Borgoe Reserve Collection Aged 12 Years
Borgoe Reserve Collection Aged 12 Years. Suriname is perhaps not the first place you might think about being a rum producer. To be perfectly honest thoughts by me about Suriname in my lifetime have been fairly brief. The only real thing I know about Suriname is that it is a former Dutch Colony and several notable players for the Netherlands football team were born there such as Edgar Davids, Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink and Clarence Seedorf.
The national language in place is still largely Dutch and the company behind the Borgoe rum brand are called Sabrum N.V. (N.V. is an acronym for the Dutch phrase “Naamloze Vennootschap.” Appearing after a firm’s name, it connotes incorporation means that the entity is the equivalent of a limited liability public company, with shares that trade on open markets.
If you visit the Sabrum NV website you will see the first language is Dutch though it translates nicely into English. Suriname is bordered by Guyana and French Guiana as well as Brasil. So perhaps it being a rum producing nation is not such a surprise now. In addition to this it is classed as a Caribbean country and is part of CARICOM.
This has been a real lesson for me…….So let’s find out a little more about Borgoe’s rum credentials. So far they seem pretty legit.
Borgoe Reserve Blend Aged 12 Years is part of a collection of three “premium” rums introduced in 2016 to celebrate 50 year since the incorporation of Sabrum NV. Borgoe is produced at the same facility which produced the rather infamous (and for me as yet untried) Marienburg Overproof Rum which clocks in at a whacking 90% ABV.
This is a slightly different proposition. It is a 12 Year Old aged rum. There is no mention of any Solera or any blends with younger rums etc. So I am assuming the youngest rum or all of the rum in this blend is 12 years old. It will be judged on that basis.
Information on the company website is a bit thin on the ground – the rum is a bend of rums aged in oak barrels. There is a little information noting that Borgoe rums are produced on a Kettle Copper Pot Still and that the oak barrels the rum is aged in are assembled on site at their “Rumhuis”. Which is interesting though I’m naturally cautious about such claims without a bit more detail. I’ve read up on this elsewhere on the internet.
Presentation wise this 12 year old is quite new to the line up. So I can find few photos of it online unlike the other expressions. The bottle design is modern and “Premium” to many people the short neck and bottle shape will convince many of the contents. As will the presentation box and the chunky cork stopper. It looks the part. When you can find it available in Europe (I’ve never noticed this bottling in the UK) it costs around €55-60 euros.
Hydrometer reading – clean 40% ABV
The nose is pretty honest – light, nice notes of vanilla, touch of oak and gives the nose a reasonable tickle at 40% ABV. It’s not huge or massively complex but it smells like it’s a decent aged spirit.
Though perhaps not a Pot Still rum certainly not 100% Pot Still. As far as I understand Borgoe have a column and a pot still. I think this is at the very most a blend of pot and column. The main component for me definitely seems column though.
It’s sweet with notes of peanut, cashew and some hints of lightly stewed apples and some slight hints of marzipan. Further nosing reveals a good hit of oak and nice bit of barrel char. Some toffee and light fudge float in and out of the mix.
Sipped it’s a touch on the bitter side with a fair amount of barrel char and some zesty lemon and lime, notes giving it a further fruity acidity. The mid palate reveals some fruits – touch of raisin and some red grapes. It’s not a particularly long mid palate though.
In fact this is a pretty “short” rum overall. What is there is quite pleasant and reasonably rummy. Unfortunately it’s fairly short the finish is woody with a slighty perfumed note but it only really leaves behind a very mild and slightly bitter burn.
For a 12 Year Old rum this lacks a lot of clarity and development. It starts off okay but it just cuts out half way through. It offers little real complexity beyond the initial entry. I had little expectations of this one. Though in fairness once I did a bit research, I was left expecting something better than a confected fake age statement branded rum. Which I got but at the end of the day it’s still pretty damned average.
Clarendon 2007 Aged 12 Years Selected by Thompson Bros. These rather nicely presented bottlings of Independently bottled Caribbean rum, first came to my attention with another Jamaican rum. That rum was bottled exclusively for The Whisky Exchange and came from
a normal tall style bar bottle the label is designed by 
Rum Nation Rare Rums Engenho Novo. Rum Nation are an Italian Independent bottler. Their “Rare Rums” series is a new venture by them in 2017. They have released a number of rums in this series. They are noted as being “Small Batch” rather than Single Cask.
Rum Chata is a product new to the UK market in 2015. It is noted in other territories as “Horchata con Ron”. For those not familiar with the term, “Horchata” is in this particular instance a rice, milk or cream based drink with vanilla and Cinnamon flavourings common in Mexico.
Santiago de Cuba is a Cuban rum brand named after the city of Santiago. A green mountain range named “Sierra Maestra”, the golden sun and the Caribbean Sea characterise the landscape around the city of Santiago. The landscape can be found in the brands logo.
Sipping the rum is a surprisingly smooth if slightly underwhelming experience. It has a little bit of tobacco or leather but it is mainly just a very neutral tasting spirit. It’s not rough or harsh. You could almost mistake this for a vodka albeit a slightly sweet one.
Yaguara Cachaca Ouro came to UK shores last year. It seems the Brazilian “rum” is beginning to catch on. Cachaca brands are becoming more commonplace at UK Rum Festivals and trade shows. Cachaca once again highlights the diversity in Sugar Cane Spirits.
Whilst Cachaca is essentially rum by another name Yaguara does show that it does indeed need its own identity. The native woods used give this spirit such a distinct flavour that it would actually flummox people if it were presented to them as rum.
Virgin Gorda 1493 Spanish Heritage Rum. Virgin Gorda is a rum brand from London. The rum is produced and distributed by 
More significantly in terms of rum those islands produced rum in the “British style”. In simplistic terms these means produced on Pot/Column still from molasses. Spanish style is similar but made mostly solely with Column and Multi Column stills.
It’s smooth and easy to drink but it lakcs any real impact on the palate. It has a non-existant finish and the mid palate just reveals very light spices and a touch of oak. The initial entry gives hints of vanilla and walnut but little else beyond that. It perhaps has a slight perfumed note on the entry but it doesn’t last long at all.