietly thrumming riches, revealed in so gradual a fashion, that it embarrasses ordinary rums.  And yet, its characteristics aren’t gaudily thrown before us to entertain or impress.  There are no marketing tricks here, no fancy “finished in…” or “made this unusual way…”. No dosing, adding or off-the-wall ageing. It is only after I tried it for the fourth time that I truly appreciated the full reach of its accomplishment, and realized how well and how subtly it had been made. And [Click here for the full review…]


Lost Spirits Navy Style Rum – Review

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Nov 252015
 
Lost Spirits Navy Style Rum - Review

Leave aside the hype and controversy, and try this without preconceptions. You may be surprised, intrigued and even pleased with the result.  I was, I was and I wasn’t, not entirely…but you might be. If by now you are not aware that Lost Spirits out of California has developed a “molecular reactor” that supposedly mimics the ageing of a twenty year rum in six days, then you have not been paying attention (or aren’t that deep into rum geekdom).  The idea is not itself altogether new, and detractors have sniffed that snake oil sellers have been talking forever about using [Click here for the full review…]


Velier Port Mourant 1974 33 Year Old Rum

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Nov 242015
 
Velier Port Mourant 1974 33 Year Old Rum

Rumaniacs Review 012 | 0412 The Velier retrospectives continue.  So sad they’re out of production, and that DDL aren’t letting Luca take any more barrels from their old stocks.  The dinosaurs like this one continue to be collector’s items…the good Lord only knows where the 1972 is at these days. I last looked at this lovely rum back in 2013, when I was able to get a bottle into Calgary (bought in 2012, don’t get me started on the headaches that took), and its rep has only grown since then. Colour – mahogany Strength 54.5% Nose – Just lovely, so very distinctive. The [Click here for the full review…]


Clairin Vaval Unaged White Rhum – Review

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Nov 162015
 
Clairin Vaval Unaged White Rhum - Review

Looks like water but goes down like a charge of cheerfully boosted C4. You won’t mistake it for any other rhum…except maybe its cousins. (#241 / 84.5/100) *** Full of get-up-and-go instilled by the momentous encounter that was the Sajous, I sprang for both the Casimir and the Vaval (plus a Sajous of my own) at the first available opportunity.  Because come on, originality and going off the reservation in the rum world are vanishing ideals, and it’s not often that a rhum is so amazingly, shockingly off-base that it’s in another ballpark altogether. Such a rhum was the Clairin [Click here for the full review…]


Ron Cacique Antiguo – Review

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Nov 122015
 
Ron Cacique Antiguo - Review

Supposedly more premium, but not a whole lot better than the 500. Here’s a poster child of why a rum reviewer has to have the beady-eyed practicality of a jaded streetwalker. Age, style, marketing, pamphlets, labels, word of mouth, all count for nothing, and all is evaluated without recourse to what anyone else says. After reviewing the €35 Cacique 500 as well as the Veroes Añejo from Venezuela, and checking around to see what else I could buy from that country, I felt it was only fair to pick up something a little higher up on the value chain (but [Click here for the full review…]


Velier UF30E 1985 27 Year Old Rum

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Nov 082015
 
Velier UF30E 1985 27 Year Old Rum

Rumaniacs Review 011 | 0411 Time to address the brontosaurii of Velier for a few Rumaniacs write ups, since the samples are there. UF30E is a bit “young” for inclusion into the Rumaniacs pantheon, but it is out of production, so let’s have it. The code stands for Uitvlugt Field #30 East, or some such, which would puzzle even someone from Mudland (like, umm…well, me).  Never mind.  With an outturn of 814 bottles from three barrels, it remains one of the best rums from Velier I’ve ever sampled.  And while I thought had overpraised it back in 2013, it turns out I [Click here for the full review…]


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