Clarkes Court #37 Blend Limited Edition. Released way back in 2010 this rum was produced to celebrate the 37th year of Grenada’s independence. Bit random but I guess it ties in with the distillery being established in 1937?.

Anyway for those not familiar with Clarkes Court they are the number one selling rum brand on Grenada.

The brand gets it name from the nearby Clarkes Court Bay, which is close the distillery – Grenada Distillers Limited. The distillery became operational in 1937. Rum is produced from both molasses and sugar cane syrup at Grenada Distillers.

In 2003 the company decided to start using imported molasses and/or sugar cane syrup (?) Unfortunately the Clarkes Court website is rudimentary at best and doesn’t really offer a great deal of  (useful) information. There is next to no information on this particular rum, so I have had to hunt around for more. Please feel free to get in touch and correct anything you feel may be wrong.

Clarkes Court #37 Blend Limited Edition was first produced in 2010 – I do not know if it is still being produced. Stocks of the rum could be found at Barbados airport a couple of years ago – I know that much. I assume it is a blend of Pot and Column distilled rums and I have been informed they have been aged for 8 years in ex-bourbon casks. The rums are then blended and returned to the casks for a “Double Maturation”.

You can still pick up a bottle of this very nicely presented rum at Master of Malt it is currently £84.95 for a 70cl bottle.

I’d not had a lot of Clarkes Court rums until very recently – yes reviews will follow. Old Grog Rum was a rum I reviewed early on. I never did hydrometer test it but it did have a very strange banana flavour. Which seemed a little artificial. Sadly the hydrometer reading for this bobbed at 35% ABV which means around 18 g/L of additives. I’m a little disappointed by this reading to be honest. from a supposed “Premium” Caribbean producer.

Not to worry, lets move on and see how disappointed I am when I give this a taste.

Firstly, in the glass we have a fairly standard golden brown rum, likely a little colouring to keep the consistency but not a great lot I don’t think.

Nosing Clarkes Court #37 Blend Limited Edition, I am getting a very floral and very sweet rum. Notes of marzipan, caramel, butterscotch, icing sugar. There are some faint hints of oak, I’d expect more from an aged rum and a little hint of spices.

It’s light and buttery. Lots of sweet shortcrust pastry and almonds. It has a slightly confected, almost artificial coconut note as well. Not to dis-similar to Plantation XO 20th Anniversary. Desiccated coconut, coconut ice (british confectionary) almost coconut ice cream like.

It’s as coconut heavy as their Old Grog Rum is banana heavy. So I definitely think had I ran the hydrometer over that one, I might have found an additive or two.

That said its not hugely unpleasant. In fact its actually quite pleasant in an inoffensive middle of the road kind of way. For a “Premium” rum it probably sails a bit to close to Malibu, for my liking.

On the initial entry there is a fair amount of heat and even some bitterness. It tastes more like young alcohol than anything else though. I wasn’t expecting quite such a harshness.

The mid palate is thankfully much more forgiving and you do begin to get some more of the nose – coconut (though not as sweet as I had anticipated) and some light toffee and almonds.

Finish wise, its a bit short and doesn’t really do much. Overall, despite the slight harshness particularly on the first sip it is a fairly smooth, easy going kind of rum. It’s just not terribly exciting or interesting.

I didn’t really bother mixing this as it’s not marketed as being a mixer. Being honest I was a bit bored with it anyway. It reminded me quite a lot of Angostura rums. Nothing (save a few additives) wrong with them as such but they are just so very boring. The Maroon 5 of rum.

Certainly way short of being worth £85!