The Colours of Rum Jamaica 1994. This is a new independent bottler, which is part of the Polish Wealth Solutions group, who invest and offer advise on trading in rare and hard to find spirits.

This bottling is the groups first offering from Jamaica. They have also have rums from Trinidad, Barbados and Guyana. So all the “English Style” big hitters are present in their line up.

The Colours of Rum come in opaque “Velier Style” bottles and have striking and uncluttered presentation in primary colours. The yellow and gold on this bottling makes it difficult to photograph but it looks much clearer in real life. A 70cl bottle will set you back €338. It’s not cheap but it is over 25 years old – so you’re not going to get many chances to buy this kind of product. The Colours of rum have their own website you can order from. There are still a few bottles available at present.

Adding to its rarity is the fact it comes out of the New Yarmouth Distillery rather than say Hampden or Worthy Park, of which there is a lot of independently bottled rum available.

The Colours of Rum Jamaica 1994 was distilled in November 1994. It spent 25 years ageing in the Tropics (the website doesn’t specify Jamaica) in ex-American oak cask. I’m pretty sure what they are meaning to say is ex-bourbon cask as I don’t think wood can change its nationality……..

The rum was aged further in Europe until it was bottled in April 2021. Making it over 26 years old in total. It is a single cask rum, which yielded 256 bottles. The rum has been bottled at 68.7% ABV.

The Colours of Rum have so far bottled 15 casks – 12 of which are from Foursquare Distillery. They have bottled one cask from Trinidad, Jamaica and Guyana to complete the set.

I’ve reviewed a few New Yarmouth rums in the past but nothing as old as this particular offering. New Yarmouth offer a very “funky” take on rum even by Jamaican standards and I have very much enjoyed what I have tastes so far from the distillery. So I’ve got high hopes for this one.

I don’t have much else of any note to add regarding this rum so I may as well get my chops around this one. After all it is Sunday Afternoon so why not?

In the glass we are presented with a very nice dark/golden brown coloured rum. Very much the colour you expect when drinking “brown spirits”. There’s a reddish/orange hue running through hit – it looks fresh and vibrant.

The nose is certainly not what I was expecting. I was expecting a funky mix of nail varnish and floor polish with a bit of pineapple thrown in. As I’ve experienced in the past with New Yarmouth.

Instead I’m getting a very soft vanilla led nose which as a lot of baking spices, shortbread, icing sugar and light caramel. I was expecting it to be a little woody and musty due to the time its spent in the barrel but its really very vibrant and doesn’t smell in anyway “old” and past its best.

At 68.7% ABV its strong rum by anyone’s standards (well anyone sane anyway) and whilst further nosing does reveal more wood and some peppery/chilli like heat its not at all overpowering.

I’ll be honest with you the nose smells more like Barbados rum than a Jamaican rum.

Sipped – I’m getting more of the Jamaican character now. There is strong drying astringency on the initial sip of black bananas and slightly sour Pineapple juice. The rum has a nice mouthfeel but it is pretty dry and the rum does very quickly begin to coat the taste buds and leave a very noticeable tang on the palate.

A few sips in and you begin to get a note of varnish and shoe polish. Some burnt rubber and just a touch of diesel oil. This is balanced by a lovely intergrating of oak spices and the warming vanilla notes continue on from the nose right through to the finish on this rum.

You get the feeling the time in the cask has mellowed some of the rough edges of this rum. You might expect 25 years in the Tropics might produce an over-oaked spirit. However, the cask management of this spirit must have been really good. As it is a very fresh and vibrant tasting rum, despite so long in wood.

The mid palate evolves with more complex flavours arriving and making this rum a real experience to savour. Some Olives and Lychees come into play alongside the toffee and vanilla. The funkiness on this is there but its quite low key. In some ways it reminds me of Appleton 12 and 21. It’s not quite as woody as those rums but it definitely shares some of the softness I find with those rums. Even at 68.7% ABV this is quite an easy going sipper.

The finish is a little dry and fades out quite quickly but its still very pleasant and the

It certainly isn’t what I was expecting. I was expecting something similar to the previous New Yarmouth rums I have had, akin to something from Long Pond.

I’m not disappointed though – this is a very good rum and certainly if you are looking for something a bit different – could be worth seeking out.

The Colours of Rum Jamaica 1994 isn’t cheap but then again 25 years plus ageing the Tropics doesn’t come along all that often. I dare say they’ll have paid a pretty penny for the cask as well!

A really good start from this bottler.