Rum Coruba or Coruba Rum depending on which bottlings you are looking at, are a Jamaican rum brand. Rum Coruba 18 Years Old hails from the Appleton Estate.

Information on the brand, though reasonably plentiful is often contradictory and as a result quite unreliable.  If during the course of this review I do get anything wrong please let me know. I have tried to use the most reliable looking information I could trace. At times it is as if there are two different brands with the same name.

First up Coruba Rum which produce the very recognisable (at least to those in the US) Coruba Dark Rum.  A rum I have been seeking for a long time.  It appears to be a Myers’s alternative.  This division of Coruba Rum also produce their white and the Overproof 74% Coruba rum.  They are all labelled in an almost cartoony comic book way.  A million miles away from the sophisticated decanter style bottlings used by the older Coruba rums.  This low end range of rums are owned by Gruppo Campari US. On their website they show no details regarding the older Coruba rums.

The younger style rums by Coruba are also seemingly very popular in New Zealand. Where they would have us believe they are the leading brand.  I’m not familiar with the New Zealand rum scene so this may well be the case! However it doesn’t seem like these older expressions get much love.  I’ve only seen reviews of Coruba rums at The Lone Caner.

Lance mentions that Coruba Rum is made at Appleton Estate and is bottled for a Swiss concern. The imaginatively titled “The Rum Company” no less.  It is then exported mainly to New Zealand, Europe and parts of Canada.  Quite a strange choice of destinations.

Lance also alludes to the fact that the rum contained in his 12 year old bottle may be column distilled rather than pot distilled.  If that is the case I wonder what is in the 18 year old? Maybe all Appleton sell to the Swiss is cheap column distilled rum? Jamaican rum with holes in it…….

These Coruba rums have been a curiosity of mine for some time.  I tried and wasn’t to enthused by the Overproof 74% many,many years ago.  Still for some reason I often found myself drawn to trying the older Coruba rums.

Presentation wise the 70cl bottle is quite an intricate decanter style bottle with a nice chunky glass topped cork stopper.  The label is maybe a little dated, a touch too ornate but it certainly makes the rum look pretty flashy.  A bottle retails at around the £70 mark in the UK. Which is reasonably competitive, when you factor Appleton 12 £35 and Appleton 21 is around £120. Agewise anyway.

The label denotes it has been distilled and blended in Jamaica, so maybe some Pot distillate is in their after all.  The rum comes in at a slightly underwhelming 40% ABV. I’m not really that big on high ABV rum in general but I have found a bit more bite when rum is bottled at 43-46% ABV.

Anyway, after all that blathering (and not a great deal of information) lets move onto the rum in the glass.

A reddish dark brown hue presents itself.  The nose is actually quite salty – briny almost with a big hit of green olives.  Very reminiscent of a Saint Lucia rum.  Vaguely Worthy Park-esque but definitely more SLD.

Sipped this a very strange Jamaican rum – much like the nose its salty, briny and full of olives.  Tar and a hint of tobacco alongside quite an oaky profile.

I was unsure what to expect of this brand and its left me as puzzled as I was before trying it! It’s got some Jamaican elements – at times it reminds me of Appleton 21 and a little of Rum Bar Gold from Worthy Park.  If it tried this blind though I would assume it was from Saint Lucia Distillers.

Which isn’t a bad thing and this isn’t a bad rum.  It’s actually a pretty tasty and fairly complex sipper.  There is a bit of a mecidinal Hampden like note but its not as strong or cough mixture like to dominate.  It makes its presence felt but never quite delivers its full array of flavour.

The more you sip the more apparent the oak becomes – almost too dominant for me.  It’s perhaps a touch over oaked.

Coruba 18 has a lot going on but it feels like its slightly had its heels clipped, so its only about 75% of the way there.  It’s quite nice but I could list a load of Jamaican rums and if you like the oily brine Saint Lucian rums which do what they do much better.

A confusing rum which needs a clearer identity.  Good but odd. I wouldn’t refuse a glass but I wouldn’t look to hard to find another.