“Across all vintages” might sound like a lot, but in the case of New Yarmouth it is not, unfortunately. In fact, we’ve only got three (known!) vintages in total so far, but they were all excellent in their own way.

Here’s again the overview of New Yarmouth’s marques:

95-150:       P
150-250:     W
250-350:     CR
500-700:     HM
900-1000:   RR
1300-1400: WM
1500-1600: WK

Rum Artesanal Jamaica (New Yarmouth) 2009 10YO “Second Edition” (65,7%): The first edition was magnificent and probably even our favorite New Yarmouth to date. These 2009 should be either HM or RR by the way (not clear due to the gap between the two). Nose: Ah yeah, that’s the stuff. Of course the similarities with the “First edition” are huge, but this one is also different in many ways. While we still get the fruity esters and the notes we associate with acetone, sweet almond pastry and the herbs, this one also makes me think of old cigarettes, chalk, lemon custard and marble. Quite good, but not as good as the superb single cask. Palate: Pretty much the same story: Crazy-good integration of the alcohol, relatively oaky, especially for a 10YO Rum, not as fruity as the nose but still clearly a high-ester Jamaican. It’s too bad that it doesn’t reach the same level of intensity, balance and “spot-on-ness” as the the first release though. Finish: Long, with quite some oak, herbs, bananas and other exotic fruits and even a slight adstringency. A darn good Rum that is a lot of fun to drink but also one that will always remain in the shadow of the single cask released earlier in the very same year. (88/100)

Vidya New Yarmouth 2005 15YO (61,5%): This Rum, and I think also the other Rums of the 2005 batch came to Europe around 2012/2013, meaning that this one spent half of its life in the tropics. We’ve also got to know the marque of these Rums in the meantime: WM. Nose: Very good stuff. It’s a magnificent mix of the esters and the supporting notes from barrel ageing. It starts with acetone, pineapple, tangerine and litchi and proceeds with oak, pastry, marzipan and orgeat. If this were a Hampden, people would be all over this, that’s for sure. Palate: Very sour with citrus (lime, tangerine), litchi again, pineapple of course, but then also oak, cherries, strawberries perhaps, a few herbs here and there, clearly hay and cereals and later even some chewing gum. Finish: Long and lasting with many of those fruity notes we’ve just had and once again the appropriate support from the barrel. A very cool and high quality Rum, one of, if not the best barrel of the batch so far if you ask me (next to the S.B.S). (90/100)

S.B.S New Yarmouth 1994 26YO (57%): Nose: With the Rum Artesanal bottling we’ve said that it is probably closer to Demerara Rum than to other Jamaicans we know, this one is a bit closer to Travellers from Belize or Antigua even, I’d say. Sweet caramel, vanilla, candyfloss and red berries would be my first associations, but just like the above-mentioned Rum, it has a lot more to offer. We now also get these Uitvlugt-esque notes of salted coconut and iodine but they are a lot weaker than with the 1994 Rum Artesanal, for example. The traditional English curry mix and cooked banana can be found as well though, and I further get notes of plum juice, highly concentrated molasses syrup and something close to sweet walnuts even. Definitely cool stuff, I just hope that the palate isn’t too “Spanish”! Palate: Yeah, quite a bit, unfortunately, way more so than the nose suggested. Caramel, sugar and mild tobacco kinda set us back to Rums that aren’t too much to our liking. Here and there some more or less interesting notes pop up (rubber, chewing tobacco, sandal wood) but I am afraid that we do not quite reach the greatness of the Rum Artesanal bottling. Later also oak and slightly bitter notes but other than that, not as much additive adulteration from the cask than you’d expect. Finish: Quite short with those initial impressions from the palate: Caramel, sugar and tobacco. I must say that I am a bit underwhelmed. After the other 1994 New Yarmouths we’ve had we were expecting a bit more. In a blind tasting, this probably would merely have been a good Rum from the “Spanish” style. What a bummer! (81/100)