Compagnie des Indes Caraibes. The French Independent bottler Compagnie des Indes have been making great strides over the past couple of years. They have expanded from releasing rums at 43-46% ABV and are now moving into Cask Strength bottlings.

A fair few of these have went to the Danish market and have been pretty difficult to come by in the UK and mainland Europe. Generous samples from enthusiasts in Denmark have helped me try some of these rums. Fortunately Compagnie des Indes Caraibes is/was a little easier to access.

In the UK a bottle would set you back around £34 for the usual 70cl. Caraibes is bottled at 40% ABV. It comes housed in the usual CDI stubby style bottle with cut out card sleeve. Presentation wise all is well and I like the CDI branding.

It is a blend rather than a single cask rum. Rums from Guyana, Barbados and Trinidad make up that blend. With 50% of the rum coming from Trini and 25% each from Barbados and Guyana. Aged for between 3-5 years this is very much a “mixing” rum. Having said that you never know it may work as a cheaper sipper as well.

In the glass Caraibes is a very vivid golden brown with yellow and orange tinges.

Nosing Compagnie des Indes Caraibes blend reveals a very easy-going, approachable blend of rums. Its light and sweet – banana, apricot and some chocolate raisins. The influence of oak ageing is minimal and there is little by way of spiciness.

Its all quite nice and has a good balance to it but it doesn’t carry much weight and isn’t all that interesting.

Sipped its pretty sweet – for some reason I never conducted a Hydrometer Test on this one but it does taste as if some sugar has been added. It has an almost saccharin note to it. It’s pleasant enough and agreeable but its not really holding my interest to be honest. Milk chocolate, raisins and demerara sugar are the main notes. Again very little oak influence. NB Indeed 15 g/L of organic cane syrup has been added as per their website. Fair play to Florent for the disclosure. Though I do wish he hadn’t done that. While we are at it they also added some Caramel Colouring.

Guyana and Trinidad are the main players in this blend flavour wise. The Bajan element is likely just providing a bit of balance and maybe some of the vanilla notes. Though they are hard to pick out from the sugary elements of this rum.

The finish is virtually non-existent – again no oak influence or much spice from the barrel. There is nothing unpleasant about the finish but its pretty short and not all that exciting. It’s all a little muted by the sugar-making it a bit one-dimensional and a bit dull.

Despite saying all this it’s not a bad little mixing rum albeit slightly expensive. It makes a decent enough rum and cola and works well in cocktails. I’d probably use this as a weekend mixer – if it were a little cheaper and available locally. Sipped it’s just not complex or interesting enough to hold my attention.

It’s all just a bit to simple, to polite, to “entry level” to get excited about. You can get much better rums for 2/3 of the price of this in most supermarkets.

It’s worth pointing out that this bottling dates from 2015. It is not indicative of the time of rum Compagnie des Indes usually produces. They do have blends of white and aged rums but they focus mostly upon single cask bottlings. Please read my other reviews of CDI bottlings before jumping to any conclusions. Like any Indie bottler they can be a bit hitty miss with their cask selections but they have put out some really top-notch rums. Particularly in the past year or so.