Another independent bottling from Kill Devil.  This time we are taking a trip to Trinidad.  This rum is one of the first releases by Kill Devil to be released at Cask Strength.

As the rum is bottled at Cask Strength the packaging has been tweaked slightly.  The lozenge label on the tube and on the bottle are red/purple in colour rather than gold as on the 46% ABV rums.

Hunter Laing who own Kill Devil could not say for definite which distillery this rum hails from.  As it was distilled in 2003 it could be from the Caroni Distillery but it equally could come from Angostura.  I should upon tasting the rum be able to determine if its a Caroni rum.  They are pretty distinctive.

As this rum has been bottled at Cask Strength 63.1% ABV it is even more limited in terms of bottle numbers.  Only 233 worldwide of this single cask expression.  A bottle will set you back around £75.  I’m trying to put the reviews on the site as quickly as I can but I’m noticing these are selling out quickly particularly in the UK.

On a personal note I think Hunter Laing have done a really good job with the release of the Kill Devil rums over the past year or so.  They’ve picked some great rums and whilst some have been quite pricey (you get what you pay for) some have been more than reasonably priced.

I’ve said before also that I like the Kill Devil presentation – once again you get a Velier style opaque bottle with a nice plastic topped real cork stopper. 

In the glass the rum is a reddish/golden brown.  It’s noticeably darker than Velier’s Caroni 12 though not as dark as the 15.  The nose is a surprise though. 

I’m pretty sure it isn’t a Caroni.  It has much more of a floral note to it.  It’s reminiscent of an Angostura rum.  It has that buttery, nutty and floral air.  Its quite a light nose and even at 63.1% it isn’t the biggest or most upfront nose I’ve ever experienced.  It has a reasonable boozy note but nothing OTT.  It’s quite sweet but not in a cloying sugar added sort of way.  There’s not a lot oak but there are signs of some nice if slightly gentle ageing.  It definitely hasn’t spent 13 years in the tropics.  Likely half that at the most.

Now it is entirely your decision how you choose to sip rums at Cask Strength.  Personally I also find them better with some water to bring down the ABV.  I think its harder to get much enjoyment from rums at 60 plus % ABV.  The alcohol simply masks most of the flavours and notes.  A drop or six of water certainly help you pick out more notes etc.  46% ABV is fine by me for sipping.

Sipped the Kill Devil Trinidad is quite sweet.  It’s quite difficult to describe the sweet profile.  It’s perhaps a little like a sweetener – its kind of sugary but you know its not the real thing.  This is similar the sweetness doesn’t seem to be a fruity sweetness or a sugary sweetness.  It’s just a little odd.

Once you get past the sweetness you get a hit of spice and oak.  There seems to have been a fair amount of interaction with the cask.  It’s quite zesty – lime and lemon peel a touch marmalade and a little sweet and sour note.

The rum has a nice length to it.  The finish is quite long and the rum remains on the palate long after you’ve swallowed.  It’s not an overbearing rum – its quite light and gently but it does have enough “rummyness” to make you feel you are having a decent eough dram.

The problem is it just isn’t really all that great.  It has quite a lot going for it but it just doesn’t have enough complexity of flavour to make it stand out.  It has a slight imbalance with the sweetness being just a bit too dominant and its not particularly interesting.

A little better than average.