STC<3E is love, or so I thought. Not only because of the heart. Now we didn’t review the first joint Velier & NRJ STC<3E bottling on this blog (we did do that somewhere else, but these notes seem to be gone) but it was great, as was an unaged Rum with this marque. Anyway, there’s more and we shall check out a bunch of them today.

S.B.S Long Pond “STC<3E” 2020 1YO (57%): A nice wee bottling for a good cause where I actually do not know if it is only one or two years old as it has been bottled in 2022. It got to age in an ex-DOK (Hampden) cask. Nose: Kinda what we expected. It is young, it is rich, it is fruity but also creamy and smooth. I guess this is already closer to Hampden than Long Pond however which is really unfortunate as I was hoping for a nice STC<3E, which became one of my favorite Long Pond marques. The nose is fruity with plenty of pastry to back it up, plus some humus and related notes here and there. For some reason I think that the palate is more elaborate this time. Palate: Indeed, quite yummy with a hint of a fruit schnaps character. After all, it is really young, let’s not forget that. Especially pears are noticeable, as is caraway, a hint of acetone and now clearly less pastry than in the nose. Not much to complain about per se, but I think this one could have used some more time in the cask. Finish: Short to medium long with pears, plums and citrus. This is a charity bottling so obviously we aren’t going to complain but as we’ve said, I think there would have been room for improvements. (78/100)

Habitation Velier Long Pond “STC<3E” 2019 3YO (60%): For some reason this particular bottling interests me a lot – I don’t know why… In the meantime I hear someone in Switzerland ask “Why not full proof?”. But 60% abv should be fine with me. Nose: Very fruity and intense but still quite rough (not immature, mind you!). Behind a bunch of tropical fruits we can find sweet honey, vanilla, oriental pastry and a whiff of acetone. It is straightforward and despite its intensity, almost easygoing. Palate: Quite similar to the nose. I get the tropical fruits again, mostly in the form of banana this time, paired with honey and honey-soaked pastry such as Baklava. Then the full spectrum of spices from vanilla and cinnamon over cloves and nutmeg to pepper even. Quite cool, even though the Rum is still lacking complexity in a sense. Finish: Medium long with honey and spices. Only towards the end do we get a hint of oak. This one nicely demonstrates that a few years in the tropics can be ample sufficient, even though I am inclined to believe that another one or two years would have helped a lot! (83/100)

Velier Long Pond “Cambridge STC<3E” 2010 12Y (57%): Nose: STC<3E my ass, this has to be TECA. It just has everything that this style is all about, starting with cold meat, sweat and Lahmacun, then paparika, parsley, papaya… you name it. We have an ambiguous relationship with TECA (love some, hate others) and this has to be one of the better ones. But yeah, I have no reason to believe that this actually is TECA. Even though… well… Palate: The palate continues along the lines of the nose, but it is a tad fruitier. I don’t think we have to repeat our associations here, nose and palate really are highly similar to one another. Let’s add olives maybe. Very solid, yet special and surely not made for everyone. Finish: Shorter than you’d think with green tea, cherries, oak, that cold meat note and spices. Once again, more TECA than Cambridge but still good. (85/100)