1931 from St Lucia Distillers.  This turquoise coloured offering is the 3rd edition in the series.

Originally released to commemorate 80 years of rum production by St Lucia Distillers this rum or to be more accurate these rums – as they are all entirely different blends have become something of a flagship rum for St Lucia Distillers.

When I’m not prattling on about Chairman’s Reserve – (all incarnations apart from the Spiced) to anyone that will listen (I promise not to mention that rum again in this review) I am also a champion of all things St Lucia Distillers.

Again I was a little slow off the mark in buying this 3rd (to celebrate 82 years of rum production in 2013).  The cost was around the £55 mark and for once I bought in store rather than online in late 2015.

All 1931 releases are individually numbered this is batch 03A (the first 1931 was batch 01, the second batch 02 and so on) bottle number 11376 and it was bottled on the 28 ,July 2014.  It is bottled at 43% ABV in a 70cl decanter style bottle.  This release is actually the best seller (so far) in the 1931 series and 3 batches were produced.

Again like the 1st and 2nd edition the presentation is identical apart from the change of year number on the neck and the colour scheme.  A rather interesting choice of turquoise or teal for this release (for older members or those who enjoy Classic Rock I am always left thinking of Cream’s Tales of Brave Ullysees when I see turquoise wrote down).

Unlike the first 2 editions St Lucia Distillers have not give any information on their website about the blend of this rum.  Which is a disappointing as the information provided for the first two was really informative!

From digging around the internet it is noted that this is a blend of rums from all of the distilleries four stills.  The Vendome pot still, two John Dore pot stills and the the Continuous Coffery Still.  The rums are aged between 6 and 12 years.

Now before we go any further I must explain the Elephant in the Room relating to this rum.  This is not something I expected and like many others I found this slightly disappointing. 12g/L of added sugar in this rum.  Quite deliberately added by the Master Blender.  To basically, see what the reception would be.  Result – their best selling 1931 so far!

It’s not a huge amount of added sugar but its been done and it is evident when you taste the rum.  It makes the rum slightly smoother, slightly sweeter and less dry.  Whether it improves the rum is open to debate, I haven’t tried it without the sugar!  For me it tastes pretty similar to the 2nd edition albeit just a little sweeter.

Poured the rum is a classic amber colour.

The nose reveals the now familiar St Lucia pot still/Bourbon cask influence.  It’s rich and deep.  Very fruity with some sour mash like notes.  A nice waft of oak and a hint of smoke.  I has the distinct almost salty St Lucian twang, which is as distinctive as the Jamaican funk found in that islands Pot Still rums.

I will get the influence of the added sugar out of the way to not labour the point too much.  The added sugar will be detectable by those who have tried a lot of rum but might not be quite so obvious to most.  In terms of overall profile it makes the rum a little bit sweeter and definitely makes the rum a little smoother than previous 1931’s.  I don’t think it has a huge impact on the rum – it still tastes like rum unlike many more doctored “rums”.

The third 1931 differs to the previous two in that it has a slightly minty like note too it.  (Which may explain the colour scheme?). An almost toothpaste like minty freshness is apparent especially in the initial taste and the finish.  It is sweeter than the first two 1931’s and has less of the sour mash notes found in the first two.

To me it lacks an extra layer of depth and complexity that particularly the 2nd 1931 has.  I would probably rate it on a par with the first 1931 which whilst very good had a very slight imbalance or maybe just too much going on.  This rum is slightly more straightforward.

I’m noting particularly online the rums of St Lucia have been getting many plaudits recently.  Certainly awareness of them is growing  I’d like to think I was slightly ahead of the game (I’ve been banging on about Chairman’s Reserve since this blog started two years ago) as I have a number of other St Lucian rums up for review shortly.