Foursquare Rum Distillery Sassafras

Bythefatrumpirate January 23, 2021January 23, 2021

Foursquare Rum Distillery Sassafras. Had Foursquare called their iconic first collaboration with Velier Sassafras instead of 2006 – then this rum could have been called Sassafras 2. This release is essentially 2006, only older to all intents and purposes.

We’ve not seen a lot of Foursquare rum that has been matured in ex-cognac casks. The excellent 2013 and 2006 being the only ones I can think of. Sadly for me those are both rums which I no longer have access to. I did buy multiple bottles of the 2013 and intended to keep a bottle back. Unfortunately, I ended up drinking it.

I’m sure a lot of you probably think I have a huge collection of rum. The reality is I rarely have more than 10 open or available bottles. I don’t tend to buy multiple bottles very often and I do drink what I have. I know a lot of other reviewers often refer back to older bottlings and compare and contrast. I’m rarely in a position to do that other than from memory. I have a collection of perhaps around 50 “rare” bottles – a couple of Velier Demerara’s, Foursquare ECS, limited edition Worthy Parks and a few Independent bottlings. I could buy more rum than I do but I tend to stick to a monthly budget. In all honesty I think I get my priorities about right in that respect.

Anyway enough about me lets get on with the review. That’s what you are here for!

Foursquare Rum Distillery Sassafras as noted already has been partially aged in ex-cognac casks. It has been matured for 3 years in ex-bourbon before being transferred to ex-cognac casks for a further 11 years of tropical maturation on Barbados. It was bottled in November 2020. I guess they could have called this 2006 – 2 but that would have looked a bit silly I think.

The rum is Single Blended so it is rum from a Single Distillery and is a Blend of Pot and Column distilled rum. It has been bottled at Cask Strength 61% ABV.

Presentation wise it comes in the classic opaque Velier bottle with the sturdy cardboard sleeve. The colour scheme used for this release is black, white and red. As with most Velier releases the presentation is fairly basic but striking nonetheless and focuses on giving the consumer information about the actual rum rather than fairy tales.

There are 6,000 bottles of this Limited Edition release available worldwide. Retail it will be priced at around the £/€180 mark, when it hits out shelves.

As far as the name is concerned Sassafras is an aromatic flower/tree. It was in the past used to flavour Root Beer though most brands now use an artificial Sassafras flavouring as the base. Some use a Sassafras extract that doesn’t have the chemical compound Safrole which is carcinogen. For more technical information please see the Wikipedia page. I don’t really understand it all/lack interest. I have been reassured by Richard Seale that no Sassafras was used in the making of the rum it is just in his words “a symbolic link”.

So lets see what this latest Foursquare/Velier collaboration is like shall we?

In the glass Foursquare Rum Distillery Sassafras is mahogany colour with an orange hue. It is dark and intense looking.

The nose is full of dark dried fruits – sultana and raisins. The fruitiness is added to in the shape of redcurrants and blackberries. Lurking just beneath the fruitiness is a layer of well integrated oak spice with rich dark vanilla and a little citrus and some pineapple.

There is an almost smoky richness to this rum. It’s quite woody but the fruitiness stops it feeling over oaked or “old”. It remains rich and vibrant. There’s a hint of tobacco and something which I can’t quite put my finger on but I think when Dave Broom used the term “old leather armchairs” I’m getting a similar kind of vibe. This is familiar and comforting.

Further nosing reveals more of cognac like influence. I’m getting some orange zest and a lighter white grape note.

It’s a very complex nose but even at 61% ABV the alcohol feels very much in tandem with the aromas. It’s not at all boozy. Just very, very nice!

One last nose before I dig in reveals a sweeter toffee and caramel note and some walnuts? There’s just so much going on with this.

Sipped, the entry is as the nose suggests quite intense with lots of flavour coming at you. It starts with an intense rush of dark fruits and quickly opens up into a mid palate with an array of oak spice, vanilla, quite heavy tannins and some lighter notes of toasted coconut.

This is a more intense tasting experience than, for example Detente. The flavours seem more concentrated and the overall make up of this rum is quite heavy (in Barbados terms anyway). It is very drinkable and very tasty but I’m taking more time between sips with this one.

The finish is extremely long and not overly heavy on the oak or to dry. As is the hallmark of all Foursquare’s rums this is beautifully balanced. The blending at Foursquare is for me up there with the very best, if not the best in the world today.

The rum slowly fades out with the dried fruit notes accompanied by lovely warming oak, vanilla and a slight kick of black pepper.

This will sell very quickly I’m sure. However, with 6,000 bottles available those that do want a bottle to drink – should be able to pick one up without too much of a problem. Especially those lucky enough to be in mainland Europe.

Quite what Brexit will mean for us in the UK – I’m not too sure. So I’m pleased I was given the chance to sample the first bottle which made it over here privately!

Another exceptional Foursquare.

John Watling's Single Barrel

John Watling’s Single Barrel
Bythefatrumpirate July 7, 2022July 7, 2022

John Watling’s Single Barrel. The John Watling Distillery is based at the Buena Vista Estate in downtown Nassau on the Island of New Providence, which is part of the Bahamas. Despite being called a distillery the estate does not actually distill the rum on site.

Despite calling themselves a distillery, they are honest about the fact they import rum from other Caribbean islands/countries. Ageing, filtering and blending the rums under the guidance of their Master Blenders Guillermo Garcia-Lay and Pepin Argamasilla.

The estate tours are very popular on the Cruise Ship circuit and you can visit the estate nearly every day of the year (aside from National Holidays).

John Watling’s Single Barrel is a 4 (or 6 depending on where you get your information from) year old 100% Pot Still rum. Each batch is drawn from a Single Barrel. It is not a release of just one barrel. Seemingly they have a number of barrels with similar characteristics. Which means that this particular rum has been in production since 2017. Much like Cruzan’s Single Barrel offering. This is bottle number 10005!

Although the company are happy to disclose they import rum from the Caribbean they do not disclose where the rum is from. So I do not have any details of what type of rum this actually is. The fact it is 100% Pot Still rum does cut down a number of options – where they always either blend with column distillate or simply do not have an operational Pot Still.

John Watling’s Single Barrel is bottled at 66.2% ABV. It is available on site and in selected outlets around the Bahamas. In 2019 they expanded into the US market with this bottling. A 750ml bottle will set you back around $120 in the US. John Watling was a British pirate commonly associated with the Bahamas. For more information you can visit the John Watling’s Distillery website here.

It is yet to make it into the UK or European market. None of the John Watling’s expressions are available. So your best bet for a bottle of this rum would be a trip to the US or the Bahamas.

Presentation wise the rum comes in an eye catching stubby style bottle. Presentation is modern and is sure to appeal to tourists even if their rum knowledge is very basic. They produce the kind of product which people will buy because it looks premium. It is sure to be brand which is brought back and gifted on a regular basis I’m sure.

So with little else to say about the rum lets move on to the fun part………

Colourwise we have a copper coloured liquid with an orange hue.

On the nose I am hit immediately by notes of milky English Breakfast Tea, toffee, pecans and some buttery toast.

Further nosing reveals banana, coconut and a note of pear drops and varnish. You can tell this has been bottled at a high ABV at the rum has a certain amount of aggression.

Those familiar with my reviews might not be surprised to learn that this a rum sourced from Worthy Park (I haven’t had this 100% confirmed but they have told me they sold some rum to John Watling’s a few years back). I’m pretty confident this is Worthy Park juice.

Sipping is a more “malty” experience with some more savoury note mixing in with the Breakfast Tea, Toffee and Banana. It’s quite spicy especially on the entry and you do feel the full affect of the 66.2% ABV.

It certainly tastes quite boozy and you get a very substantial hit of alcohol which carries on into the mid palate. I’d say the 4-6 year age noted online is likely to be quite correct. I wouldn’t guess it to be much older. It does have a youthfulness to it.

On the mid palate the spices grow and you get some nice oaked notes and some slightly roasted and smoky notes. Plenty influence from the barrel comes through at this stage. It’s rich and warming and certainly a few sips in the alcohol dissipates a little and I’m enjoying this a lot more. It maybe needs more time in the glass to settle. I’m and impatient man……..

Finish wise it’s a good length with more smoky notes and a touch of pipe tobacco, warming oak and a nice hit again of stewed Breakfast Tea and burnt banana. The finish is long and slightly heated.

With this being at an ABV of 66.2% there is certainly room to add a spoon or two of water. I found this less aggressive at around the 55% ABV mark by adding a drop or two of water and checking the ABV with my Hydrometer. Another plus point for this rum is it is unaltered, no colouring or additives.

All in all John Watling’s are probably losing out not noting this is a Worthy Park rum (they maybe can’t) as it would certainly spark more interest in it. Sadly the market is limited to the Bahamas and parts of the US.

A very solid offering though and a quite daring ABV. It’s a good example of Worthy Park but I think you can get better from their own bottlings.

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Read More John Watling’s Single Barrel
Mount Gay Extra Old Reserve Cask Rum

Mount Gay Extra Old Reserve Cask Rum
Bythefatrumpirate January 23, 2015July 13, 2015

Mount Gay Extra Old or XO as they seem to have re-branded it. For those in the know Mount Gay Extra Old is often known as MGXO. The XO notation on the Mount Gay is pretty standard across the rum and spirits industry to denote an aged spirit (without actually noting how old it is!).

As the Mount Gay Distillery is the oldest official distillery in the world established 1703 as the label denotes, I don’t think we need to worry too much about the heritage and authenticity of the contents of this Extra Old rum.

The more established distilleries use labels such as XO because they cannot guarantee the exact blend of rum’s which will be used in every batch of rum produced. Each cask will be different and the skill in making rum “uniform” comes in the shape of the master blender.

The master blender at Mount Gay is in the shape of Allen Smith who has been with the distillery over 20 years. Again this adds a guarantee as to what you will get in the glass.

Mount Gay have recently re-branded their bottles and introduced a few new lines in the shape of Black Barrel and a few limited edition cask finish editions have also appeared.

The new presentation of the Mount Gay Extra Old Cask Reserve Rum is in keeping with the Eclipse (Mount Gay’s entry level offerings). The bottle is slightly shorter and rounder. It also has a very nice cork stopper. Like the Eclipse the MGXO has Mount Gay Distilleries etched into the glass of the bottle, as pictured.

I like the presentation of the MGXO and I also like the robust card sleeve which the rum is housed in. It isn’t cheap and flimsy and gives some nice information regarding the heritage of MGXO. Things like cork stoppers and cardboard sleeves may seem slightly superfluous but sometimes they can be very important when deciding which rum to take to the counter and buy.

Another nice touch regarding the MGXO is the product of Barbados seal on the lid of the cork. It’s very nice and like the green Guarantia labels on Havana Club adds a little extra bit of authenticity to proceedings.

MGXO is very highly regarded amongst the rum fraternity yet is often overlooked by rum snobs and the new breed of rum drinkers who have been influenced by “Premium” and “Super Premium” rums. MGXO is available for around £35-40 in the UK for a 70cl bottle and it is 43% ABV (slightly higher than most but not uncommon amongst the longer aged Bajan rums).

As mentioned earlier the rum does not have an age statement. The website states it is a blend of rums aged between 8 and 15 years. I personally have no problem with this. It has been suggested the quality of this rum has diminished over the years due to the competitive nature of the rum market and the aggressive advertisting used by Diageo and the huge tax subsidies afforded to the likes of Diageo. Nevertheless at the £35-40 price point I do not feel I am being conned. Age wise this is still a decent rum for your money.

So on with the tasting. I have deliberately been trying Jamaican and Bajan rums recently. Before publishing reviews on staples such as Appleton Reserve (8 Year Old) and R L Seale’s 10 Year Old I felt I had to have a good feel for those kind of rum’s. I also enjoyed revisiting a few (Appleton VX). In light of my impressions with this rum I have also decided to revist Mount Gay Eclipse. I have found in time that a few of my initial impression on rum have changed.

In the glass the rum exhibits itself to be a lot lighter than in the bottle. However it still shows to be a lot darker than the Eclipse. It is a nice dark reddish brown colour. Nicely aged.

The nose is very fruity. Raisin, prunes and currants with a little banana and some tropical fruits a little pineapple perhaps. There is good evidence of ageing on the nose with nice woody notes. There is still a very spirit like smell present but it is nothing in comparison to the Eclipse.

As part of the nosing (and tasting process) I also tried the R L Seale’s and Captain Bligh XO. Of the three rums I found Mount Gay to be in the middle in terms of fruit aroma’s. It was also in the middle in terms of oaked notes. Captain Bligh has a slightly more fruity sherried approach (much like Doorly’s XO). R L Seale’s more complex and woody to the nose with fruit only intermittently coming through.

Tastewise I found the Mount Gay to be very nice and quite easy going despite the 43% ABV. Whilst an ice cube wasn’t necessary due to the smoothness of the spirit I found it opened it up a little. I also found leaving the rum on the radiator for a short while enhanced it (especially on a freezing English winter afternoon). The rum does have a slightly sherried taste with strong fruit flavours. It is spicy especially on the finish and a little bit short. It’s not quite as dry or oaky as R L Seale’s but it is close in terms of overall profile.

I’ve found it really difficult splitting R L Seale’s, MGXO and Captain Bligh XO. In terms of presentation it is a two horse race between Seale’s odd ball offering and Mount Gay’s more contemporary approach. However, I don’t really give marks to the presentation (it might overall influence things subconsciously). In terms of taste I found MGXO to be slightly more to my taste’s than R L Seale’s. The difference however wasn’t enough for an extra mark or half mark!

In terms of my taste test I probably should have brought Cockspur 12 or even Doorly’s XO or Rum Sixty Six into the proceedings. Thing is these Bajan rum’s due to the fact they cannot be altered are quite similar. Much like the Jamaican and Demerara rum’s you get a very definite feel about these Bajan style rum’s. In all honesty in a blind taste test I would probably struggle to guess them apart.

MGXO is smooth, complex rum which is definitely best enjoyed without cola (if you want a Bajan mixer Cockspur Fine Rum has no equal). It is without doubt an excellent rum which anyone who is serious about rum should seek out.

However, in my scoring I found personally found a little extra something in the Captain Bligh XO (not even a Bajan but very similar in style). Still MGXO come’s very highly recommended. It is a beautiful well balanced classic rum.

A must try

This rum is available from

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Habitation Velier Hampden 2010 HLCF

Habitation Velier Hampden 2010 HLCF
Bythefatrumpirate July 24, 2017

Habitation Velier have bottled a Pure Single Rum from the Hampden Estate in Jamaica. In actual fact they’ve now actually bottled three different expressions from the Hampden Estate. I’m a little behind the times I’m afraid.

Released in 2016 this particular release is now particularly difficult to find. It comes in the increasingly familiar Habitation Velier presentation box. Which shows a drawing of each still the rum was distilled on. It is also chock a block with detailed information on what the rum actually is. No fairy stories here just cold hard facts.

Hampden HLCF retailed at around the £70-80 mark here in the UK for a 70cl bottle. The rum was bottled at Cask strength – 68.5% ABV. I’m not totally sure what the HLCF actually stands for but I do have the following information to share.

Hampden HLCF identifies that the spirit has an ester count of between 550 one of the highest in Hampden’s rum. Esters contribute a lot to a rums aroma and flavour. A typical Jamaican rum Wray and Nephew Overproof for example has a ester count of between 100-200.

The rum has been aged for six years from 2010 to 2016. It is 100% Pot Still distillate. It is also the first Cask Strength bottling to be released by Hampden (in partnership with Velier). The rum has been also been entirely aged at Hampden Estate. It has an Angels Share of 40%. Also re-assuringly on the bottle we are advised the rum is “Sugar Free” meaning on additional sugar has been added to the rum.

This rum sold out fairly quickly once it got a score of 91 from Serge at WhiskyFun. Having tried this rum I am not at al surprised it suited Serge’s palate. Anyway enough of other peoples opinions…lets see how I found this Jamaican rum.

In the glass the Hampden HLCF is a golden brown colour – an almost classic “young-ish” rum colour if you like. It has a very slight “murkiness” to it.

The nose is undoubtedly Jamaican and unrefutably Hampden. Hampden Gold turned up to eleven. The ABV (almost 70%) is big so you would expect a lot of alcohol – boozy the nose is definitely all the way there.

But there is no mistaking the distinct aromas which eminate from this Pot Still Jamaican rum. They are huge. Funkier than George Clinton. It has everything you might expect – black bananas, pineapple, stewed fruits, juicy raisins and some really sweet almost minty refreshing notes. I might well have mistaken this for a Long Pond.

It is intense. Think Foursquare 2013 compared to Rum Sixty Six. Yes it is that much different to Hampden Gold or even say Appleton Signature-V/X.

This is the highest ester filled rum Hampden have ever bottled. It is as Velier have noted a “world premiere”.

Sipped even at full strength it is without doubt one of the most flavourful spirits you will likely ever encounter. Whilst the alcohol burn is high at full strength you can still taste enough of the spirit to know this is something quite awesome and ground breaking.

Dialling it down with a little water is called for unless you want to take very tiny and infrequent sips. This is so good and I’m so greedy that just wasn’t going to happen.

All the flavours promised on the nose come shining through onto the inital entry. The rum is very intense, very “heavy” but also sweet. This is what you get from Tropical ageing. A more intense, more dense and more flavourful spirit.

It is bursting with sweet fruits, heavy notes of tangy bourbon ageing and despite being only 6 years old – it has the most mellow of finishes. Its almost as if you get all the burn up front along with the intense flavour bomb, so by the time it comes to the finish your taste buds have taken in so much they just want to fall asleep and nod off. They just want to enjoy that fuzzy, warming mouthfeel of the lemon zests and the tangy freshness of the sweet herbal/grassy notes. Which never seems to leave your mouth. The finish is super long.

These Habiation Velier releases are firmly aimed at the rum geek or aficionado. If you think Zacapa and DRE are the bench marks of truly great rum this Hampdden will offend you in the extreme.

Yorkie chocolate bars in the UK were once marketed with the slogan “not for girls” – I wouldn’t be quite so offensive and say women won’t enjoy this rum. However your more casual or sweetened rum drinker will struggle with a rum such as this.

At times the Habiation Velier releases have been more educational than actually enjoyable. The unaged Port Mourant wasn’t the greatest rum I’ve ever had and the WP 502 was no real extension on the distilleries own Rum Bar Overproof.

However, it would be stupid to complain about such rums being made available. It seems that Luca Gargano is convincing producers such as Richard Seale to release rum so far out of their usual comfort zone, it is almost akin to him being forced to add sugar.

Funkier than George Clinton.

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Kill Devil Barbados 9 Year Old

Kill Devil Barbados 9 Year Old
Bythefatrumpirate November 7, 2016

Another rum from the Kill Devil Single Cask range. This time hailing from Barbados. This bottling is identified as being from the Foursquare Distillery.

Due to a surge in releases and activity over the past 12-18 months. We have featured a number of Foursquares releases. It is likely that their key releases would have been reviewed as a matter of course, even if they weren’t as good as they are. Had I not enjoyed them as much as I did it is unlikely we would have featured as many Independent bottlings. Please note there are more to come as well.

Distilled in June 2007 this is a 9 year old rum. I don’t have a great deal of information on the actual makeup of the rum. I don’t know if it is a single cask rum, in that it is a blend of rums married together in one cask or if it is truly just a single run from a pot or column still. I’d guess (before tasting) that it is a blend.

There is a total of 374 bottles of this available and it retails at under £50. As is the standard for the Gold and Black labelled Kill Devil rums, it has a very drinkable ABV of 46%. This rum has not been matured for 9 years in Barbados. Hunter Laing buy their rums from a broker here in the UK. I’d guess this rum probably spent around 3-4 years in the tropics. Again this is just guesswork from past experiences and questions I’ve asked people in the know.

My first thoughts on this rum is how it will compare to another 9 Year Old Bajan rum – Foursquare’s owen Port Cask finish. From what I can gather this has been aged only in a Bourbon cask. It may be more in keeping with Doorly’s 5 or 8 neither of which have a port or sherry type finish.

In the glass the rum is a straw to golden brown colour. I don’t think that caramel colouring has been added to this rum. It is quite light for a 9 year old rum.

The nose on the rum has nice balance to it – as I expected. The usual notes of vanilla and sweet/sour mash bourbon like oaky notes. What is a surprise is the strong smell of varnish – which really does make the nose tingle a little. I quite like the extra bit of oomph it seems to deliver to the nosing experience.

Sipping this 9 Year Old Bajan is also a bit of a surprise. I don’t think its entirely down to the extra ABV but it does seem to be a bit more menacing than a lot of Bajan rums.

It is very spicy. Even if it wasn’t tropically aged for long it has definitely taken on quite a lot of the oak from the barrel. You get a lot of spice and quite a lot of heat. I wouldn’t say it was a particularly young or immature rum but it is a lot spicer than similarly aged Foursquare’s I have tried. Could it be all or mostly Pot Still rum?

It has a nice spicy heat to it – Black Pepper and perhaps even a little Chilli. A little savoury and very woody. I’m noticing more savoury aspects of European aged bottlings lately. Whilst tropical ageing accelerates maturity, European ageing also brings its own distinctive character to many rums.

In the bigger picture of Foursquare rums both commercial and independent offerings this isn’t quite up with the elite bottlings. It is interesting though and will offer you more of a variety in flavour than you perhaps would get from, say the progression from Doorly’s 5 to the 8 Year Old.

Balance wise it is arguably just a bit to oaky and a touch to spicy. Maybe another couple of years would have seen it mature better? Or maybe it was left too long to start with?

It reminds me of Captain Bligh’s XO but I don’t think it is as good. I’m giving it the lowest score I’ve ever given a Foursquare rum. It is the “worst” of their rums I have had.

In the overall scheme of things its still far from being a bad rum though. It’s good/very good just perhaps a little below the usual high standards set.

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Read More Kill Devil Barbados 9 Year Old
Rum Chata - Liqueur with Rum

Rum Chata – Liqueur with Rum
Bythefatrumpirate December 16, 2015

Rum Chata is a product new to the UK market in 2015. It is noted in other territories as “Horchata con Ron”. For those not familiar with the term, “Horchata” is in this particular instance a rice, milk or cream based drink with vanilla and Cinnamon flavourings common in Mexico.

In different cultures and different countries it can mean a whole host of different things the Wikipedia page probably explains things best should you wish to learn more. US band Vampire Weekend have a song entitled “Horchata” on their album Contra. This has led to delays with this review as every time I see the Rum Chata bottle I start humming the song and its the kind of song that really sticks in your head……..I won’t leave a link.

Anyway, enough of my natterings. With Christmas fast approaching and a review of Lord Nelson’s Spiced Rum Liqueur recently completed I felt it the right time to review Rum Chata.

In the UK the popularity of Bailey’s as a Christmas gift and drink is not to be underestimated and no doubt those with a love of rum probably feel they might like to try a Rum Based Liqueur over the festive season.

Rum Chata is currently available in Walmart owned ASDA supermarkets throughout the UK. Retailing at around £10-15 per 50cl bottle. The ABV of this Rum Cream/Liqueur is 15%. You would probably be hard pushed getting too drunk on a bottle. It is distributed by Whyte and Mackay under license from Agava Loco LLC. I can find little information on what the rum in the blend actually is – other than its 5 times distilled – yipee woo! You can find some reviews of Rum Chata online – from other sources. I’ll say no more other than I paid good money for my bottle.

This liqueur is the brainchild of former Jim Beam Executive Tom Maas who after his retirement decided to try and market a liqueur at the Latin American segment of the US market.

The presentation is simple and clean with a slightly tacky plastic “gold” screw cap. It has a strong brand identity and the bottle offers a real insight into what is contained within…….

This Rum Liqueur looks like milk – there’s no other way to describe it. It’s a dazzling white colour has no hints of any off white notes or any of the spices contained within this drink.

The nose is super sweet with heavy notes of refined white sugar and a hit of Cinnamon. There is a faint nose of Vanilla but not much.

The taste is cloyingly sweet – huge amounts of white sugar dominate with almost medicinal notes of Cinnamon. And to be fair not much else. Rum wise this so sweet and cloying it could be made with wine or anything really there is no rum taste. How authentic this is for me is summed up on the back label – it can be kept opened and unrefrigerated for up to 6 months.

This is pretty nasty cheap synthetic muck which is best avoided. Just buy some cheap Whisky liqueur for half the price and add your own rum!

I accept that other reviews of this product are much more positive. Cinnamon isn’t my favourite taste flavour in the world but even that aside this promises liqueur with Rum and I can taste no rum – just Cinnamon flavoured condensed milk and that’s not really what I look for as a rum lover.

This review is fairly short but there is little really to say about this. There are better Rum Creams and liqueurs available.

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Read More Rum Chata – Liqueur with Rum
The Colours of Rum Jamaica 1994

The Colours of Rum Jamaica 1994
Bythefatrumpirate June 13, 2021

The Colours of Rum Jamaica 1994. This is a new independent bottler, which is part of the Polish Wealth Solutions group, who invest and offer advise on trading in rare and hard to find spirits.

This bottling is the groups first offering from Jamaica. They have also have rums from Trinidad, Barbados and Guyana. So all the “English Style” big hitters are present in their line up.

The Colours of Rum come in opaque “Velier Style” bottles and have striking and uncluttered presentation in primary colours. The yellow and gold on this bottling makes it difficult to photograph but it looks much clearer in real life. A 70cl bottle will set you back €338. It’s not cheap but it is over 25 years old – so you’re not going to get many chances to buy this kind of product. The Colours of rum have their own website you can order from. There are still a few bottles available at present.

Adding to its rarity is the fact it comes out of the New Yarmouth Distillery rather than say Hampden or Worthy Park, of which there is a lot of independently bottled rum available.

The Colours of Rum Jamaica 1994 was distilled in November 1994. It spent 25 years ageing in the Tropics (the website doesn’t specify Jamaica) in ex-American oak cask. I’m pretty sure what they are meaning to say is ex-bourbon cask as I don’t think wood can change its nationality……..

The rum was aged further in Europe until it was bottled in April 2021. Making it over 26 years old in total. It is a single cask rum, which yielded 256 bottles. The rum has been bottled at 68.7% ABV.

The Colours of Rum have so far bottled 15 casks – 12 of which are from Foursquare Distillery. They have bottled one cask from Trinidad, Jamaica and Guyana to complete the set.

I’ve reviewed a few New Yarmouth rums in the past but nothing as old as this particular offering. New Yarmouth offer a very “funky” take on rum even by Jamaican standards and I have very much enjoyed what I have tastes so far from the distillery. So I’ve got high hopes for this one.

I don’t have much else of any note to add regarding this rum so I may as well get my chops around this one. After all it is Sunday Afternoon so why not?

In the glass we are presented with a very nice dark/golden brown coloured rum. Very much the colour you expect when drinking “brown spirits”. There’s a reddish/orange hue running through hit – it looks fresh and vibrant.

The nose is certainly not what I was expecting. I was expecting a funky mix of nail varnish and floor polish with a bit of pineapple thrown in. As I’ve experienced in the past with New Yarmouth.

Instead I’m getting a very soft vanilla led nose which as a lot of baking spices, shortbread, icing sugar and light caramel. I was expecting it to be a little woody and musty due to the time its spent in the barrel but its really very vibrant and doesn’t smell in anyway “old” and past its best.

At 68.7% ABV its strong rum by anyone’s standards (well anyone sane anyway) and whilst further nosing does reveal more wood and some peppery/chilli like heat its not at all overpowering.

I’ll be honest with you the nose smells more like Barbados rum than a Jamaican rum.

Sipped – I’m getting more of the Jamaican character now. There is strong drying astringency on the initial sip of black bananas and slightly sour Pineapple juice. The rum has a nice mouthfeel but it is pretty dry and the rum does very quickly begin to coat the taste buds and leave a very noticeable tang on the palate.

A few sips in and you begin to get a note of varnish and shoe polish. Some burnt rubber and just a touch of diesel oil. This is balanced by a lovely intergrating of oak spices and the warming vanilla notes continue on from the nose right through to the finish on this rum.

You get the feeling the time in the cask has mellowed some of the rough edges of this rum. You might expect 25 years in the Tropics might produce an over-oaked spirit. However, the cask management of this spirit must have been really good. As it is a very fresh and vibrant tasting rum, despite so long in wood.

The mid palate evolves with more complex flavours arriving and making this rum a real experience to savour. Some Olives and Lychees come into play alongside the toffee and vanilla. The funkiness on this is there but its quite low key. In some ways it reminds me of Appleton 12 and 21. It’s not quite as woody as those rums but it definitely shares some of the softness I find with those rums. Even at 68.7% ABV this is quite an easy going sipper.

The finish is a little dry and fades out quite quickly but its still very pleasant and the

It certainly isn’t what I was expecting. I was expecting something similar to the previous New Yarmouth rums I have had, akin to something from Long Pond.

I’m not disappointed though – this is a very good rum and certainly if you are looking for something a bit different – could be worth seeking out.

The Colours of Rum Jamaica 1994 isn’t cheap but then again 25 years plus ageing the Tropics doesn’t come along all that often. I dare say they’ll have paid a pretty penny for the cask as well!

A really good start from this bottler.

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