Venezuela is a sad story these days. Well, it actually has been for a rather long time now. But indeed we shall focus on rum, not on economics and politics. Combining both, we might still be wondering about the supply of molasses though. Perhaps I’ll add a few comments in my Insta-story… we’ll see.
The country is mostly known for some more or less adulterated entry level rums such as the not so bad Santa Teresa 1796 or the excessively sweet Botucal/ Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva. I’ve already reviewed some other bottlings from their respective distilleries (see here or here) but none of them even managed to keep up with the standards. So why do we even bother with these bottlings today? It’s simple: I’ve had the Compagnie des Indes C.A.C.D. 2005 13YO in a blind tasting and was quite pleasantly suprised. Sure, it wasn’t amazing, but a highly sippable rum that I liked quite a bit. Unfortunately I didn’t find another rum from the same batch but the following trio of rums should suffice for now.

S.B.S Venezuela 2006 12YO (55%): The nose is mild, soft and sweet with notes of tobacco, red berries (brambleberries, currants), sugar and some wood. There’s also a different, rather interesting note further in the back which I cannot quite pin down. At the palate plenty of currants, sugar, grenadine syrup, gingery fruit cake and eventually also a hint of herbs. The finish follows the syrupy line and comes with quite a bit of pommegranate. Here and there the herbs pop up. Not terrible, but this is not really my cup of tea either. (68/100)

Kintra C.A.C.D. 2004 13YO (53,8%): Here we are mostly dealing with black currants, rather than the red ones as with the S.B.S. The alcohol isn’t integrated quite as well and I have a hard time finding many more notes besides, wood, sugar and cardboard. Palate: More alcoholic than the S.B.S despite the higher age and lower abv. That’s never a good sign. I get wood, tobacco, grenadine, chocolate and roasted peanuts perhaps. The big plus is that the rum has a thicker and fuller mouthfeel though. The finish is medium long, yet quite forgettable as it presents a dull mix of the grenadine syrup and the roasting flavours. Sometimes I am in the mood for rums like these but then again, there are better alternatives. (69/100)

Rum Artesanal C.A.D.C. 2004 14YO (52,1%): Here we have a Sherry cask and I believe that this might work quite well. And indeed, the general profile of the nose resembles that of the Kintra but it is more interesting and complex. It’s sweeter with a more extensive set of berries, ripe cherries (Mon Chéri), dark chocolate, vanilla, caramel and leather. Palate: Slightly to alcoholic, a bit thinner than the other two but way more flavourful. The finish helped a lot here and if you love Mon Chéri, this might be your rum. Unfortunately I don’t. Besides the Mon Chéri, there’s plenty of chocolate, cocoa, tobacco, nougat and cheap sweetmeats. Finish: Short and forgettable with Mon Chéri (of course), chocolate and the sweetmeats. Well… the rum will have its fans, that’s for sure. I am not among them.  (72/100)

Oh well… let’s just keep looking for 2005 then…