Habitation Velier Foursquare 2021 LFT Unaged White Rum – Review

 No Responses »
Mar 252026
 

I still remember the hushed rumours that swirled around the rumiverse even before the 2022 TWE Rumshow opened its doors. Richard Seale had something new, something original and something fierce in his leopardskin rock star trousers, and while supposedly it wasn’t officially on the shelves, maybe a sly wink and a significant nod to Pete Holland who was tending booth that time, and perhaps,possibly – you could score a taste? Or so the tall-tale teller in me likes to remember. It’s a good story, isn’t it?

The truth is rather more prosaic. Yes we did hear rumours about a new white rum from Foursquare, but few of us rum junkies ever tried it – and as it turned out, it was on display and we all did get to try it without bribing, bullying or bludgeoning the hapless Mr. Holland. He had one bottle for each day, and he warned us to come get some pronto, because a few hours in, and even with the usual mad crowds around Foursquare (the Sovereignty and Isonomy were also being shown at the time), that particular bottle would be poured out and licked clean in labba time.

Fun and games aside, Foursquare released a long fermented unaged pot still high ester rum through the Habitation Velier line – not the collaborations, which are rarer, or via Foursquare’s own bottling system which are more famous. As Richard told me, it was good to have this kind of ability to release rather more experimental rums through the HV brand, to gauge interest and show it off as something educational, before committing the company to that direction more seriously.

The production notes are quite interesting: bottled in 2021 and released to the public in 2022. There are actually two versions: the 555 g/hlpa on the label is the one I tried (the second release does not have that statement), and it’s a blend of cane juice and molasses based washes – the cane juice element was fermented with wild (natural) yeast for several weeks, while a yest ferment was added to the molasses component for about three days 1. The distillate was run through Foursquare’s pot still and bottled at a rip snortin’ 62%. 

Label is a mock up, courtesy of Velier. The “xxx” ester count is 555 on the finished label.

Unaged white rums – especially when coming off a trapiche, a single column still or a pot still – are creatures to treat with respect (and occasionally fear), especially if one comes to them from a background of standard strength filtered whites or inoffensive golds. When one noses the LFT, you can understand my note of caution. It smells, right off the bat, like a dirty stinky martini with a ton of olives, very dry. Then, lighter sugar cane sap and sugar water notes, green peas from a tin, sweet corn, white guavas, grass, green apples, grapes, herbs, almonds… Burnt paper, wet cardboard, ash, minerals, iodine, dried seaweed….I mean, this is like a one stop nosing shop, if you get my drift. Raw, heavy, flavourful, bursting at the seams with every inhale.

And the palate did not drop the ball either: it was hot and firm, but not snarkily scratchy, and so one did not have to call for an EMT while drinking it. Initial tastes are of rubber, nail polish, acetones, and turpentine, which led the charge in fine style.  Thundering behind that comes the parade of sweet and sour fruit, yoghurt, grass, dill, herbs, pears, apples, grapes, gooseberries, brine and olives, sugar water. I kept it in my glass as I wandered around the show that day, recharged it once or twice, and it was a simply great sipping experience if left to open properly – hurrying with this one is definitely not recommended.  Finish is long, dry and sweet, with fruity and estery notes of pineapple, half ripe mangoes, cardamom, sugar water, laban and tart gooseberries, some olives and brine, and it took an impressively long time to fade from ones senses (if not from memory).

So. Well. Let me catch my breath here. Yep, this has all the hallmarks of a real agricole-style rum (in spite of the molasses component) with the blend and the pot still providing an interesting balance of heavier and lighter notes at the same time. I remarked that the Messcia was like a dialled down clairin (not entirely a compliment), but here, it’s hard to tell the difference, and indeed, there are elements on the LFT that few if any French island cane juice rums have very often, if at all. That’s what makes it interesting, and elevates the experience.

Much of what enthused me about the Worthy Park high ester cane juice white is also on display in this one, albeit twisted into new and intriguing shapes. Honesty compels me to admit that it’s really not for everyone, especially not casual drinkers, and initially it seems offputting.  But that’s a trap to make non-serious people leave it alone, leaving more for us maniacs who like to see what happens when a respected rum maker frees himself from the strictures of the market, and simply makes what ever the hell he feels like. Most of us would call it a red letter day when that happens, but I suspect that for Richard, the day he made it, he just stuck his hands in those trousers, shrugged and said, “It’s Tuesday.”

(#1143)(87/100) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Other notes

  • Youtube video review link
  • My thanks to Richard Seale for taking the time to providing some background production notes to flesh out this review
  • Foursquare does mix cane juice distillate in small proportions to regular releases. Starting in 2026 they sourced cane juice from Saint Nicholas Abbey, but by 2018 they were milling their own, and scaled up in 2020.  That said, both the LFT and the Triple Entente will remain niche products of limited outturns for the education and enjoyment of uber-nerds and die hard aficionados, not for widespread release.
  • The question the review raises is this: if I was trying it blind and next to equal strength agricoles, grogues or clairins, and didn’t know it was Foursquare… would I be as enthusiastic?  I ask myself these questions every time I get wowed by an extraordinarily original product. Here I must say “yes” – because I did.

Mount Gay Single Estate Blended 5YO Rum (Release #1, 2023) – Review

 1 Response »
Jan 022026
 

Introduction

Perhaps it was inevitable. The spirits market has been on a downturn since COVID receded and rum has been hit hard. Several mid range indies have gone under or are having financial woes, while the bigger and well known big name producers – Mount Gay, Appleton, DDL et al – are being forced to do some belt tightening of their own, or trying to expand into newer product niches where the sales are smaller and costs higher, but potential margins are larger.  Such new entrants to the field seek to stand out via new production methods, different ageing, or just some difference in branding to distinguish themselves in the premium space. And, in this case, to accentuate the value of terroire.

Mount Gay’s Single Estate bottlings is doing a bit of all of this. Known mostly for blends up and down the value chain, from the Eclipse series to the premium 1703 to the more recent (and upscale) experimentals, finished rums and Master Blender’s series, Mount Gay seems to have taken inspiration from the forceful imagination of their master blender Trudiann Branker and the production team; from the labelling and transparency ethos that have become a new standard; and the desire to move upscale with something at right angles to their more popular mass market releases.

What we have, then, is the Single Estate series, which debuted to much fanfare in 2023 and, shorn of all the marketing ballyhoo, is all about terroire and the taste profile of cane and molasses deriving from the island itself (for the benefit of those who are unaware, most Caribbean islands that are not making agricoles import molasses from elsewhere to make their signature rums).

Production Notes

The molasses derives from Mount Gay’s own sugar cane fields, which by itself is a new development, dating back to 2015 when they bought 324 acres of nearby farmland and began growing their own cane there. The acreage isn’t a whole lot – certainly insufficient for their global production output – but it does allow limited special editions like this one to be made. 

The rum deriving from this stock is the first release in 2023 (as of 2025 there are four), and it’s a blend of 5- and 6-year old rums produced from the 2016 and 2017 harvest, 9 days’ fermentation, 100% pot still, and then ex-bourbon barrel aged, with a final release of this batch, of 55% ABV. The dark decanter, very similar to in shape to the 1703, is made with 70% recycled glass. The outturn is mid range, and varies from release to release: this one, I read on Robbreport, is just over 4,000 bottles total, of which 1200 is allocated to the US (no idea how much Canada got, but I haven’t seen any there yet).

Tasting Notes

At 55% ABV, the aromas are quite firm, and very aggressive right off the bat (in a good way). There are notes of kimchi, golden, light and crisp, almost agricole-like in its clean light aromas. Tawny scents of ginger, tobacco, soursop, lychees, dragon fruit all follow in rapid succession and the real difficulty is in just keeping up with what billows out of the glass. Slightly muskier tones start to creep in – figs, dates, soya sauce, some freshly grated coconut, and overall it smells clean, light, mildly sweet, with just enough sour to perk up the nose and keep you paying attention. Oh and before it’s over, you are also getting green mangoes, tamarind and (I swear I’m not making this up) burnt jerk chicken. 

On the palate, well, it does settle down quite a bit, as if afraid of its own temerity at going off the reservation —  and it becomes something much more traditional. Burnt orange peel, vanilla, Worcestershire sauce, green grapes, ashes, char (maybe from charred barrels) and the standard attendants of caramel, toffee, chocolate and maybe a bit of wet coffee grounds make their appearance as well. Even the finish, which is often hit or miss with too many MG rums I’ve tried (including those released by indies), is pretty damned fine, medium long, redolent of citrus, chocolate oranges, toffee, vanilla, nutmeg, and the faintest touch of yogurt and cinnamon sticks.

Wrapping it up, then…

At first blush, which is to say within the first five minutes of tasting it, it’s hard to distinguish it from a true agricole – really! It has that same light, clean, green serpentine clarity to it. It’s only after wrestling it to the ground and ignoring the twisting coils of sweetness and grass, that one sees what it’s really made of – and that’s really, really good. 

If it has a weakness is that I don’t actually think it represents the terroire of Barbados generally, or Mount Gay specifically, particularly well, if at all — though I concede this may simply be because we’ve rarely had an opportunity to do so before, given that distilleries on the island mostly import their molasses from elsewhere. I’ve read some reviews that remark on it not really “being all that” for a blend of five and six year old rums, costing as much as it does, which is another fair point. What I did was ignore the cost, ignored the presentation, dispensed with the marketing and promotion, and just looked at the rum as a rum 2.  And so, stripped of everything extraneous, putting away any expectations engendered by price or age or reputation … what’s was it like then?  

Well, perhaps I’m in a minority here… but I think it’s really kind of marvellous. The nose is complex, the palate is well balanced, the tastes are great and it’s just different enough to enthuse without veering too far from more familiar tastes. Based purely on smell and taste, it’s a very good rum. One can only hope that subsequent editions maintain this level of quality…or exceed it.

(#1135)(88/100) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Other notes

  • Video recap link
  • I like the label, a lot. There’s something quite simple and elegant about the design, and what the label itself doesn’t say, is available from the QR code that takes you to Mount Gay’s dedicated page for the rum, and there you are greeted with a plethora of information that is all we could ever want. Kudos to MG for providing it all.
  • Note the alphanumeric code that’s so prominently displayed. 23 | 01 | Bn_Qa. The 23 stands for year of release (not distillation), the 01 is the Batch number and the Bn_Qa stands for “bourbon barrels” and American oak barrels, or Quercus Alba. As a person who believes the rumworld should develop a global, generic, easy to understand labelling code that’s consistent around the world for all producers from all countries, I love this kind of thing, and believe that it could, and should – even must –  be implemented and expanded. Matt Pietrek wrote an interesting article on the subject which may be worth re-reading.

Opinion

I believe that yes, the cost of the bottle is too high. Don’t get me wrong, as a bean counter and numbers guy, I understand that the costs of production have to be recouped, margins maintained.  But man, the current price for £350 in the UK and something equivalent in Europe, four hundred bucks in the US… for a rum less than ten years old, even dressed up so prettily, that’s a hard sell. 

Given Remy Cointreau’s rather deep pockets, I would have expected them to okay a marginal or even breakeven price point, just to win more rapid acceptance. Maybe they could have let their lower tier brand items subsidize it for a while – so, say, £200 would not be out to lunch for something of such limited release, strength and provenance.

Connoisseurs who know why the price is at that level, would snap it up.  But the current tag is simply unconscionable, no matter the logic and economic reality.  The danger of setting such and exorbitant charge on the consumer is that too many will be put off by it, too few will buy it, and that might kill this series before it finds serious acceptance. That leaves only collectors, and for the rest of us proles, well, we’re deprived of something really quite special.

Doorly’s Finest Old Barbados 3YO Rum – Review

 No Responses »
Jul 162024
 

Over the years I’ve somewhat revised my initially indifferent stance towards Doorly’s, which at various times I sniffed at as lacking in seriousness, bereft of real character, a relic of a bygone and more innocent era, or various other rather dismissive comments. To me, Doorly’s always seemed to be a genuflection to the mass market instead of something more exactingly made.  The entire line, even with its heritage, paled in taste and significance when rated against the rums that Foursquare became known for: the ECS series, the Velier Collaborations, the pot still aged rums and the occasional Master Distillers releases.

Yet, slowly, quietly, the line got better and began to be more than just a back bar staple that incurious barmen reached for when they needed a cheaper aged Barbados rum. It rose in my estimation over the years. I named the 12YO a key rum of the world, and quite enjoyed the 14YO. But much to my surprise, it was this 3YO which exceeded its expectations so handily that it actually went toe to toe with the 14YO (albeit for different reasons). Now there’s a surprise for you.

Let’s start at the beginning: Doorly’s is the mass market export brand of Foursquare Distillery, which needs no further introduction (and if it does, you’re not really into rum); they had initially acquired the brand in the early 1990s and kept it in place because of its name recognition – it has now grown into one of the most recognizable Barbados brands in the world. The rum is a pot and column still blend, aged three years in ex-Bourbon (older casks), is issued at two strengths, 40% and 47% – this review is based on the stronger one.

Normally a 3YO rum is a cocktail ingredient, and priced to move. Sometimes also called Amber, Gold or Ambre, it’s coloured artificially on occasion, though here, given the pale yellow hue, that’s unlikely and it’s all barrel derived. The initial nose is remarkably crisp, without being sharp or bitchy, which is welcome: it’s buttery, briny and flowery, with coconut shavings and vanilla hogging the scene, accompanied by almonds, coffee grounds, cloves and a touch of black pepper.

On the palate it’s also quite good, firm and well balanced, not at all sharp. It opens with salt butter and Danish cookies, vanilla, hot pastries, licorice, pine tarts, with a gradually discernible background of raisins, citrus, coconut shavings, coffee grounds, charcoal and sour red licorice. It all leads to a decent medium long finish that wraps up the show nicely and sums up the preceding notes without adding new. It’s just…hefty. And quite a tasty dram, let me add.

I would never pick the 40% edition if this was available as an option. The combination of the flavours is all well handled, and there’s a force to it imparted by the higher strength that’s impressive. The other day I tried the Sunshine & Sons Australian rum that was a little over half+- this rum’s age and about the same strength, but had to strain twice as hard to get a fraction of what this rum so effortlessly put out the door without looking like it was even trying. Moreover, it moves between cocktail ingredient and sipper with startling ease – you can use it for either one – and shows that even a 3YO can show flashes of elegance that elevates it over rums years older. This is one hell of a young rum.

(#1081)(84/100) ⭐⭐⭐½

Other notes

St. Nicholas Abbey 5 YO Single Cask Overproof Barbados Rum – Review

 No Responses »
Sep 012023
 

Foursquare and WIRD and Mount Gay grab the lion’s share of social media attention from which originates so much of our news from Barbados, and so we sometimes overlook the fourth rum maker on the island, St. Nicholas Abbey.  They are a small boutique distillery that became famous a decade ago for their lovely etched squarish bottles which you could once get refilled at a discount if you presented it at the distillery (maybe no longer now, alas).

SNA remains tiny in comparison with the other distilleries, run as part of a heritage site of the same name, and managed by the Warren family (see my original reviews here and here for some details), and at the beginning, bought rum stock from Foursquare down the road to get their program off the ground – Richard Seale also provided support and advice.  Initially they issued 5, 10 and 12 YO aged rums — these were the first reviews of their line that I did —  and over time this trio has been added to and developed into some much more high end hooches: a 15 and 18 and 20 YO and (heaven forbid) even a 23 YO…which admittedly I’ve never seen or tried (but want to). The rums were (and to some extent remain) rather more expensive than is the norm for similarly aged rums, which I know from personal experience; yet they sold and continue to sell, and these days SNA cultivates its own cane and makes its own rums rather than buying externally.  What this has inevitably led to is a suite of younger rums like the unaged white, a white overproof — and a different 5YO than the one I sharpened my tasting buds on all those years ago. 

The stats for this 5YO, then: a lightish rum deriving from cane syrup (made in small batches from cane juice – so really, a sort of it-which-must-not-to-be-named agricole), coming off a pot-column hybrid still at 92% and then taken down to 65% or so for setting into ex-bourbon barrels. Like the white overproof it is a massive 60% ABV – and it’s a smart move to do so, since it allows the aficionados to get their intensity fix, while having exactly the same rum but weaker, sold to the general marketplace.

What surprises then, bearing in mind the tech sheet, is how relatively subdued the nose is at the beginning: some light and sweet honey, mead, plus a smorgasbord of white fruits (because of course there are); gradually one senses fanta, soda pop, 7Up, a little citrus, vanilla, and the slightly sour but still piquant sense of oranges gone off. The light fruits are always there, set off to some extent by brine, olives, unsweetened chocolate and the rich scent of overripe cashews (the ones with external seeds) which always reminds me of tequila for some reason.

The nose is somewhat rough, admittedly, and this is also the case on the palate.  What saves it is the rich and multilayered texture and intensity of the tastes that are handed over. Green peas, peaches, fruits, fleshy and ripe and juicy; a very firm profile, quite spicy.  Some unsweetened chocolate again, orange marmalade and a dusting of mint and vanilla, yet one misses the vaguely herbal and grassy notes which the source material suggests might be there. But anyway, it’s quite good, and the finish ends well: long, sweet and a little sour, some pineapple-in-syrup notes in the rear, mostly a nicely done fruit salad drizzled with Malibu and some fresh lime juice.

Chosing between the unaged overproof and this 5YO beefcake is pointless – they’re both good rums and serve different purposes.  Trying them together, I enjoyed each of them…in different ways. I felt that overall the unaged white held somewhat more character and likely made a better cocktail, because it had not yet been changed or tamed by age or wood; on the other hand, it was lacking the additional complexity and sharp firmness the 5 YO OP was showcasing. In a pinch I’d try to get the pair.  As for scores, well, back in the day I scored the standard strength 10-12-15 trio higher than I’m scoring this one now (if not by much): but whatever the score is, ultimately I think that this young overproof – with its level of controlled intensity and low-key voluptuousness – is pretty much on par with those venerable starter guns that SNA used to make its name all those years ago.

(#1022)(85/100) ⭐⭐⭐½

Other notes

  • The rum is a blend without any years of distillation or bottling. They are evidently going for a long term consistent taste profile and specific barrels from specific years are the province of more premium bottlings up the line. The ‘single cask’ in the title suggests they decant a whole lot of rum into many casks at the same time, and blend them together over time within that set (otherwise they really would have years of make in the title)
  • The bottles remain the same, with glass etching of the abbey house engraved on each, and a mahogany tipped stopper.

Revisiting the Plantation Barbados XO 20th Anniversary Rum

 2 Responses »
May 012022
 

It’s an old saw that time grants experience at the expense of youth, and indeed the entire review of the El Dorado 21 YO rum was an extended meditation on this theme.  But perhaps, had I wanted to illustrate the issue more fully, it would have been better to reflect on the descent of the Barbados 20th Anniversary XO in my estimation over the intervening years since I first tried and wrote about it in 2012.  Back then I awarded it what by contemporary standards is an unbelievable 88.5 points and my opening blurb naming it “one of the top sipping rums of my 2012 experience” can in no way be repeated a decade later without causing howls of disbelieving and derisive laughter from all and sundry, and a recent re-tasting of the rum shows why this is the case.

The rum’s nose opens with a light, medicinal sort of aroma reminiscent of quinine, except that it’s sweet and not sharp at all.  It develops into hints of honey, caramel, blancmange and soft ripe fruits – flambeed bananas, raisins, apples on the edge of spoiling – that combine into a softly congealed sweetness that hides the sharpness one suspects may be lurking beneath it all. There are marshmallows, coconut milk, sweet pastries with a surfeit of icing sugar, but little acid bite or edge that would balance this all off. It’s a heavy dull, sweet nose, covering the senses like a wet blanket.

The deepening disappointment I feel about the rum has nothing really to do with the War of the Barbados GI (as I’ve heard it described), or the choice of Plantation as a brand name (with all its subsequent negative connotations), or some of the questionable business practices of the company. Those matters have been discussed and dissected at length and will continue to raise blood pressures for years to come. It doesn’t even have anything to do with Ferrand’s careful marketing, problematic labelling and the cold-eyed sales strategy, none of which, after all, is personal – it’s just business. But all these dodgy issues aside, the fact remains that if ever there was a poster child for how tastes evolve and how what was once a real favourite can turn into a symbol of so much that no longer works, this rum is it.

On the palate, the initial sensations suggest all is well.  The tastes are nicely fruity: sugar cane sap, vanilla, coconuts shavings, white chocolate, giving one the impression of a liquid Ferrero Raffaello Confetteria (but not as good). And yet, all the fruits striding forward to centre stage are too ripe, here – yellow mangoes, peaches, apricots, cherries.  Thickly sweet tastes overwhelm the sharper rummy notes of caramel and light molasses with a barrage of marshmallows, candy floss and sugar water and blattens everything flat.

That profile as described might surprise many emergent rum fans from America in particular. After all, if one were to consult those three great repositories of crowdsourced rum opinion – Reddit’s /r/rum, Rum Ratings and Rum-X – the vast majority of the respondents just love this thing, as the high consolidated scores on those platforms attest (the last one is the lowest with a 79 point average from 414 ratings). 

And on the surface, there’s no question that it presses many of the right buttons: it’s been widely available (since 2007) at a slightly-higher-than-cheap price, has got that faux-ultra-premium bottle and gold etching; and it’s not part of the “standard backbar line” of the 3-Star, OFTD or Original Dark but one level higher (the “Signature Blends”). It remains bottled at 40% ABV and continues to be touted as being a blend of “quintessential extra-old rums from Barbados”. The company website provides disclosure: the various ages of the blend, the pot/column still makeup, the dual-ageing regimen, and of particular note is the 20g/L “dosage” element, which is considered to be the sugaring that makes it sweet (it’s not, really, but serves as a useful shorthand). So all that provision and declaration and presentation, and it’s all good, right?  

The finish is smothering, though light, and thankfully escapes the kiss-of-death word “cloying”. There’s stuff going on here and it’s delicious: caramel, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, raisins, honey and even some tamarind, but there’s not enough of it, and what is sensed remains covered over by a sort of placid languor, a dampening effect of the sweetening that provides a sweet and warm conclusion, just not a memorable one.

Not entirely. For all its current disclosure, Plantation sure wasn’t talking any more than anyone else, back in 2012 and it was only after 2014 that they started to come up to scratch (trust me, I was there).  That’s when they and many (but not all) others belatedly came out of the closet in a come-to-Jesus-moment and said “Yeah, but we always did it this way, it’s been a long standing practice, and it makes the rum better.”3.

What’s often not addressed in the denunciations of dosage is exactly why the sugaring was and remains considered such a bad thing, so here’s a recap.  A common refrain is that it destroys the purity of rum, the way spicing does, so one is not getting an original experience – and worse, one may be paying a higher price for a cheap rum cunningly dosed to make it seem more premium. Secondly there’s a lesser but no less important point of reasons related to fitness and health. But those matters aside, it really is because rum chums hate being lied to: the practice was never disclosed by any producer, while being fiercely denied the whole time. These and other social issues surrounding the parent company go a long way to explaining the despite the rum gets, though at end, much of this is window dressing, and it’s how the rum works (or not), and perhaps how it’s classified, that’s the key issue, since disclosure is now provided. Other than that, the matters above don’t — or shouldn’t — impact on any evaluation of the rum at all (though no doubt many will disagree with me on this one).

By that exacting, laser-focused and narrow-bore standard, then, all the markers suggest a rum with luscious potential…but one which doesn’t deliver. It is really too faint to be taken seriously and too sweet to showcase real complexity — although this is precisely what many new entrants to rum, weaned on Captain Morgan, cheap Bacardis, Kraken, Bumbu or Don Papa, consider smooth, sippable and top end. As with earlier El Dorado rums, nowadays for me the real question is not the dosage per se (after all, I can simply chose not to drop my coin on the rum) just why it continues, since it is really quite unnecessary. The rum is discernibly fine and can be better with less additions, or no sweetening at all; and I think that the state of the rumiverse generally is now sufficiently educated and aware – in a way we were not back in the early 2000s – for it to be re-released as an adulterated / spiced rum or reissued without the dosage as something more serious…rather than pandering the way it does and having the best of both worlds.

That might make me a purist…but I chose to believe it’s more that I don’t think that a rum that’s already intrinsically decent needs to have such embellishment, which we never asked for, no longer need and really no longer want. It cheapens the whole category and lessens any kind of serious consideration of the spirit as a whole

All that, and it really is just too damned sweet.

(#904)(76/100) ⭐⭐⭐

Other notes

  • My hydrometer tested this out at 35.07% ABV, which works out to just about 20g/L so the website is spot on. This is a reduction from the decanter version I had originally reviewed a decade ago.
  • In this retrospective, I have deliberately chosen not to go deeper into the theme of “separating the artist from the art”, as that is a subject requiring a much more nuanced and opiniated exploration. It is, however, on my radar, and not only for this company.
  • What exactly the “20th Anniversary” is, remains debated.  Some say it’s of Mr. Gabriel’s becoming a master blender, others have differering opinions.  It’s not the age of the rum, though, which is a blend of 8-15 YO distillates. It may of course be simply a number put there for marketing reasons, or something of significance to Maison Ferrand.

Notes on the WIRD “Rockley” Still

 No Responses »
Nov 092021
 

This is a re-post of an addendum to the review of the Cadenhead Green Label Barbados 1986 18 YO Rum, which went up in August 2021.  At that time, although much had been written or quoted about the “Rockley still rums”, some of it was out of date and some was plain wrong.   So I gave a brief rundown of the matter in that review — but now, after a few months, I feel it should best be in a small post of its own that can be updated as new information becomes available (as it has), hence this revised and separated post with relevant addenda.

 

Photo (c) WIRD, from their FB Page

Many producers, commentators and reviewers, myself among them, have occasionally referred to the pot still distillate from WIRR/WIRD as a Rockley Still rum, and there are several who conflate this with “Blackrock”, which would include Cadenhead and Samaroli (but not 1423, who refer to their 2000 rum specifically as simply coming from a “pot still” at “West Indies” – Joshua Singh confirmed for me that it was indeed a “Blackrock style” rum). 

They key write-ups that currently exist online are the articles that are based on the research published by Cedrik (in 2018) and Nick Arvanitis (in 2015) — adding to it now with some digging around on my own, here are some clarifications. None of it is new, but some re-posting is occasionally necessary for such articles to refresh and consolidate the facts.

“Blackrock” refers to WIRD as a whole, since the distillery is located next to an area of that name in NW Bridgetown (the capital), which was once a separate village. In the parlance, then, the WIRD distillery was sometimes referred to as “Blackrock” though this was never an official title – which didn’t stop Cadenhead and others from using it. There is no “Blackrock Still” and never has been.

Secondly, there is in fact a “Rockley” pot still, which had possibly been acquired by a company called Batson’s (they were gathering the stills of closing operations for some reason) when the Rockley Distillery shuttered — Nick suggests it was transformed into a golf course in the late 1800s / early 1900s but provides no dates, and there is indeed a Rockley Resort and golf club in the SE of Bridgetown today. But I can’t find any reference to Batson’s online at all, nor the precise date when Rockley’s went belly-up — it is assumed to be at least a century ago. Nick writes that WIRD picked up a pot still from Batson’s between 1905 and 1920 (unlikely to be the one from Rockley), and it did work for a bit, but has not been operational since the 1950s.

This then leads to the other thread in this story which is the post-acquisition data provided by Alexandre Gabriel. In a FB video in 2018, summarized by Cedrik in his guest post on Single Cask, he noted that WIRD did indeed have a pot still from Batson’s acquired in 1936 which was inactive, as well as another pot still, the Rockley, which they got that same year, and was also long non-functional (in a 2021 FB post, WIRD claims a quote by John Dore’s president David Pym, that it’s the oldest rum pot still in the world, which I imagine would miff both DDL and Rivers Royale). According to their researches, it was apparently made by James Shears and Sons, a British coppersmith, active from 1785 to 1891, and in use between 1936 (date of acquisition) to the 1960s. What this all means, though, is that there is no such thing as a rum made on the Rockley still in the post-1995 years of the current rum renaissance, and even earlier – the labels are all misleading, especially those of the much-vaunted year 1986. 

The consensus these days is that yet a third pot still — acquired from Gregg’s Farms in the 1950s and which has remained operational to this day — provided the distillate for those rums in the last twenty years which bear the name Blackrock or Rockley. However, Cedrik adds that some of the older distillate might have come from the triple chamber Vulcan still which was variously stated as being inactive since the 1980s or 2000 (depending on the interview) and it was later confirmed that the most famous Rockley vintages from 1986 and 2000 were made with a combination of the Vulcan (used as a wash still) and the Gregg (as a spirit still). 

Yet, as Cedrik so perceptively notes, even if there is no such thing as a Rockley-still rum, there is such a thing as a Rockley style. This has nothing to do with the erroneous association with a non-functional named still.  What it is, is a flavour profile.  It has notes of iodine, tar, petrol, brine, wax and heavier pot still accents, with honey and discernible esters.  It is either loved or hated but very noticeable after one has gone through several Barbados rums. Marco Freyr often told me he could identify that profile by smell alone even if the bottler did not state it on the label, and I see no reason to doubt him.

The actual, long non-functional still that is often referred to as the “Rockley” – a vulcan three chamber still, which I think is incorrectly identified as such — has long been sitting on the WIRD premises as a sort of historical artifact – that’s the picture, above.  In November 2021, it was noted they were shipping it off to a coppersmith in France for inspection and potential refurbishment, with view to (possibly) making it useable again.

[This post will be updated as more information becomes available]

 

 

Key Rums of the World: Mount Gay XO Rum

 No Responses »
Nov 122017
 

#399

For decades Mount Gay was considered the premium rum of Barbados, and rested its claim to fame, among other things, on being the oldest rum distillery in the Caribbean (there are papers stating its antecedents going back to the mid 1600s).  Its flagship 1703 was the halo rum of the island and the XO was perhaps the standard mid-priced high-quality Barbados rum with which everyone was familiar – and certainly Sir Scrotimus’s hating on anyone who didn’t champion that rum didn’t hurt (after all, why else would he be such a dick about it if it wasn’t good, right?).  Back when I started writing this was an ongoing situation, and while many extolled the virtues of Doorly’s or Cockspur, Mount Gay was firmly in the driver’s seat as it related to defining the Barbados rum brand.

Now, nearly ten years later, it is Mount Gay which is playing catch up.  They, like DDL and many other national-level brands, misread the tea leaves and came late to the party initiated by the nimble, fast-moving independent bottlers – aged, cask strength bottlings, fancy finishes, single barrel or millesime expressions…all this must have caught them so off guard that it wasn’t until 2016 or so that an effective response could be mounted with the XO Cask Strength (a very good rum, by the way).  

Be that as it may, even for those coming to the rum scene now with so many other options on the table (Foursquare being the largest and best from the island), one cannot simply ignore the XO.  It remains widely available, very affordable, and pretty much the same as it used to be — the 8-15 year old blend has undergone alterations over the years, sure, but the taste remains recognizably the same; the bottle is now the sleek ovoid one introduced some years ago; and in the Caribbean and the Americas it is remains a perennial best seller.  Many new writers and emergent rum junkies cut their baby rum teeth on it, even if in Europe most indulgently pass it by in favour of more exciting rums to which they have access.  And while its star may be fading in the heat of increased competition, this in no way diminishes what it is – a key rum of Barbados, setting the standard for a long time, almost defining the style for an entire region.  All current rums from there to some extent live in its (waning) shadow.

Is it still that good, or, was it ever as amazing as the wet-eyed hot zealots claimed?  I didn’t think so back in the day (as I’ve noted, my preferences don’t always run to indeterminate Bajans, really), but as this series grew shape in my mind and the mental list of candidates grew, I knew it was due for a re-taste and a re-evaluation, and Robin Wynne of that fine Toronto bar Miss Things stepped forward to provide a hefty sample a few months ago when I came sniffing around (and as an irrelevant aside, you could do worse than drop into the joint, because it’s a great bar to hang out in and Robin loves to help out with an interesting pour for the rabid).

Much of my seven year old mental tasting memory of the 43% rum remained the same: the nose began with a smoky sort of butterscotch and toffee flavour, quite soft and easygoing, underlain with a gentle current of coconut shavings and bananas.  Its softness was key to its appeal, I thought, and as it stood there and opened up, some brine, avocado, salty caramel, dates and nutmeg crept out. It was just complex enough to enthuse without losing any balance or being too sharp.

Palate-wise it was also reasonably well put together. Seven years ago I thought it somewhat sharp, but by now, after imbibing cask strength juggernauts by the caseload, I’m a more accustomed to heftier beefcakes and here, then, the XO faltered somewhat (which is a factor of my palate and its current preferences, not yours).  Much of the nose returned for an encore: vanilla, nutmeg and a delicious caramel smokiness, more nougat, toffee, and some salt crackers.  Bananas, papayas and some cinnamon made themselves known, with a little nuttiness and coffee grounds and molasses providing some depth, all leading to a short, warm and (unfortunately) rather bland finish that merely repeated the hits without presenting anything particularly new. It lacks something of an edge of aggressiveness and clarity of expression which might make it rank higher, but in fairness, its overall quality really can’t be faulted too much.

Anyway, so there we have it.  A perfectly well-made, well-assembled, mid-tier rum with really good price-to-value ratio for anyone who wants a very decent rum to add to the shelf, good for either mixing or some sallies into the sipping world. That I remain only mildly enthusiastic about it is an issue for me to deal with, not you, though I honestly don’t know if we can expect off-the-scale magnificence from a Key Rum, since then it would likely fall foul of the Caner’s “3-A” Rule: it must be Available, Affordable, and Accessible.  The Mount Gay XO not only ticks each of those boxes but has something else that has never really lost its lustre in all the years – a reputation for consistent quality and worldwide brand awareness.  Those attributes combined with its pleasing taste profile may well be priceless, and give it a solid place in the pantheon, as one of those rums which any aficionado should try at least once in his long journey of rum appreciation.

(83/100)

Other Notes

If it wasn’t so pricey and hard to lay paws on (3000 bottles issued), I would have said the Mount Gay Cask Strength 63% should have dibs on this entry. That’s an outright exceptional Bajan rum.

Berry Bros. & Rudd Barbados 13 Year Old Rum – Review

 No Responses »
Jul 292013
 

D3S_7028

Good all round Bajan rum from Berry Brothers & Rudd, that’s worth its price and is a good note on which to close your day.

What a relief it was to try this well-aged rum, and to find that its Fijian 8 year old cousin which I had tried some weeks back was indeed something of an iconoclastic aberration. There’s not much I could say about a line of rums of which I have only ever sampled three, and it would have been wrong to extrapolate based on such a small sample size. So it’s a happy matter that I can confirm the Bajan 13 year old is an excellent buy all round.

One of the pleasant things about independent bottlers who make a “series” is the consistency of presentation – think Renegade and their frosted glass bottles, or Plantation and the straw netting. It saves the reviewer a whole bunch of time not to have to assess a presentational score (I know the principle has its detractors, no need to mention it). So, tall bottle, well fitting plastic cork, simplistic labelling utterly consistent with the other BBR rums I’ve written about (the Fiji and the Port Mourant 1975).

The lead in on the nose was caramel and molasses, muted and light, yet with some heat as well (the rum is 46% after all). Vanilla undertones had their place before segueing into subtler aromas of pineapple and nicely ripened yellow gooseberries. A flirt of citrus (ripe orange peel) coiled around all of this, well balanced with preceding elements, and then the whole was wrapped up in emerging perfumes of delicate white flowers and a barely perceptible wine background. Quite intriguing, all in all.

I must comment on the excellent mouthfeel of this thirteen year old, honey-coloured rum: it’s medium bodied yet quite smooth for all that, with some heat imparted by the strength, but not so much as to become peppery or overly spicy. There’s a luxurious creaminess in the way this runs across the tongue, a certain chewiness that was very appealing. The rum was neither too sweet nor too salty (while possessing elements of both), and what I came away with was vanilla, honey, white chocolate, light coconut shavings and bananas, all held together by a softer citrus hint than the nose had promised. And at the tail end the odd sweetness of a strawberry lollipop, fading into a long clean finish redolent of chopped fruits and some saltiness. Really quite a decent product – I enjoyed it a lot.

D3S_7032

Where does the distillate originate? I wish I knew for sure. I almost want to say it comes from Mount Gay, but somewhere in that profile I’m more leaning towards R. L. Seale’s FourSquare (and indeed, the Masters of Malt website says that’s its home), and also, from its richness, that it’s a pot still distillate. The ageing in white oak barrels was well handled, in my opinion, because the resultant is in very good balance overall, and it’s a sipper’s drink rather than one to mix.

Writing this review as my life changes yet again, I am assailed by a sense of melancholy. This review will be one of the last for a while (the country I’m moving to is dry in all senses of the word). Perhaps it is fitting that one of the final rums I’ve tried and written up tasting notes for, is also one of the more pleasing ones. Not the best, of course (is there any such thing?) but certainly a rum to have and to enjoy at any point on the arc of your existence. Even if, or perhaps especially, as with me, you won’t be trying any more for a while.

(#175. 85/100)