Cor Cor Red – Okinawan Rum
Cor Cor Red Okinawan Rum. Cor Cor Red and Green first seriously caught my eye at London Rumfest 2017. They were displaying at the Boutique Rumfest on the Friday afternoon. A show which is designed for new rums to display their wares to the “trade”. Its the part of the weekend I personally enjoy the most. The atmosphere is a little more restrained and you get to try a lot of new rums.
Grace Rum is the name of the company which oversees production of Cor Cor rum. From looking through their website it appears that they used to have three expressions Cor Cor Green, Cor Cor Red and a luxury version Cor Cor Premium which seems to have disappeared from the line up.
Cor Cor Red is a molasses based rum as opposed to Cor Cor Green which is a sugar cane juice or agricole style rum. Grace Rum do have a website (which may be a little out of date). It seems from reading their website that both their existing expressions are unaged white rums. No mention is made anywhere regarding the ageing of the rums.
Cor Cor benefit from producing their own sugar cane and molasses. You might be quite surprised to learn that a lot of existing rum producers no longer use molasses from their own islands. Cor Cor are also quite upfront about the type of rum they produce. I have never seen a rum producer openly admit “not everyone will like our rum” in quite such an honest and straightforward way.
Cor Cor Red and Green seem to be aimed very much at rum enthusiasts seeking out a new experience. Japanese rum is still uncommon I can only think of Ryoma as another example. They also focus on their rums being a limited edition dependant on the amount of sugar cane they can harvest. A sugar can harvest takes place only once a year.
As a result the rums do seem quite expensive for an unaged white rum bottled at 40% ABV. In the UK a bottle will set you back around £80. For this you do get a quite unusual and distinctive bottle and card sleeve which does give a more “premium” feel to this rum.
Interest in unaged white rum has piqued recently thanks mainly to the likes of Velier. Not only has Luca Gargano opened the worlds eyes to the Clairin’s of Haiti (very rudimentary agricole style distillates) but Velier have also released several unaged white rums in their Habitation Velier line up. Examples from Worthy Park, Marie-Galante and DDL to date.
Sugar production has taken place on the island since the late 18th to early 19th century. At one point there was a sugar cane railway which encircled the island transporting sugar cane all around the island. The distillery was set up in 2004 at the site of the former Airport on Minomataido Island. The site states they have a master distiller with over 20 years experience (that will now be over 30) but they do not name this person.
Well that is as much information as I have been able to gather for these expressions. So without further ado lets move onto reviewing the molasses side of production………
Cor Cor Red in the glass is a completely clear spirit. As to be expected from an unaged spirit.
The nose is interesting. The initial aroma is sawdust or pencil shavings. It’s very different to the Cor Cor Green. It has a strong medicinal aroma and a slight fruitiness – maybe a touch of banana and pineapple.
In time the nose becomes less alcohol forward and you get more aroma’s. It is slightly vegetal but the sawdust is quite dominant. Like the Cor Cor Green there is a slightly tart aroma of goosberries or very sharp raspberries. Again its quite pungent and clearly an unaged spirit.
Sipped the rum has an all spice note to it. Mixed with the woodiness of the pencil shavings. Again much like Cor Cor Green the rum initially bursts with flavour but quickly settles into a very long and very spicy mid palate and finish. It’s fiery and a little smoky – almost tequila like in places.
It’s a curious spirit. At the London Rumfest where a group of us tried these there was quite a lot of debate as to which one was the best. Initially I was more in favour of this one. Having tried them both alongside each other I’m not so sure now. Both are interesting. This is a slightly less sweet, less grassy spirit. More smoke and I would say slightly more fiery overall. In the end I think I will go for a tie.
I enjoyed trying them both and have continued to enjoy them both at thome. They are very interesting spirits. I’d be very keen to see what they can do with an aged spirit. Theres is a lot of flavour to be had in these distillates and they are quite distinctive.
As even they say though – not very everyone.
Worthy Park Special Cask Release Oloroso. It was around 3 years ago I first tried Worthy Park’s “Rum Bar” range. A gold, white overproof and a Rum Cream. At the time I wanted more. I wanted to try some aged Worthy Park juice.
There are some excellent Worthy Park rums out there from Independent bottlers but they do not offer a great deal of variety in terms of different finishes etc. It is important going forward that rum consumers get behind “official” distillery releases from the likes of Worthy Park, Hampden, St Lucia Distillers and Foursquare. Independent bottlings are great but we will only see fully tropically aged rums if we buy direct from the distillery. It may be more “exclusive” or “cool” to buy a fancy Independent bottlings but you will find over the next couple of years that these distilleries can easily compete with independent bottlings.
The site is now over 3 years old. The site as it appears now was “re-booted” back in December 2014. Which was pretty much when it began getting a meaningful amount of views. We’ve now reviewed over 300 different rums, with many more in the pipeline. Out of curiosity I thought I would see how many rums I have given the 5 star treatment. The search was quite interesting. I was quite surprised by some of the omissions – only garnering 4 or 4.5 stars. I’ve also tried not to flood the list with rums from the same distillery to keep a bit of variety.
10. 
9. 
Perhaps the first “all time classic” rum on the list. Barbancourt have been producing Cane Juice (rumours have it – this is now a mix of Cane Juice and syrup) style rum for many, many years. This rum is often overlooked and I was amongst those people who put off buying this rum due to expecting it to be similar to an agricole. Now whilst it does display some agricole notes it is so smooth and velvety it is almost like a fine cognac. At little over £30 per bottle this really is one of the worlds biggest rum bargains.
Released last October and unveiled at London Rumfest – Expressions is a blend of aged rums. Which might not sound all that remarkable. However, it is a blend of aged rums over 25 years old. 100% Pot Still rums from distilleries such as Long Pond and it even has an element of aged rum from the mythical Barbados Rockley still.
The pinnacle in terms of Appleton regular range of rums. It is a blend of column and pot distilled Jamaican rum which have ALL been aged for at least 21 years. 21 Years of tropical ageing can cometimes result in an over oaked distillate. Joy Spence of Appleton has successfully blended a perfect balance of exceptional aged Jamaican rum. Whilst the 12 Year Rare Blend offers unbelievable value for money this rum does just pip it.
An unusual rum and one which is currently no longer available. The 1842 cask was actually a “live cask” of rum which stood in the Cadenhead’s London store. A kind of commercial sized “Eternity Bottle” the cask regularly had odds and ends of Demerara rums from Cadenhead’s various casks added to it throughout its life. Producing an evergoing blend. The bottle I got was one of the most amazing Demerara blends I have ever tried and I am gutted I never bought another.
Another Demerara rum this time from Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL). The three rums released in the Rare Collection in 2016 had a lot to live upto. Seen as successors to the no longer available Velier Demeraras. For many the releases didn’t quite match up. However I felt that this rum from the Enmore still was as good as any Velier release.
Pussers Gunpowder is the re- branded UK Blue Label 54.5% ABV version of Pussers. The range were re-branded to stop confusion over ABV throughout the world. To be fair Pussers at any ABV offers the very best in Naval style rums there is to offer. Very few Navy style rums even come close to the depth of flavour and complexity.
I could easily have produced a top ten of Foursquare releases. Well I could have had ten world class rums, what order they would go on would be another matter…..that’s not a bad idea actually.
Is this rum a run of less than 300 bottles really the best rum I have ever tried?
Black Tot 50th Anniversary Rum. This is the fourth release from Elixir Distillers under the “Black Tot” brand. The first was “The Last Consignment” which was a limited edition bottling of authentic Navy rum dating from pre-Black Tot Day. Rum that would have been served as the daily tot. The second release was a 40 Year Old Demerara Rum which I was fortunate enough to get the chance to
If you are quick you may also be able to order a tasting pack where you can try not only this rum but also a “reconstructed” version of Black Tot Finest Caribbean as well as the full blend. The event is being beamed live from Trailer Happiness between 6pm and 8pm GMT on Monday 7th December by Mitch Wilson (Black Tot Rum Ambassador) and Gergo Murath (Trailer Happiness). To order a pack which will give you a link to view the stream please order 
Rum of the Year 2018 – Winner
Foursquare have continued their recent Exceptional Cask Series, to great acclaim. In the end deciding which Foursquare rum was my favourite this year was virtually impossible. Depending on mood, it could be any of the four I gave the five stars. I could easily have given Foursquare the gong again this year.
Rum of the Year 2018 goes to 
Legendario Ron Dorado. Perhaps one of the most ironic things about the Legendario brand is that, arguably it’s most famous rum isn’t even a rum. The “seven year old” 
Brugal have made a concerted effort to break into the UK market over the past couple of years. The rum has been re-branded and has even found itself in one or two of the nations supermarkets. The rum is imported into the UK by The Erdington Group based in Glasgow, Scotland.
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