Foursquare Rum Distillery Destino Velier 70th Anniversay Release. This was released in 2017 as part of the Velier “Drop by Drop” anniversary series. At the time of release this was limited to just 500 bottles.

We are currently awaiting the “general” release of Foursquare Rum Distillery Destino. The Warren Khong artwork used in these 500 bottles was exclusive to the Velier release. The release of Destino we currently await will be feature the more standard Velier artwork.

Bottles of this rum unsurprisingly weren’t cheap around £250-300 and the secondary market has seen bottles go for in excess of £500.

So lets take a look and see what this rum is all about. From what I can gather it is not different to the general Destino release. Did I mention we are awaiting that one?

One of the best things about Velier releases from a reviewers point of view is the amount of information available. Stated clear on the bottle and sleeve of each release. It makes things so much simpler, much like the Foursquare Exceptional Cask Series. It also saves me pestering Richard Seale.

Once we get the “standard” Destino the release will be labelled like this. The only real change from previous Velier/Foursquare collaborations is the colour scheme. No more red, white and black.

Foursquare Rum Distillery Destino is a Single Blended Rum. So it is 100% rum from Foursquare distillery put its a blend of Pot and Column distillates. It has been aged for 14 years in total. 12 of these years the rum was matured in ex-Madeira casks and 2 years were spent in ex-bourbon casks.It is actually noted on the back of the Warren Khong release that they are very old rum casks (that will have started off as Bourbon casks I guess) Distilled in 2003 and bottled in December 2017.

It has been bottled at 61% ABV barrel proof. It was aged entirely in the Tropics (Barbados). Unlike Principia and Triptych there are only 2,610 bottles going to be available unlike the 5,400 for those two releases.

So there might be a bit of a scramble again……..

Anyway at least I have sample here to try for now.

In the glass Foursquare Rum Distillery Destino is a very dark brown. Almost mahogany in colour. The nose reveals notes of plums, stewed rhubarb, raspberries and blackcurrants. It has a very fruity almost fortified type of nose. Further nosing reveals vanilla and some really nicely integrated woody notes which give a really nice balance to the nose. A hint of varnish lets you know this is a barrel proof rum. Just enough to warn you not get to comfortable.

On the initial sip you are treated to a lot spicy and tingly oak notes. This is backed up by the most amazing blackcurrant preserve like note which is lovely, rich and warming on the palate. This is very much a “winter” rum for me.

Further sips reveal more stoned fruits and “winter” warming aromas. Raspberries and maybe a touch of gooseberry on the mid palate show a tight tartness to the rum. Vanilla re-appears on the mid palate along with a touch of lemon zest which moves into a very oaky but very warming finish. A hit of toasted coconut also makes and appearance and gives a more traditional Bajan feel to the rum.

Rich, reasonably heavy and very complex this is a true sipping rum. The madeira influence has certainly given this more of an “old oak” feel than some of the notes we got in Triptych  from the younger casks. Foursquare do sometimes use quite old barrels but they clearly know what they are doing.

The finish continues the theme and is very rich and warming on the palate. It is an extremely long nicely oaked finish with enough fruitiness and zestiness which delivers a real kick. The intense fruity flavours almost coat the palate and you can still taste the rum for ages after sipping. If you can resist another sip of course.

Another instant classic. One day I plan on doing a “blind tasting” of all these Velier/ECS rums – 2006, Triptych, Criterion, Dominus etc. They are all similar but so different at the same time.

This is becoming a really golden age for Foursquare. To see where they have come from being greatly respected to greatly admired in just a few short years is incredible. But the groundwork was put in years and years ago when the rest of the world thought Zacapa and DRE were as good as rum could get.

How wrong were so many people.