Habitation Velier Foursquare 2015 White Pure Single Rum. This is quite a rare rum and difficult to come by. I was fortunate enough to be gifted a sample from Steve at Rum Diaries Blog, who even more fortunate to gifted a partially drank bottle at London Rumfest a couple of years ago. At the time the rum was not commercially available.
It is my understanding (and please correct me if I am wrong) that when this was finally released earlier this year, with only 400 bottles were made available in Europe.
This Rum was produced using molasses from Barbados and distilled at Foursquare on their twin retort pot still. This is your only chance to currently get to try such a lightly aged (4 months in ex-cognac barrels) 100% pot distillate from Foursquare. It has been bottled at an ABV of 59%.
I have written so many reviews of Foursquare products and Habitation Velier that I am going to keep this review fairly brief.
In the glass the rum is a very faint straw/white wine colour – white wine and soda perhaps minus the bubbles.
The nose is full of Vanilla Ice Cream and Bananas. Toffee and Caramel Sauce layered over it. A further nose detects a bit of “menace” – the 59% ABV spirit is definitely still here. Much like the 2013 this is sweet but it sends out warning signals to you.
Further nosing reveals a hint of coconut some strawberries complete with stalks and a slight grassiness. Creme caramel and some sweet shortcrust pastry maybe even Cake Mix.
It also has a alcohol led sweetness which reminds me of the 2013 – I can’t quite put my finger on it but its there.
Sipping reveals a very potent but very flavourful spirit. It’s quite spicy and heated with a lot of ginger and chilli powder on the palate. Further sips see the toffee and caramel return along with the strong alcohol burn to give more balance.
It has an almost red wine like sweetness – maybe even Port like in many ways. Whether it is a sipper will be down to the individual. I diluted it a little but felt I lost some of the essence and point of this rum.
So I doused it with a bit cola…………
It worked surprisingly well and I got even more out of the rum than when I sipped it. More of the Pot Still muscle and whilst I joke I doused it – I really just added a splash of cola. Which worked really well and gave me a nice glass of rum and coke. Potent though, so go careful!
This is a really tasty full flavoured rum. It won’t appeal to everyone. It is quite aggressive but it does have a real sweetness to it which works well. It’s intense but it’s not too much.
Having said that – it won’t be for everyone. Be careful what you are buying. Don’t just buy these Habitation Velier bottlings because you’ve heard the buzz about them. Do your homework. Some of these bottlings only really appeal to the 1% of the rum population that have went way off piste in their search of new and exciting rums. People who have tried every bottle in the supermarket, in local stores and hundreds online.
Proper nutcases.
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Alexander Beskin
November 20, 2018 at 9:55 am
Hi,
I was very impressed by your description of this rum and decided to try it. However, then I came across someone else’s review of the same rum (https://rumdiariesblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/04/habitation-velier-foursquare-2015-pure-single-rum/). It is hard to believe that you describe the same product:
Nose
You: Vanilla ice cream, bananas, toffee and caramel sauce, coconut, strawberries, creme caramel
Rumdiaries: Acetone, brine, salty black olives, smoke
Palate:
You: Ginger, chilli powder, toffee and caramel, red wine or Port-like sweetness
Rumdiaries: Black olives, salty brine, salty liquorice, oily citrus
Of course I understand that you are not responsible for someone else’s impressions, but could you comment on this glaring discrepancy?
Thank you
thefatrumpirate
November 20, 2018 at 10:07 am
Crikey now there is a question and thanks for the analysis! It is the same product though as my sample was from Steven who is a good friend of mine. I often read tasting notes that I don’t get myself. I don’t know how we found it so different – I didn’t re-read his review prior to writing mine. Maybe such intense rums are more difficult to judge than say more standard “familiar” 40% offerings. How did you find it?
Alexander Beskin
November 20, 2018 at 12:07 pm
Thank you for your reply!
I haven’t tried the rum myself yet. I wanted to after reading your review (it is available in small samples on excellencerhum), but Steven’s review scared me off, because I don’t like that kind of profile. Frankly, his description fits what I would expect from an almost unaged pot-still rum much better. I guess I’ll have to try it myself after all.