Bristol Classic Rum Reserve Rum of Grenada Distilled in 2003. It has been a long while since I have reviewed any of Bristol Classic Rum’s range. As far as I am aware they haven’t been all that active recently with new releases. This is a rum from the Westerhall Estate.

It has also been quite a while since I reviewed any rum from Grenada. I think the last thing I did on Grenada was an interview with Mark Reynier about the Renegade Rum project.

The rum was distilled way back in 2003, this was before Hurricane Ivan destroyed much of the Westerhall Estate. One of the reasons why they now blend rums from Angostura, rather than produce rum from scratch.

Bristol Classic Rum Reserve Rum of Grenada, was produced on a column still. I am unsure of the number of bottles of this rum, that were available. The rum was aged mostly in the UK, in ex-bourbon barrels (so this must ‘t be a single cask release). It has been bottled at 43% ABV in 2014. You can still find bottles of this rum online, if you have a bit hunt around. The price may vary from around £60 to around £75. I think I paid around the £60 mark, a few years back.

Presentation wise, it comes in the standard stubby Bristol bottle, with a foil covered plastic topped synthetic cork stopper. The colour scheme for this is in keeping with the national colours of Grenada. The back label is a little hard on the eyes, to be honest. I quite like the fact they have used the very vibrant Red, Yellow and Green of Grenada overall though. It’s a nice touch There is a slight DIY element to the Bristol presentation that I have always quite liked.

Bristol Classic rum were one of the first Independent Bottlers I gravitated to on my rum journey. They have in recent years been criticised for not releasing more rum as Cask Strength or higher ABV than 46%. John Barrett who heads up Bristol Classic Rum is a very knowledgeable man in the wine and spirits world. As a result I have always trusted his judgement. He prefers to release his rum at what he sees as drinking strength.

In the glass we have a light golden brown spirit. The nose is very light but not at all unpleasant. Buttery shortcrust pastry, shortbread, icing sugar and some light toffee. This is overlaid with a slightly damp musty oak and some light ginger. A touch of all spice and some slight acidity.

It’s not a huge rum but it has enough complexity on the nose to suggest that the sipping experience will not be entirely unpleasant.

On the sip it is actually a lot more woody than I was expecting and much less sweet than the nose had suggested. It’s a very clean tasting spirit. Very dry on the palate. The initial sip doesn’t have any of the buttery sweetness I was expecting and the mid palate quickly moves into some bitter dry oak, ginger and a slight touch of toffee but it’s barely noticeable.

Finish wise it doesn’t really evolve much beyond the mid palate and it all just kind of fades away. You are left with some light oak and some traces of ginger. Overall it is just a bit too light.

It would be easy to blame the ABV. To be honest I still get enough of a kick from 40-46% ABV spirits. Especially, when it is the first spirit I have tried on an evening.

Despite all the negativity around this rum – it’s actually not all bad. It has no additives as per the Hydrometer and it doesn’t really have any “bad” or “off” notes. What is there is pleasant enough. There just isn’t a great deal going on.

It is after all a column distilled rum which would likely usually be used in other rum blends. It’s been mostly continentally aged in ex-bourbon barrels. So it was unlikely to ever be anything particularly ground breaking.

From my point of view it was nice to try something a little different from Grenada. I’ve actually been lucky enough to source some of the Rivers Royale Grenadian Rum so it will be interesting to see how that 69% ABV monster compares to this.

I can’t imagine it being very similar!