Foursquare Equidem Rum Review

Ever heard of Black Muscat? I’m sure a ton of people will say “YES, of course Ivar……who hasn’t?!!!”. Yours truly has never heard of it. Which shows my lack of wine knowledge and interest. The limited amount of storage space in my brain, which gets smaller and smaller with every drop of rum I consume, can only hold a certain amount of information. Hence why rum is my only deep dive. Thanks to a decision of Richard Seale, which he took about ten years ago, I now know what it is. For those that don’t, here’s a quote from the almighty Wikipedia:”Black Muscat (or Muscat Hamburg) is a red Vitis vinifera grape variety derived from the crossing of the Schiava Grossa and Muscat of Alexandria by Seward Snow, Head Gardener to Earl de Grey at Wrest Park, Bedfordshire UK in 1850, according to the Vitis International Variety Catalogue. In the US it is grown in wine appellations in California, Virginia, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. In Canada, it is also found on Vancouver Island. In France, the grape is used chiefly as dessert grape including AOC varieties such as Muscat du Ventoux. In Eastern Europe, the grape produces a light, dry red wine. It is also starting to gain popularity as a table wine component in China.”

I asked Richard a few questions about the how and why of the Black Muscat casks. He mentioned the following:”I was looking for some Spanish Moscatel casks, a popular fortified wine that is made from one of the many types of muscat grapes. These are mostly white grapes. Only a few producers work with black Muscat grapes and make fortified wine from them, so it’s very rare. I was offered these casks by a French producer. It’s a very robust dark wine. Not commonly used as it’s tricky to get it right, thanks to the wine being very powerful tannic rich”.

Equidem is the name of the rum that was partly made by using Black Muscat casks. According to the Latin dictionary it means “for my part, truly, indeed”. As far as I know, it’s not for sale across the globe yet. That I was able to buy a bottle this early is thanks to a Canadian friend who visited BRE. The Barbados Rum Experience is an event you have to go to at least once in your life. That is, if you are very rum enthusiastic and love Barbados rum. I don’t think there is another event where you can acquire as much in depth rum knowledge as this one. There are a ton of seminars by actual historians, true experts, who are typically from the Caribbean, on such subjects as the history of rum, sugar cane, production processes etc. If you are into the seminar style of learning, you’ll be very happy. My ADHD doesn’t let me take full advantage of these sessions unfortunately, which is one of the main reasons why I haven’t gone again.

There are more hands on sessions as well. Visits to three distilleries will give you a chance to witness the production process from cane pressing (if you are lucky), to fermentation, distillation, ageing and bottling. I personally love this side of the event. For me it’s a dream to walk around in a distillery and see and smell the magic happening. I love the smell! The peaceful vibe of an ageing warehouse is another great thing. Having an owner or another expert representative of the distillery as a tour guide is a massive bonus. In the evening it’s more about the social aspect. Mingling with fellow attendees and distillery people is as important to many as the learning. This shows in the fact that a lot of the same people go year after year. Bottle sharing and chatting with rum enthusiastic people in Barbados is rather nice.

Foursquare Equidem is a 14 year pot and column blend. It spent 5 years in ex bourbon cask and 9 years in ex black muscat. Bottled at 61%. I don’t tend to talk about colour much, as it often means so little, but this might be the darkest Foursquare rum I’ve ever seen.

Nosing

Leather is strong, tobacco is strong => two things I like very much. Dark cherry, faint cane juice vibe, oak, coconut, hay, dried flowers, light coconut/vanilla dessert, light crayon, sweet red fruits, light caramel.

Tasting

Texture is thick and luscious, I almost want to bite it. There’s some red wine coming through, which I didn’t get on the nose. I might have been mixing that up with the red fruits. Black pepper, oak, strong coconut, strong tobacco, milk chocolate, leathery. The finish is long, peppery, fruity and has just enough oak to be pleasing without turning bitter. Actually, there is no bitterness at all. You get a burst of sweetness at the end. Hallelujah! Drinks well below its abv. Some of that cane juice vibe comes through, but not as obvious as on the nose.

Conclusion

Richard mentioned to me that there is no cane juice rum in Equidem. So where I’m getting that vibe from is unclear. Thing is, today there are so many different varieties of cane juice rums on the planet with vastly different flavour profiles. So it’s hard to nail down anyway. But for me it does have something grassy and earthy to it, albeit very mild.

I was so impressed by this rum that I pulled Foursquare Criterion, Triptych and Absolutio out of my cabinet to compare. Surely Equidem can’t be as good as these three. What a great exercise this was! After sipping Criterion and going back to Equidem, I got that cane juice feel again. Equidem is more complex, more powerful and has a longer finish. However, Criterion is so brilliant in its simplicity. Perfect balance, wonderful flavour profile. I instantly said OMG! when I took the first sip. So sweet and thick…..it’s rum heaven. That age and abv seem to be ideal. I need to increase its score.

Equidem is different, but on the same enjoyment level for me. It’s insane. Like sucking on sweet wood that’s been marinating with leather, tobacco and a drop of cane juice. Impossible of course, but I hope you know what I mean. No recent release gets close to this. Not Touchstone, Covenant, Sovereignty, or Raconteur. Absolutio gets close. It is also fantastic from a flavour perspective, but it’s hotter than Equidem, has half an inch of bitterness on the finish and is a tiny bit less interesting on the nose.

Conclusion: Equidem is the best Foursquare release in a long time.

Scores

Foursquare Equidem – 94

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