The Duchess Beenleigh Artisan Distillery Australia 13 Years Old. It’s good to see independent bottlers releasing rums from distilleries/locations that have perhaps not had the attention from Independent brokers they perhaps deserve.
It’s good to see producers such as the Netherlands The Duchess reaching out and trying different rums. Rather than just going with the tried and tested Shelf Friendly Unit Shifters from the likes of Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad (Caroni).
The Duchess Ten Cane Distillery Trinidad Aged 11 Years. Yet another rum from Dutch Independent Bottler The Duchess this time from a Trinidad distillery that I didn’t even realise existed!
To be fair to me by the time I got into rum in the early part of the 2010’s Ten Cane was fading out. Production of any rum produced under the Ten Cane banner ceased in 2015. It was a short lived thing being introduced in 2005. I actually have some of the original Ten Cane rum to review. So I will save the Ten Cane “story” for that review. I should still have enough to talk about with this release from The Duchess.
The Duchess Guyana Rum Aged 20 Years Armagnac Finish. This is the final rum in the “Flower” series featuring the artwork of Hans Dillesse, a Dutch artist. The Duchess are an independent bottler from the Netherlands, who began bottling rums in 2018.
The brand are gaining quite a following and this is their latest Single Cask release. If you are in the UK then their rums can be found here. The Duchess Guyana Rum Aged 20 Years Armagnac Finish is a rum from Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL). This particular rum was distilled on the Wooden Coffey Enmore Still. It was distilled in 1998 and bottled in 2019. It has spent 8 years in an ex-Armagnac cask in Europe. I am unsure how much of the its prior 12 years were spent in the Tropics/Europe.
The Duchess are a recent addition to the numerous independent bottlers of rum here in Europe. Hailing from the Netherlands they are fronted up by Nils Van Rijn.
Should you wish to learn more about The Duchess ethos and Nils’ views on rum and spirits in general then please read the following interview here.
The Duchess Rum Guadeloupe Aged 19 Years. Hailing from the Netherlands The Duchess are gaining a bit of a reputation amongst Rum Enthusiasts for their bottlings.
I was recently fortunate enough to interview Nils Van Rijn about The Duchess and the rum world in general. I wanted to interview Nils because I had sampled some of his rums and (without wanting to pre-empt this review) been very impressed.
An Interview with Nils Van Rijn The Duchess Independent Bottler
Over the past year or so a new Independent Rum Bottler has come to many Rum Enthusiasts attention. The bottler, The Duchess have made great waves with their attention to detail, both in terms of the design and presentation of their rums but more importantly due to the high standard of their offerings.
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The Duchess Barbados 19 Year Old Rum. We have another bottling in the The Duchess “Hummingbird” series for review today. This bottling is noted as being “Distilled at Barbados Oldest” on the front label. Which as many a rum enthusiast means Mount Gay Rum Distillery, Bridgetown, Barbados.