I am very sorry that we are once again busier than we’d like to be so a smaller session has to suffice for today. However, it does include all of the Takamakas we have at the moment. Admittedly, that aren’t many but as we are about to see, there’s a reason for that.

Habitation Velier Takamaka 2021 (56%): As you may have guessed already, Takamaka isn’t a distillery we are particularly fond of. In fact, they never produced anything we enjoyed but when Velier decides to bottle them, we should maybe give them a chance. These might not be your standard Takamakas after all, who knows!? Nose: Fruit schnaps. Pears, vanilla, some apple perhaps, but that’s about it. It is not terrible, but a whole lot of nothing. What is more, I believe the Germans are better at producing fruit schnaps. Palate: While the nose was just boring, I’d say that this just isn’t good. The alcohol is very strong and the only flavours we get are the once we’ve already found in the nose. Just an inferior version of that. Add some acetone perhaps – the unpleasant one. Oh dear. With the second and third sip things aren’t getting better. A whiff of hay enters the stage but this still isn’t to our liking. Finish: Relatively short with the alcohol and acetone. I’d say that this isn’t even mixing material. (52/100)

Habitation Velier Takamaka 2018 3YO (60,8%): Let’s hope that these Rums benefit from the maturation process. Nose: Well, the integration of the alcohol seems to be fine. Flavourwise, we aren’t getting much however. This is still close to fruit schnaps or bad Calvados. In contrast to the unaged version, we are getting mostly apples and less so pears now. Vanilla is still there, as are hay, greek yoghurt and fir cone. The barrel definitely left its mark. Palate: Quite some oak and a decent integration of the alcohol are my first thoughts. Immediately after that, I am contemplating if this really is a pot still Rum. It surely doesn’t taste like it. Blindly, I might have wandered to Belize perhaps, even though we clearly aren’t reaching the quality of Travellers’ Rums. Mushrooms, fir cone, apples and a hint of resin can be found behind those slightly astringent oaky notes that make this a very dull experience. Not terrible, but we are talking bad old Grain Whisky now. Finish: Yep, bad old Grain Whisky is a pretty good descriptor I think. Bread, apples and dry oak stick around for quite a bit without leaving any lasting impressions. Ah, this is too bad. I was really hoping for more here but it just wasn’t meant to be. (60/100)

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