Blackadder Raw Cask Barbados Foursquare rum.  Blackadder’s Raw Cask rum selection are a number of rums which are “raw” and straight from the cask.  No colouring, no additives and no filtration, so they look a little cloudy and raw.

Sourcing Blackadder rum has proved difficult. I ended up getting this bottling from Poland, of all places.  This is particularly frustrating as most of Blackadder’s range is aged in the UK.

I paid around £80 for this 70cl bottle.  Blackadder Raw Cask Barbados is bottled at cask strength 62% ABV.  My bottling is number 57 of 239 bottles all taken from a single cask.  It was distilled in November 2004 and bottle in March 2016.  The rum was released towards the end of 2016.

There is something a little “home made” about the Blackadder bottlings.  It all feels very small batch with almost hand made labels etc.  The bottle number for example is hand written on the front label.

The cardboard sleeve to house the rum isn’t made of the sturdiest card and the overall appearance is rather strange and slightly gothic.  I quite like the actual bottles for their hand made simplicity but the carboard sleeves are a little gaudy, over the top and perhaps even a little silly.

In keeping with a £80 bottle of rum you get a decent quality wooden topped cork stopper.

In the glass the Blackadder Barbados Foursquare is a deep dark golden brown.  The rum is very similar to Foursquare’s own Exceptional Cask 2004 release.  Whilst Richard Seale is against additives he has conceded in the past that consumers do expect rum to be a certain colour.  However, I am fairly certain this was not the case for his own 2004 release.  So likely this rum has not been coloured.

As noted by the “Raw Cask” element of these Blackadder releases their is a quite a lot of sediment in this rum.  This can be seen when poured and even more vividly when you shake the bottle.  There are a lot of black floaters (likely barrell char) in this rum. I’ve tried picturing this – you can see a lot of the sediment at the bottom of the bottle.

If anyone has ever read the Michael Crichton novel “Prey” it reminds me of what I envisage the swarms of nanobots to look like.  This may be off putting to some – mostly those who do not understand or know about filtering.  Anyone buying this rum and then complaining about the sediment, will likely be wasting their money anyway.

I have spent quite a lot of time with this rum.  I have also tried it alongside the 2004 Foursquare release.  It is likely that the rums are cousins if not quite brothers.  They were distilled in the same year.  I spoke with Richard Seale about the differences I noted in the two bottlings.  I’ll explain now how I found this in comparison to the 2004 rather than reference in the main tasting notes.

Compared to the 2004 Foursquare it is a lot spicier.  I sense more interaction with the cask (Richard did suggest that this may have been partly aged in a Scotch Whisky cask) it has more bite than the 2004.  Again when I asked Richard about this he stated that he had blended the 2004 to be “softer” than the ABV might suggest.  He described the 2004 as a soft rum.  Which is probably a good explanation.  I found the 2004 to be slightly more balanced more in harmony, at peace with itself.  This still seems to have a little bee in its bonnet.

Anyway enough or I will ruin the review, lets get on with the nosing!

The nose is classic Foursquare.  Vanilla, a little toffee and there is a good hit of Bourbon cask sweet/sour mash.  It’s all quite familiar.  What is less familiar is an almost savoury Scotch Whisky like aroma – its quite malty and almost hoppy.

Whilst the nose isn’t hugely aggressive it is quite apparent that this is a cask strength rum as opposed to one bottled at 40 or 43% ABV.

When sipped the more savoury whisky notes in the nose do not disappear.  You still get a little of that.  Everything else is familiar for anyone acquainted with Foursquare’s laid back balanced Bajan style.  It is very difficult to judge all the different bottlings coming out under the Foursquare banner.  Most (if not all) are very, very good.  This is no exception.  It’s nicely balanced and even with a 62% ABV still very drinkable.

It’s not a hugely fruity rum.  Its pretty dry and quite spicy on the palate.  The finish is long and satisfying if just a little on the “Scotch” side for my particular taste.  I do prefer the sweeter unsweetened rums (theres a condundrum for some of you).

It offers something slightly different to the Foursquare 2004.  I very slightly prefer the 2004 (another factor is price you could get two 2004 for the price of this).  Still you are paying for a rarity with this.  There is only one cask the same as this and only 239 bottles in circulation.