Chairman’s Reserve The Forgotten Casks Finest St Lucia Rum

Introduction

Another entry from St Lucia Distillers and one with a bit of a story.  On May 2nd 2007 St. Lucia Distillers was struck by a major fire which destroyed their administrative and blending facility. Most of the distillery was spared but they suffered great problems with storage space for their casks. In the melee that followed the cellar master, Mr. Cyril Mangal, was forced to find space for ageing casks in the most unusual places. Having done so the cellar team had a memory lapse and forgot the casks that had been laid down. These casks were discovered recently.

So basically what we have here is an (accidentally) aged version of one of my all time favourites Chairman’s Reserve.  Hurrah!  The bottle is your standard Chairman’s Reserve stubby, metallic screw top bottle. 

Bearing in mind this is £40-45 this is slightly disappointing but then again I suppose this rum was never really supposed to happen anyway!  In addition to the bottle you get a nice cardboard sleeve which houses the rum.  There is no age statement to the rum (Chairman’s Reserve is around 3 to 5 years) so its likely to be around the 8 year old mark.

Tasting

The rum is slightly darker than its younger sibling and is slightly more refined.  Again as this rum wasn’t really intended its difficult to judge or be too critical. 

In hindsight this rum has remained a “constant” staple in the Chairman’s Reserve portfolio. The original Forgotten Casks are now long forgotten. The offering we can get nowadays is a re-creation of this. A further aged version which I guess are now very carefully managed rather than “Forgotten”.

Chairman’s Reserve Forgotten Casks is a solid, reliable pour from the St. Lucia Distillers stable that hits the mark for a daily sipper. On the nose, you’re greeted with a rich, inviting bouquet of sweet raisins, cigar tobacco, and a touch of warm vanilla that leans into the deeper, mahogany profile you’d expect from their extra aged stocks. It’s well balanced, avoiding the cloying sweetness that plagues some other “premium” releases, instead offering an honest, wood-forward character that speaks to the quality of the blending.

On the palate, it delivers a lovely warmth, layering grilled tropical fruit—think ripe banana and pineapple—against a backdrop of candied walnuts and soft, baking spices. It’s satisfyingly fullbodied, leading into a long, lingering finish that doesn’t outstay its welcome. It’s an approachable, well-integrated rum that bridges the gap between a cocktail staple and a decent evening dram.

Verdict

I’ve always enjoyed the original Chairman’s Reserve in a generous measure with a good slug of coke (around a pint of) having paid more for this I’m having it with equal measures coke (no I am not having 284ml of coke with this!) in much smaller measures.  I’m finding it highly enjoyable that way.

You can definitely tell the difference between this and Chairmans Reserve – it is a better rum.  However, at the £30-35 price point there is a lot of competition.  It isn’t as good as this distillers Admiral Rodney (it isn’t £45 either).

I’m not entirely sure if the whole Chairman’s Reserve thing is clouding my judgement over this rum, it is nice but I do think that you can get better for £30-35.   Personally, I mjght just opt for a bottle of R Seale’s Rum Sixty Six or a Cockspur 12 ahead of this.

That’s what my head tells me but my heart knows that there must always be a bottle of this in my drinks cabinet………