On this rum session we’ll attempt 5 distilleries from 5 bottlers. There’s an previous Enmore Alpha & Omega launched by Jack Tar (bottled with a purple Alpha label and a blue Omega label). We even have the most recent Bellevue 24 Years from The Whisky Jury and a Lengthy Pond 1998 by Relaxation & Be Grateful. Additionally fascinating is the Hampden Pagos, which is matured totally in sherry casks.
We begin with Foursquare Indelible, the 18th launch of their Distinctive Cask Choice. It’s a single blended rum (molasses based mostly): double retort pot nonetheless + column nonetheless from the identical distillery. One of many casks was totally ex-bourbon matured, the opposite 5 years in a Zinfandel wine barrel adopted by 6 years in ex-bourbon.
Foursquare Indelible 11 yo ‘Mark XVIII’ (48%, OB ‘Distinctive Cask Choice’ 2021, single blended rum)
Nostril: fairly a fruity nostril, displaying a variety of oranges and tangerines. Then ripe bananas, barely acidic pineapples and hints of peach jam. Caramelized almond and cinnamon set in, alongside fragrant woody notes. A relatively mild expression.
Mouth: once more fairly accessible. We discover caramel notes, gingerbread and stewed plums. Coconut flakes and vanilla, then ginger biscuits and cloves. There’s marmalade on the palate however in any other case much less fruits than the nostril instructed. Hints of toasted wooden and black peppercorns develop stronger over time.
End: medium, clearly drier, with extra orange peels, nutty notes, clove and ginger. Shortly getting thinner.
A pleasant rum, straightforward to drink as a result of barely decrease ABV and the rounder flavours. The Zinfandel provides some tannins with out overdoing it. A good selection for individuals who like candy spices. Nonetheless out there in some locations, typically with a markup although.
Enmore 1988-1990 ‘Alpha & Omega’ (51,6%, Jack Tar 2021, cask #40+42+55, 503 btl.)
Nostril: darkish caramel aromas with multigrain bread, liquorice and molasses. Loads of caraway seeds and whiffs of eucalyptus. Mild hints of roasted pineapple. Then a light-weight rubbery observe, mentholy herbs and darkish brew tea. Unusual, darkish, however good.
Mouth: a bit unusual. There’s milk chocolate and various Mokatine sweet, blended with cigar containers and pinewood. After Eight. Angelica. Mild hints of black olives and petrol, however the candy woody notes cowl up a lot of the estery / industrial facet. Cedar wooden, hay, darkish chocolate and a delicate salty edge.
End: fairly lengthy, pretty dry, with extra chocolate, mint and toasted cedar wooden.
That is pleasantly totally different, with just a few unusual flavours. Enmore is a rum that I can’t appear to place my finger on, like a chameleon. Usually actually good although, like right here. Rating: 90/100
Bellevue 24 yo 1998 (54,4%, The Whisky Jury 2022, cask #19, 237 btl.)
Nostril: additionally fairly full-bodied, this time on overripe bananas and mango chutney. Black olive tapenade as properly. Tiny hints of tar, with nail polish on the very reverse facet of the spectrum. New plastics and good earthy touches. Near cask #10 bottled a while in the past, maybe a bit sweeter although.
Mouth: fairly sizzling, similar basic mixture of bananas and pineapples that ought to have been eaten yesterday. Nonetheless these varnished, tarry and evenly petroly notes. Additionally stunning herbs and peppermint sweet, with liquorice sweets and caramelized nuts beneath. Lime and the opposite fruits maintain shining all through, actually good.
End: lengthy, on candy herbs, mint, bananas. Grassy notes in the long run.
Bellevue is all the time a terrific exemple of the mildly funky however very wealthy profile. This cask actually grew on me and got here accross properly fruity for my part, however I have to admit I didn’t get to match on to #10. Rating: 90/100
Subsequent up is Hampden Pagos. Now Pagos is the Spanish time period for winery plots, crus in the event you like, which ship a way of terroir. For sherry wine there’s nonetheless a really lengthy approach to go, as most bodegas have bought their vineyards within the Nineteen Seventies and at the moment are largely shopping for unidentified grapes from massive cooperatives. Solely a handful of producers can actually current single winery sherry. I’m all the time a bit weary of the appropriation of those phrases by whisky (or on this case rum) producers, as if there can be a way of this terroir of their explicit casks.
Anyway, Hampden matured this 3 yr previous rum in a set of 20 Oloroso and PX casks from Bodegas Lustau.
Hampden Pagos 3 yo (52%, OB 2022, Oloroso + PX sherry casks)
Nostril: excessive esters now, with acetone up entrance. Then the basic sherry notes seem, like blackberries and redcurrant jam. Mild whiffs of orange peels and chocolate. A few of the anticipated industrial notes like petrol and rotting bananas are current, albeit clearly within the background. Eucalyptus and dusty wooden too.
Mouth: now extra spirit character, suppose banana nectar, cane juice and overripe pineapple. Hints of vanilla and cocoa, then again to rotting pineapple. Subsequent it turns into properly jammy, with blueberries and honey. It’s always pinballing between sherry and Hampden.
End: fairly lengthy, nonetheless some jammy fruits and chocolate alongside pineapple and candy banana liqueur.
Some folks love remixes, others will all the time choose the unique tune… This Hampden is definitely fascinating, although I really feel the spirit itself is younger and never very distinctive. Someway it looks like on of the early sherry completed whiskies, because the sherry affect is maybe a bit too agency. Nevertheless, as soon as the steadiness is true, I feel sherry casks are right here to remain within the rum world. Rating: 86/100
Lengthy Pond LSO 23 yo 1998 (59,6%, Relaxation & Be Grateful for LMdW 2022, cask #10269, 188 btl.)
Nostril: much less expressive and fewer funky now. There are pineapple notes, in addition to kiwi and orange peels, however most of it’s grassy, leathery and woody. Additionally roasted nuts and white pepper.
Mouth: once more extra slender. It has a lighter model and on the similar second a really excessive ABV. Recent, brilliant fruits like pineapples and kiwi once more, main as much as peppery notes and ginger. Natural touches. Transferring in the direction of aniseed, but in addition aspirin.
End: lengthy and sizzling, with extra ginger, drying salty liquorice and hints of grapefruit.
Rather more slender, and far more astringent than those earlier than, I’m afraid. This Lengthy Pond merely fails to impress on this explicit line-up. Nonetheless out there from LMdW and accomplice shops. Rating: 82/100
