Cor Cor Green – Okinawan Rum. Cor Cor is a relatively new rum brand from Japan.  More specifically the Japanese island of South Borodino, Minamidaito, Okinawa.  I can’t say I’m familiar with the region either.  Japanese geography isn’t my strongest subject.

The company responsible for Cor Cor Green are the Grace Rum Company Ltd, formed in 2004.  Although the company is young, the tradition of growing sugar cane on the island dates back hundreds of years.

There are two expressions in the Cor Cor range at the moment.  Cor Cor Green and Cor Cor Red.  Cor Cor Green is an agricole style rum and Cor Cor Red is a molasses based rum.  We are covering the agricole style rum today but the molasses based rum review will be posted at the same time.

Cor Cor Green is bottled at 40% ABV.  In the UK a bottle will set you back around £80. So its not exactly cheap. It is an unaged white agricole rum. The rum comes in an unusual slightly flattened, rounded like bottle with a very short neck.  The presentation of the rum is modern and pretty interesting.  You get a card sleeve to house your rum in as well.

I haven’t seen a great deal of Japanese rum – Ryoma and some expressions from Nine Leaves.  Having said that it took some time for Japanese whisky to take shape and now that is highly respected and some bottlings are much sought after.

Cor Cor as a brand have access to their own sugar cane on the island of South Borodino, Minamidaito. Which is how they are able to produce r(h)um from both fresh sugar cane and molasses. The companies literature state that the sugar cane is harvested just once a year for their rum production. So production of Cor Cor Green is limited to the amount of sugar cane that can be harvested. The company are clear that they are not in the business of mass produced spirits.

The following website gives some more information on Grace Rum and Cor Cor. I find a lot of their commentary is very encouraging

“We’ll be the first to admit our rums are not for everyone”

“Everything rum should be – Absolutely no additives”

The website doesn’t seem to have been updated for sometime (I note they have renamed Cor Cor Green which was formerly called Cor Cor Agricole).  They may have been advised to do so as there is a bit of a disagreement about what you can and can’t call agricole.  They maybe felt it easier just to re-brand.

As I have two Cor Cor products up for review today I’ll leave some other information for the review of the Cor Cor Red.  So we may as well get into the nosing and tasting now.

In the glass we get an entirely transparent spirit. The nose is instantly recognisable as a Cane Juice or Agricole style rum. Rich, intense and vegetal. Freshly mowed fields and lush grassy vegetation.

Even at 40% ABV the nose is still very vibrant and suggests a very flavoursome rum. It’s very pungent – gooseberries, kiwi fruit and a note of slightly soured milk. Surprisingly for all the pungency its not very strong on the alcohol notes. It doesn’t make the nose tingle. Likely due to the lower ABV.

Sipped you get a very grassy spirit with hints of Elderflower and a touch of lime zest. Like the nose you get a sourness and quite a “tart” tasting rhum. In the mouth it is quite spicy and the finish is a fairly decent length, even if much of the initial intensity disappears fairly quickly. This leaves behind white pepper and a slow but not unpleasant burn.

It’s agricole rhum with just enough of a twist to keep it interesting. Similar to the Haitian Clairins, though this tastes just a touch less “rural”. Having said that, this is not a light, easy going refined rum. Far from it.

It cries out to be mixed in a Ti Punch – in which it functions well. With cola like most agricoles its not my favourite. For me this is more of an occasional sipper. If I was to be un-couth I could even drink this as a “shot” – but I’m not 17 anymore.

At the price point I could probably find better alternatives. I would say it would probably work better at full strength. I also think this would give it more traction in the 1% of the rum market that is likely to dare to try this rum.

Its interesting – especially when you try it alongside other white rums. It’s also undoubtedly a very high quality, well made spirit. Its also a very daring project.

I do hope they can raise their profile. This is a producer that could definitely put out some world class stuff. If I was them I’d give Luca Gargano a ring. A Velier Cor Cor would do them no harm.