Kill Devil Barbados Aged 14 Years
Kill Devil Barbados Aged 14 Years. Another Kill Devil rum from Hunter Laing and another Single Blended rum from the Foursquare Distillery, Barbados.
As with all the Kill Devil rums (aside from a couple of blends) this is a single cask rum. Kill Devil have coloured coded their rums. All the rums in the range come in the familiar black cylinder and opaque bottle. However those issued at Cask Strength have a black and purple/pink colour scheme. Those that are diluted to 46% ABV maintain the black and gold colour scheme.
As already mentioned this single cask rum was distilled at the famous Foursquare distillery in Barbados, home to many high-quality brands. Foursquare are growing an incredible reputation for producing some of the best rums on the market with their Exceptional Cask Series and bottlings such as Fousquare 2006, Triptych and Principia.
Distilled in August 2001 and aged for 14 years in a single cask, this is limited to 353 bottles. It is a blend of Pot and Column distilled rum. The exact make up of I am unsure of. When it was available (you will find bottles on Whisky Auction sites) it would have set you back around £50. It was released back in 2016. To be honest the delay has occurred with me forgetting about a box of samples I had put away.
Kill Devil Barbados Aged 14 Years is straw coloured in the glass. This suggests mostly continental ageing in Europe. The nose is welcoming – nice oak and spice notes mingle alongside some banana and coconut. A touch of lime zest on the nose and a pinch of nutmeg. It is typical Foursquare in that it has a wonderful balance and the intergration of each note is so well done it is almost as if it is planned with military precision to turn out like this.
Sipped you can tell it is aged in Europe despite its relatively “old” age. It’s quite spicy and a little heated. Notes of ginger and all spice on the palate especially on the entry. It is not as “smooth” as other rums of similar age which have had the benefit of tropical ageing. It reminds me a little of Foursquare 2004 ECS in its spiciness and bourbon-esque zesty qualitites. At 46% ABV though its fairly easy going and reltively well balanced. The coconut comes through unfortunately a lot of the banana is left behind. You do get quite a lot of oak though particularly on the finish.
There is a touch of a medicinal herbal note as the sip progresses into caramel and brown sugar, with notes ot toffee.
Its easy to sip and goes down very nicely. The finish is a reasonable length though nothing exceptional. It has a nice woodiness to it and a touch of zest and just the tiniest note of turmeric makes a little appearance.
Another great offering from both Kill Devil and Foursquare. Due to sheer volume of Independent bottlings of Foursquare rum coupled with the amount of official releases coming out of the distillery I wouldn’t break the bank to get this on the secondary market. Unless of course you are some kind of rabid Foursquare collector. It’s very good, of course but I personally wouldn’t pay more than £60 for a bottle if I saw one for sale. There are simply so many other options out there and in all honesty you’ll never try every cask of Foursquare rum even if you set out to try and do so.
Offerings from Foursquare Distillery this year have been a little like buses. You wait ages then two come along at once!
Tasting the rum reveals more of the oak. An initial hit of sweetness, brown sugar and a little spicy pepper is overtaken by dry oaked flavour and a nice spiced heat.
Duncan Taylor are primarily an Independent Scotch Whisky bottler, whom like Wm Cadenhead also dip their toes in the rum market.
Cambeba Cachaca Organica 10 Year Old. Upon attending the Cachaca festival earlier this year, I was advised by some of the experts there, to try anything that looks like it’s been put in a beer bottle. This seemed quite a bizarre suggestion.
aked. There is a really good balance overall with this cachaça.
Bedford Park Caroni 1998. This rum is actually labelled as Bedford Park Single Barrel Trinidad Rum. I usually go with the detail on the bottle label when “naming” my reviews.
warming overall.
Distillerie de Paris Rhum Galabe 97. This is the first distillery to open in Paris for over 100 years. The distillery is ran by the Julhes Brothers, Sebastien and Nicolas. The distillery produces Gin, Vodka and this Rhum Galabe which I am reviewing for you today.
In 1884 Danish sailor Valdemar Hanschell created Cockspur rum in Barbados. The rum has been an integral part of island life ever since. Cockspur is distilled using, what at the time was considered a revolutionary continuous still, along with more traditional pot stills. Cockspur Fine Rum is the companies flagship brand. In most territories outside of Barabos it is to be found alongside their 12 year old rum (Cockspur 12/VSOR) and the companies more recent spiced variant (Cockspur Spiced). More information and background on the Cockspur brand is available at http://cockspurrum.com/home.
The rum is more commonly known as Cockpur 5 star. As you can see from the photo this is due to the 5 “World Cup” like stars above the Cockspur. It is both modern and classy at the same time. In terms of presentation, of a standard bar bottle this is pretty decent. The rear label gives some information regarding the rum’s heritage and origin. The only thing I will pick up the labelling on is how the rum can be enjoyed. That is something I will come to later in this review. If you find the brand familiar but cannot place it – you may well be a cricket fan. The rum has sponsored numerous cricketing events over the past few years.
extremely unlikely (and I have bought ALL the rum I have reviewed) that I would ever have bought or requested the Cockspur 12, if I had found Cockspur Fine Rum to be overall “okay” or “non-descript”.
