Since I am rather busy these days some old, sketchy, hand-written notes from a J.M semi-blind tasting I have done about two years ago will have to do it. The scores should be treated as a rough indication this time, even more so than usually. I hope to continue with the usual tastings as soon…
Category: cross-tasting
Versailles 1985
1985 is probably the most typical and characteristic Versailles vintage I know. At least it is what I associate with the Versailles flavour profile the most. What is more, the rums from the batch are among the very best rums I know, plain and simple. Just in case you do not know, Versailles is the…
Rum Around the World – ‘Exotics’
The most exotic rum I’ve reviewed so far was probably the Inverroche 7YO from South Africa. As I have had it in a blind-tasting, I had absolutely no clue where to put that one. Similarily, I’ve also tasted quite a few rums from Japan and especially Germany, which I’d put in this very same category….
How about these Transcontinental Rum Lines?
I usually don’t see a lot of use in reviewing the line of a single bottler because, well, there’s just not a whole lot to learn from that. Cross-tasting the rums of a single distillery between and even more so within vintages makes much more sense to me. Nevertheless, I participated in a larger bottle…
Caroni 1999
1999 is another Caroni vintage which we didn’t get from either Bristol or Velier, who acquired the largest stocks of Caroni barrels at the auctions in 2008. What does that mean? Chances are high that these rums have been sold as bulk back then and should thus be continental aged. Since no artificial colouring has…
Blends, love ’em or hate ’em
Let me be honest with you. The name of this blog suggests it already but we aren’t very fond of blends at Single Cask Rum. We like distinct, characteristic and unique rums. Nevertheless, I’ve found a few blended, multi-country or at least multi-distillery rums in my sample box. Maybe we can find a hidden gem among…
Bellevue (Damoiseau) 1998
Over the last couple of years we have received more 1998 Bellevues than we can count. However, these don’t originate from Marie-Galante’s Bellevue Distillery but from the Damoiseau Distillery, which is located on Grande-Terre. There’s a funny connection between the two distilleries though: Bellevue’s distiller Hubert Damoiseau is the cousin of Hervé Damoiseau, who is…
A handful of Hampdens from 2000 (LROK)
With an ester range of 200-400 g/hlaa, LROK is a typical Wedderburn mark. While I love Hampden, especially for its high ester, continental flavoured rums, Long Pond is the king of the Wedderburn style if you ask me. As such, I did have my difficulties with some of the 2000 Hampdens, especially the younger ones (Duncan Taylor…
Nicaraguan Rum, Labour Conditions, and Western Apathy
Rums from Nicaragua are as far away from being my favorites as it gets. There’s virtually nothing in their profiles that is to my liking. As a result, I have stopped getting samples and tasting them altogether at some point. My most recent exposure to Nicaraguan rum was when we’ve had the Kill Devil Nicaragua…
Some Savannas
Savanna might be one of if not the most aspiring rum distillery these days, together with St. Lucia‘s St. Lucia Distillers and Barbados’ Foursquare Distillery. At least since the Savanna HERR 2006 10YO it jumped onto people’s radars. But not only their most extreme expressions are worthy of a deeper exploration, they have some other pretty interesting…
The Darién Gap
The Darién Gap is a swampy region in the Pan-American Highway around the Colombian and Panamanian border. The 100-160 km long gap impedes road building and poses huge environmental cost. For the funnsies, let’s try a few rums I usually wouldn’t review. In all fairness, most of them might be suitable companions for a nice cigar….
Caronis from 1997
1997 was the year of non-Velier Caronis with a lot of magnificent rums such as the A.D. Rattray Caroni 1997 17YO, the Duncan Taylor 1997 16YO or the The Rum Cask 1997 18YO, to name just a few. Similarly, it shouldn’t be very surprising that there were also a few black sheep among them. The Vallinch…
Single Cask Rum 