Battle Of The Rum Bottlers - Chapter 2

Welcome to the second chapter of the non scientific battle of the independent bottlers. The responses to chapter one were mostly interesting. A few people mentioned different brands that were missing (I wish I had them all in my collection), a Belgian Planteray fan suggested I should see a psychologist and an independent bottler reached out to say he’s looking forward to the next chapter. All of them made me smile.

There was a short discussion in one of the Facebook rum groups about the impossibility of doing this experiment, despite my explanation in the article about this exact thing. The suggestion was made that comparing rums with different abvs and backgrounds makes no sense. I have to agree this is a hard thing to do, but it’s not impossible and it’s not uninteresting. The challenge is to look past things like abv, age, country, personal preference and simply determine and describe why a rum is good or not. I find this very difficult, but I’m getting better at it with time. What is needed to be able to do this is an open mind and lots of tasting experience.  I’ve always found the Fat Rum Pirate pretty good at this.

Not that it will ever be perfect of course, as personal preference always plays a role, even when you are actively trying to minimize it. But then does the perfect review even exist? What would that look like? Short and sweet? Well researched with lots of facts? Very long, using fancy words to make it a more pleasant read? Perhaps someone should investigate this :) 

I find a lot of reviewers are stuck within a certain set of rules. Ones that were made up by someone and keep being parroted from one person to the other. Sounds like religion somewhat? It’s akin to putting yourself in a small box with hardly any room for movement. As long as you stay within that box, you are part of the elite level of reviewers! Anyone who dares to make a hole in the box and step out of it is spat at. You are now part of the league of amateurs, cheater! We laugh at you, peasant! To get to the next level, the double gold elite platinum level, you can only review rums with an abv of 55% and above, with a minimum ageing of 20 years. Once you do that, your two or three elite buddies will give you a virtual pat on the back so you can sleep well at night. You’ll have a Zoom chat with them to explain how your life has improved immensely since moving up to double gold elite platinum level. You’ve been receiving hand written letters from thousands of people, thanking you for your service. Some even included panties, bras and wedding proposals. Your two friends from rent a friend are incredibly jealous, you can see the envy in their eyes, you can feel their stress coming through the webcam. It’s what you’ve always dreamed of achieving in your life! Or……you can wake up and realize us rum reviewers/writers are in a tiny little bubble. We are insignificant. Hardly anyone cares about what we say or do. End this glorious career now and most producers and readers will forget us in an instant. If you are treating this as anything other than fun, you are in the wrong hobby, unless you are a narcissist of course.   

My non professional advice is to open your mind and wander off the beaten path of rum tasting/reviewing. Experiment a little more. You will become better at rum tasting and you’ll have loads of fun along the way.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s get into the tasting. We are visiting Jamaica and Trinidad this time. Thirteen expressions in total from ten bottlers. For the list of bottlers and their short description, please check out chapter 1. I don’t want to bore everyone by pasting it here again.

The cast for chapter 2:

Berry Bros – Hampden 2000 #27, 17 years, Jamaica, 57.2%

Rum Artesanal – Hampden HLCF 1998 – 21 years, Jamaica, 65.9%

Duncan Taylor – Long Pond 2000 – 13 years, Jamaica, 54.8%

S.B.S – Jamaica 2005 (WP) – 12 years, Jamaica, 58.6%

Compagnie Des Indes – New Yarmouth 2005 – 13 years, Jamaica, 64.1%

Colours of Rum – Clarendon 1996 Ed 3 – 25 years, Jamaica, 67%

Colours of Rum – Hampden 1992 HD #5 – 29 years, Jamaica, 58.1%

Duncan Taylor – Hampden C<>H 1990 – 22 years, Jamaica, 52.9%

Dràm Mòr – Trinidad – 13 years, Trinidad, 58%

Transcontinental – Trinidad 2002 – 19 years, Trinidad, 63%

Compagnie Des Indes – Trinidad 2000 – 16 years, Trinidad, 63%

Single Cask Nation – Trinidad – 16 years, Trinidad, 55.4%

Chorlton Whisky – Trinidad – 13 years, Trinidad, 64.2%

Berry Bros – Hampden 2000

Nosing

Cardboard, compost, vanilla, oak, pineapple, pine, light bbq sauce. Oak, fruit and plastic are dancing together. Very nice/

Tasting

Burnt wood, acetone, pineapple, vanilla, light bbq sauce. Medium finish with some bitterness. The oak is too heavy for me. It’s muting the fruitiness unfortunately.

Rum Artesanal – Hampden HLCF 1998

Nosing

Oak is pretty strong. Menthol, pineapple, banana, vanilla, light blue cheese, light sour note. Prefer Berry Bros on the nose.

Tasting

Blue cheese, menthol, pineapple, oak, light anise, lots of oak spice => close to licking a barrel. The finish is ever lasting. My tongue keeps tingling with oak spice and a rainbow of flavours. Better than the nose suggested.

Duncan Taylor – Long Pond 2000

Nosing

Very gentle nose at the start. It needed some time to open up. Orange peel, raspberry, light oak, light glue, vanilla, minerals, light glossy magazine, light acetone, crayon. It’s a pretty light nose, the 15 year is more expressive (with more oak as well)

Tasting

Very pleasant sweet oak, vanilla, light acetone. Not expressive at all and I find it hard to distinguish a lot of flavours. The fruit is somewhat buried under the oak, but the medium finish is not bitter, surprisingly. The 15yr is a better version of the same.

S.B.S – Jamaica 2005 (WP)

Nosing

Strawberry & raspberry soda, mint gum, oak, mint chocolate, caramel, molasses, vanilla, dusty barn, dried grass. Much fruitier than the 2008 from chapter 1.

Tasting

Creamy texture, raspberry, strong banana, oak, menthol, light anise, light pine. I feel like I’m sucking on banana candy. The finish is solid and long, without bitterness. In comparison, the 2008 is hotter, rougher, more expressive and fun. However, in the end I prefer the velvet texture of 2005. It’s a great Worthy Park example.

Compagnie Des Indes – New Yarmouth 2005 (JNY18 for Denmark)

Nosing

Oak, sweet acetone galore, pineapple, pear, molasses, smells of a cheese and olive shop. Damn fruity. Love it.

Tasting

Thick mouthfeel, vanilla, acetone, oak, nutty, burnt wood, pineapple, light rotten fruit, menthol, olives. Finish is long with fruit soaked in varnish. No bitterness. Took a whole lot of water to get that taste out of my mouth!

Colours of Rum – Clarendon 1996

Nosing

Oak, flat Coke, leather rubbed in anise, mint, light rubber, salmiak, burnt wood, molasses, light tobacco, raisins, chocolate & wine.

Tasting

Very oaky and dry. Dark chocolate, licorice, raisins, mint, anise. It’s hot. There’s a sweet note running through it all the way but it still ends up slightly bitter on the finish with more anise and chocolate. Too much oak. Not a fan of this profile in general.

Colours of Rum – Hampden 1992

Nosing 

Fairly flat, light oak, pineapple, vanilla, menthol, acetone, oaky mushrooms, olives. Meh.

Tasting

Oak, pineapple, olives, vanilla, it’s herbal, light banana. Slightly bitter on the medium to long finish. It’s okay, not stellar.

Duncan Taylor – Hampden C<>H 1990

Nosing

Tar, acetone, cardboard, glossy magazine, fresh paint, olives, light blue cheese, pineapple. Heavy oak seems to have mellowed it considerably.

Tasting

Olives galore, tons of cheese, overripe fruit, pineapple, oak, milk chocolate, glossy magazine. The finish is surprisingly soft, fairly long with as good as no bitterness. It drinks below its abv. I’m not a big fan of this type of rum, but the barrel mellowed it nicely.

Dràm Mòr – Trinidad

Nosing

Mint, brown sugar, molasses, butter, oak, light vanilla, light oil, dried flowers, light banana. Very pleasant

Tasting

Diesel, oak, vanilla, licorice, molasses, nutty. It’s a sweet oily drink. Finish is fairly long without bitterness.

Transcontinental – Trinidad 2002

Nosing

Spicy caramel, light paint, oak, mint, plastic, very oily, molasses, raisins, banana, vanilla.

Tasting

Oh my that’s dirty. Diesel galore, sulfur, menthol, bbq sauce, lots of oak spice, dark chocolate, paint, plastic. A little hot and spicy. Finish is long and on the hot side. No bitterness. The diesel vibe is there from start to finish. I love that part of it, but the sulfur is a big no no for me. It’s got tons going on, so it is very interesting to explore.

Compagnie Des Indes – Trinidad 2000

Nosing

Oily, spicy oak, vanilla, cinnamon, molasses, crayon, nutty, caramel. I’m afraid it’s gone a bit flat, as I’ve had it open for a long time.

Tasting

Spicy oak that’s been drenched in diesel with a velvet mouthfeel! How is this possible?! It’s sweet. Vanilla, hint of bbq sauce, nutty, mint, light anise, peppery. Drinks well below its abv. Finish is solid, no bitterness and feels velvety. Quite the achievement for a slightly dirty rum. The Transcontinental 2002, with its same abv, is really hot and unbalanced in comparison.

Single Cask Nation – Trinidad

Nosing

Anise, plastic, molasses, paint/glue, oak, vanilla, raisins, banana, light cardboard, slight sour note.

Tasting

Very oily, light sulfur, pretty sweet, oak, vanilla, anise, light banana. Medium finish without bitterness. The sulfur ruins this one.

Chorlton Whisky – Trinidad

Nosing

Plastic, sausage, bbq sauce, mint, oak, dusty barn wood, vanilla, light blue cheese, light glue. Definitely the weirdest one of the bunch. Great nose.

Tasting

It’s meaty. Vanilla, oak, light on the oil (compared to some of the other TDLs in this tasting, not in general), lots of wood spice, mint, chocolate, light anise. It’s pretty sweet. Not too hot, despite its 64.2% abv. Finish is long. Overall it’s pretty balanced and easy going (for a TDL), if that’s possible with this type of rum. This brings it into Dram Mor territory, although I prefer that one slightly, as it has a tad more diesel and is a bit more interesting and complex. Wonderful rum.

With a bit of water the wood spice is toned down. There is more room for vanilla, chocolate, diesel and some fruitiness to come through.

Conclusion

Another mixed bag. Colours of rum not looking great here. I was not impressed by either expression. That makes it a score of 3 bad and 2 good for them, since I liked two out of three in this particular review. They tend to focus on very old, high priced rums. Whilst I do agree that high age statements carry a certain mystique, I don’t share the same level of fascination with them that most people have. To me it’s important for the characteristics of the distillate to be very present in the tasting profile. Depending on the circumstances, at a certain age the barrel will take over too much. At that point I feel it’s more for a collector than a drinker.  

Single cask nation is another one that’s left a poor first impression. Chapter one had an average Foursquare release and now an average TDL in chapter 2. That’s two releases out of many though, so this could well be a fluke. Not exactly a great sample size for a well researched conclusion. :)

Compagnie Des Indes is the shining light this time. Both New Yarmouth and TDL expressions are stellar. Are they the best bottler then? No! They’ve released all sorts of mediocre blends and even add sugar to Jamaican rum. They go from the peak of Mount Everest to the hot fires of Mordor’s Mount Doom. It’s another clear hint that the perfect bottler doesn’t exist. However, “researching” this remains a lot of fun. I will keep trying, although my bottles and samples are running out. I’m clearly in the wrong country for such an experiment!

Scores

Berry Bros Hampden 2000 #27 – 74

Rum Artesanal Hampden HLCF 1998 – 88

Duncan Taylor Long Pond 2000 – 80

S.B.S Jamaica 2005 (WP) – 85

Compagnie Des Indes New Yarmouth 2005 – 90

Colours of Rum Clarendon 1996 Ed 3 – 67

Colours of Rum Hampden 1992 HD #5 – 73

Duncan Taylor Hampden C<>H 1990 – 82

Dràm Mòr Trinidad – 85

Transcontinental Trinidad 2002 – 79

Compagnie Des Indes Trinidad 2000 – 93

Single Cask Nation Trinidad – 68

Chorlton Whisky Trinidad – 83

Click here for info on the scoring method.

Click here for the complete list of reviews.