Dead Reckoning South Pacific 2 Year
Dead Reckoning South Pacific 2 Year. Today I’ll be taking a look at another offering from Australian Independent bottler Dead Reckoning. This time they have bottled another rum from the South Pacific Distillery, which is to be found on the
island of Fiji.
Despite the quality of the rums from this distillery, they never seem to have “broken” the international market with their own recognisable brand. So the flag of South Pacific Distillery has often been flown by Independent bottlers. With Berry Bros & Rudd, S.B.S. and now Dead Reckoning being just some of the more prolific bottlers of such rum.
Bounty Overproof Rum is perhaps the most well known “own name” brand but distribution outside of the Southern Hemisphere is rather sporadic.
The distillery under the Rum Co. of Fiji moniker have been producing their own 2 year old rum range, in a variety of profiles and flavours called Bati for a few years now. They also have a more Premium range of Rums – Ratu. However, neither seem to have really caught the imagination in the UK or Europe. I do recall them having a stand at London Rumfest a few years ago. I recall thinking the rums tasted as though they had some additives. So I wasn’t hugely
impressed.
If you search for reviews from South Pacific Distillery you will find mostly Independently bottled rums from the more well known Rum Review sites. Reviews of Bati and Ratu tend to come from more generic “alcohol” promotion, sorry “review” sites……..
Anyway lets get back to the rum we are reviewing today. Dead Reckoning South Pacific 2 Year is a 100% Pot Still rum which has been aged in ex-bourbon barrels for its full maturation in/on Fiji. The rum is molasses based and was distilled on a John Dore Double Retort Pot Still. It has been bottled at a hefty 60% ABV. Which is assume is Cask Strength (or as good as near it). Only 65 bottles of this rum are available.
This rum is exclusive to the Rare Rum Club. A 70cl bottle usually retails at £78 but at present you can pick it up £65.99 saving 15% off the usual price. (Apologies if that sounds like an advert!)
It is noted as being a UKRC (UK Rum Club) exclusive release. UKRC for those that don’t know is a Facebook group ran by Steven James (Rum Diaries Blog) and myself. As far as I am aware this isn’t a UKRC exclusive – which usually entails it being offered to our members first or exclusively. It is just a standard UK only release via Rare Rum Club. So it doesn’t show the UKRC “badge” on the label.
I don’t think this really makes much difference to be honest. It certainly doesn’t influence my review. Yes I do have a “relationship” so to speak with Justin Boseley who owns Dead Reckoning rum. That being said I only tend to form any kind of relationship with producers of Independent bottlers when I’ve already established I like what they do. Or more specifically I like what they don’t do – no adding additives, dubious
age statements or fairy tales……….
In the glass Dead Reckoning South Pacific 2 Year is a light golden almost straw like colour.
On the nose the rum is pretty fierce and upfront. For anyone unfamiliar with rum from South Pacific Distillery it is best described as a mixture of Jamaican Funk, Saint Lucian Herbal-ness and Caroni’s dirty Petrol like notes.
So its a pretty intense kind of offering. This 2 Year Old 100% Pot Still distilled rum is no exception to that! This is the full on Fijian experience.
Sweet and Sour Pineapple mingles alongside some smokiness and medicinal notes. Tar and Petrol float in and out as does a very little aroma of oak and light wood. There is a herbal almost Eucalyptus like note and some Pot Pourri going on.
It’s heavy and tarry and very sweet and fruity at the same time. Lots of stewed apples and a touch of cinnamon, creosote fences and some hot road tar.
The 60% ABV Is really felt on the nose as is the relative youth of the distillate. This if fierce stuff!
Sipped Dead Reckoning South Pacific 2 Year is as intense as I found the nose. There is a lot going on with this rum and you certainly won’t get it all with first couple of sips. Especially not at full strength anyway.
Once my palate has adjusted to the full frontal attack on its senses – I’m just about ready to make some kind of coherent tasting notes (for the first time I can hear some of you say!).
The sip begins with a fair amount of heat but you quickly get a lot of stewed apples, banana bread and some fermenting pineapples. It’s hot and sweet initially but it quickly becomes more “herbal”. With notes, I can best describe as “a bit like Chairman’s Reserve Original” coming in to balance the heat and intensity a little. It’s like a herbal Pot Pourri. For me it’s lovely as I am huge fan of St Lucian rum and this is what this “phase” of the tasting reminds me of.
As we move into what I can best describe as the “mid palate” I begin to notice the more medicinal notes again. Benylin cough mixture and some lighter notes of banana bread and toasted teacakes.
This mingles alongside some light oaky notes and a touch of sawdust. As we move towards the finish I am getting some of the tarry and more “murky” Caroni like notes. Nail varnish and tar begin to fight for supremacy.
The finish is a medium length. I think it potentially could have been longer but I feel that it might be palate fatigue on my behalf. I simply couldn’t hold the finish in my taste buds long enough!
The cough syrup notes remain alongside Tree Sap and freshly cut grass and a nice smoky/oak like note which lingers nicely.
I would say as a sipper this is very much in the “enthusiast”/nutcase bracket. Any enjoyment had in this will be found by already having a fairly good idea of what it entails.
Mixed (yes I did) this makes for as an intense and flavourful rum and cola as any DOK can offer.
Crazy stuff. Not for everyone but I really enjoyed this!
Gosling’s don’t tend to rush their releases or have many lines in their portfolio. Until recently their only rum commercially available was the Black Seal and the Black Seal Overproof.
A bottle of Gosling’s Family Reserve Old Rum will set you back around £50-55 in the UK. The bottle is 70cl and the ABV is 40%.
The rum strikes me very much as sweet winter warmer, rather than a sweet light Bajan summer rum for example.
Although this may sound gimmicky, there is a history of Gunpowder and Rum. Not just in the sense that rum had to be “Gunpowder Proof” but also, in that like the recipe for this, Gunpowder was indeed added to rum!
With a slightly different blend of ‘spices’ this rum was intended to evoke the smells of HMS Victory which I once visited in Portsmouth – all tarred rope, oak, canvas and tobacco. I’m soon to start bottling the second batch, which will be twice as many bottles to try to keep the rum-lovers happy. A lot of people missed out last year. 
Diablesse Caribbean Rum. This is the second rum from the Diablesse brand, that I have reviewed recently. At present the two rums are their full portfolio.
for no caramel colouring with this blend, stands true. Even the DDL hasn’t darkened this rum and we all know their penchant for “extras”.
As a mixer in cocktails is perhaps where Diablesse Caribbean Rum works best. Such is the character and flavour profile of the rum, it doesn’t hide away when mixed. A simple drink such as a rum and cola is very flavourful and very smooth. Not something I necessarily see as a good thing, as it often means a lack of flavour. However, add a squeeze of lime and a few ice cubes and you have a very tasty and very more-ish drink.
El Dorado Rare Collection Skeldon 2000. The only rums I have seen in my rum “career” that denote Skeldon are the Velier 1973 and 1978 releases. Which are long gone except for those with very deep pockets. As any rum blogger will attest researching Demerara Rums is on the most complicated and time-consuming pursuits. Excellent work by the likes of Marco Freyr of Barrel Aged Mind have helped with this. I will once again recommend reading his huge article on 
rops of water would be recommended. A couple of drops does bring out a bit more of the fruitier notes and does temper some of the spicier elements of this rum.
Dead Man’s Fingers is a Spiced Rum. First released in 2015 by The Rum and Crab Shack, St Ives, Cornwall. Initially the rum was only available in the bar/restaurant (which has since expanded to another branch in Exeter). It is now pushing for a national release and is already available from a number of UK online retailers.
Which is a slight concern. On the nose I’m initially struck by a very familiar smell. Vanilla and I’m getting waft after waft of it. Reminiscent of old style UK Sailor Jerry, Old J Spiced, RedLeg and even Rumbullion. My initial thoughts are not that profile all over again………..sweet vanilla and caramel.
Sipping offers my first real surprise. It is nowhere near as sweet as the nose implies. In actual fact the orange peel/marmalade notes really shine through. It’s reasonably complex – some nice more natural tasting notes of cinnamon, brown sugar and a little saffron spice. The vanilla has become much more muted, having all but disappeared. If you wanted an after dinner drink this wouldn’t be terrible with a chunk of ice and a squeeze of lime (or maybe orange?).
Kill Devil Jamaica Hampden Distillery. Hampden Distillery as is the trend in Jamaica is better known as Hampden Estate. This is largely because these distilleries did/do produce their own sugar cane on their vast estates. So they are not just simply a distillery.
So should I have been concerned? Let’s find out….
This is a really big, powerful, funky and medicinal rum from Hampden. Straying more into what I would term as Long Pond territory. It has that minty and almost clinical fruitiness to it. In terms of the nine year of ageing the barrel has for what I can been quite passive with this distillate. This is very much a distillate driven rum. The ex-bourbon may have given it a bit of depth but in terms of flavour this is very much a refined but pretty much unaged type of profile.