This is not our favorite place in the Rum world, admittedly, but from time to time we have to check them out as well, just to make sure. Who knows where the next batch à la T.D.L. 2001 hides…

Rum Artesanal C.A.D.C. 2007 12YO (59,8%): To follow up on my thoughts from the introduction, it has to be with Rum Artesanal, of course! After all, no bottler outside of Velier surprised us with so many magnificent bottlings in the past that we simply did not expect! This one aged in an ex-Cognac cask by the way. Nose: Dark cherries, Mon Chérie, cheap booze, chocolate, oak, plums, caramel and tobacco. This is quintessential C.A.D.C. if you ask me, and it has rarely been better than this. There isn’t much to find from the Cognac anymore I think. Palate: Slightly sharp, sweet and peppery. We get the thick and almost syrupy fruits from the nose (cherries, plums) but can also find licorice, sandal wood, pumpkin seeds, fortified wine and grenadine. There’s absolutely nothing wrong about this, but it is just not a profile we are particularly fond of. Finish: Short and sharp, with oak, chocolate, cherries and plums. Here and there a few spices. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the new king of Venezuela, even though that doesn’t mean much. Hyperinflation still didn’t reach the quality of the country’s Rums. (73/100)

Compagnie des Indes C.A.D.C. 2006 12YO (58%): Nose: Sweet and strong with Mon Chérie, sweetened cherries, cheap booze (the bridge to the Mon Chérie again), perhaps also cheap chocolate (aha!) but that’s more or less it. These Rums always feel like they matured in ex-Sherry casks and even with these reputable IBs there’s always some doubt regarding the honesty of the underlying distillates. So let’s take a sip. Palate: Yes, this is clean. The Rum is relatively dry with just sweet notes as part of its profile. Cherries, tobacco, very dry wood, dark chocolate and coffee are my associations here. That’s a lot better than the nose actually, just still not exactly to our personal liking. Finish: Short with chocolate, cherries, tobacco and wood. That might sound nice, but it is extremely standard and dull in another sense as well. All in all it is not bad, so let’s take that as a compliment, shall we!? (70/100)

A Dream of Scotland Venezuela (C.A.D.C.) 2005 13YO (59,8%): The label doesn’t mention it explicitly but this should be a 2005, with a very tiny chance of it having been distilled in 2006. By the way, the tacky label doesn’t bode well… Nose: Alcoholic and slightly sweet, with cherries, strawberries, rich syrup, guava, tobacco and wood. This could be nice in theory, especially the guava is cool, but I am afraid that this might be another miss. Palate: Quite sweet with tobacco and lots of sulphur. Good lord, that just doesn’t make sense and doesn’t seem to be right. It wouldn’t be completely bad if it weren’t for that sulphur note. While there are some nice notes beneath all of this (walnuts, cherries, wood), those lid matches and sulphur notes kill it altogether. We might as well just stop here. Finish: Too long, of course, even though those terrible flavours vanish relatively quickly, fortunately. If I hadn’t know better, I would have said that something went terribly wrong here. I have tasted enough of these Rums already to know that this seems to be a common thing, however. That said, this one is still quite extreme. (45/100)

Compagnie des Indes C.A.C.D. 2005 14YO (43%): I was thinking hard why this sample is hiding in our sample library until I recalled that another 2005 bottling by Compagnie des Indes was probably the best C.A.C.D. to date (for what that’s worth…). Nose: I don’t know what it is (sure we do, it is the 43%…) but this could be anything. What the heck!? Later caramel, oak, vanilla and a note in the region of apple and pomegranate but I really wonder who would dig stuff like this. Palate: This makes more sense, at least it is way more flavourful than the nose. Cherries, caramel, wood, hay and apples are something, but nothing exciting either. It is okayish, but it lacks everything we enjoy about Rum and this hobby. Finish: Short and basically identical to the palate. We are seriously underwhelmed, but at the end of the day it is still better than the dismal A Dream of Scotland bottling. (58/100)

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