Wild Tiger Special Reserve rum

Let’s turn away from Latin-America and the Caribbean for a moment, and turn our eye and tastebuds towards India. India is a big rum producing country, making so much more rum than Old Monk alone. In fact, in terms of volume, India is the biggest rum producing nation worldwide – not taking Brazil and the cachaça into account that is. In the old days of rum, India produced an Agricole style rum, nowadays they mainly use molasses.

The Rum: Wild Tiger Special Reserve
Origin: India
Raw material: Molasses with some fresh sugarcane juice spirit blended
Distilled: mainly column still, small part pot still
Matured: 2-4 years in charred American oak
ABV: 40%

The Nose: The first impression is a rather closed and shy nose, with some grassy vegetal notes. Secondly comes lots of vanilla and lots of the good light brown toffee caramel. A third wave of aromas provides more sour vegetal notes and even some light iodine. Overall, the nose promises a rather sweet rum. Give the rum 10 minutes in the glass, and it becomes intensely perfumed. Not really fruity or floral, but a more synthetic kind of perfume. I do like how the aromas keep changing in the glass; that’s what makes it more exiting.

The Taste: sweet, with lots of vanilla and tangerine juice, strong hints of mocha and almond. It’s a bit liquor-like, but without being extremely sweet or artificial. Imagine a much improved and much more elegant version of Don Papa. The mouthfeel is rather creamy.

The Finish: The aftertaste starts with an explosion of mocha and toffee. It stays rather sweet in the mouth, with once again lots of vanilla and almond. Reminds me a bit of marzipan. The finish is medium long.

Our Score : ***

Well, this kind of sweet vanilla rums aren’t really my favourite style of rum. But it’s not too extreme. Plus the fact that 10% of sales goes to the preservation of the wild tiger in India makes this rum a 3-star.

Spirit of Old Man Project One – Caribbean Spirit

The Rum : Spirits of Old Man, Project One Caribbean Spirit
Origin: Caribbean Blend
Distilled: column still
Bottled: n.i. 10 yo
ABV: 40 %

Nose: the first attack is rather alcoholic, with some faint coconut. The vanilla is weak…that’s to say, it’s very present but it’s a soft, weak kind of vanilla. Also some undefined fruits lingering through. Give it 10 minutes in the glass, and the coconut opens up nicely and the whole gets much less alcoholic, but round and soft.

Taste: extremely sweet with shiploads of coconut and vanilla. Much more than the nose predicted, actually. I suppose this is a nice rum if you like this style, but to me it’s boring. There’s no complexity whatsoever, there’s no evolution in the glass or any depth in the rum. On the positive side: the coconut  tastes more ‘genuine’, or less artificial than in some other rums. Not saying it really tastes like coconut though.

Finish: remains very sweet with big coconut, slowly turning more fruity (apricot). Medium long to long.

Our Score : **

Cadenhead’s Classic Rum

Our good friends at Cadenhead’s (best known for their independent whisky  label) also did and do quite some rums. Remember that pleasant range of rums (Haïti, Panama, St Lucia, …) with the yellow-blue labels; or their ‘green label’ series.

Now they are hitting the liquor stores with a ‘Classic Rum’ at 50 abv; origin not indicated. I wasn’t sure whether to buy this rum or not, since I like to know where my rums come from. But a good soul provided me with a sample, so let’s see if this is a bottle that will join my collection one of these days..

Before coming to the actual tasting notes, let me tell you that according to a source  at Cadenhead’s,  this is in fact a Guyana blend, containing Demerara rums between 5 and 7 yo, and sometimes even up to 10 to assure consistency.

The Rum: Cadenhead’s Classic Rum

Origin: Guyana

Distilled: n.i.

Bottled: ca 2015 by William Cadenhead’s

ABV: 50

Nose: Molasses, caramel and a nice vegetal touch, accompanied by a fresh sea breeze. I also got some roasted peanuts and honey bonbons. After a good 15 minutes, more dried fruits are coming through. I also tried to add a few drops of water – at 50 abv one might expect a rum could handle it – making the rum much softer, with the vegetal notes becoming a bit sour.

Taste: strong, vibrant alcohol, sweet and herbal. A very intense first mouthfeel! I also get some dried fruits again, and a whiff of tobacco – think of a cigar you re-light after a few minutes. Adding a few drops of water helps the fruitiness developing in the glass. The whole gets a bit less herbal, but also slight bitter touches appear now.

Finish: A rather long finish, less sweet than the initial taste, with a lingering warm wood influence. Some typical demerara notes keep you company right till the very end. Raisins, light brown sugar. Adding water makes the finish short and a bit one-dimensional.

Our Score : In doubt….*** or **** ? Considering the origin, the high strength, and the quality, this is a very fair priced rum (around €50). So considering price-quality range..heck why not. Four stars it is !! One bottle for the collection coming up! Despite its higher alcohol volume, I prefer it neat: water makes it softer but also a bit ‘flatter’.

Plantation Guatemala-Belize

Remember the Gran Anejo Guatemala from Plantation – the one in the dumpy bottle? It seems like Plantation has replaced it with a Guatemala-Belize blend. Same bottle, almost same label, different rum.

We kinda liked the old Guatemala. Just as we liked the Belize that Plantation did. You can find the notes onhttps://sugarcanecollection.wordpress.com/2014/08/01/guatemala-gran-anejo-plantation/  and  https://sugarcanecollection.wordpress.com/2014/02/20/belize-7-yo-prime-minister-edition-plantation/

So the big question is…does one and one equals two – will this new Plantation take best of both worlds and combine it in one bottle?

 

The Rum: Plantation Gran Anejo Guatemala & Belize

ABV: 42

Distilled : n.i.

Bottled: 2015

Casks: initial maturation in bourbon casks, finished in cognac casks

 

Nose: The nose is Spanish style rum all the way, with loads of honey. Over ripe pineapple. Sandalwood and ozone, with a very fine whiff of smoke – the kind you get when you softly burn very dry wood. The vanilla is playing second violin on the background. Also some cognac like notes. Pleasant all around…but nothing to surprise us.

Taste: Very light mouthfeel. Again..very Spanish style. Sweet, with the first attack surprisingly alcoholic. Light golden honey with some orange peel lingering through. Soft fruity notes and a very subtle wood influence. Again…nothing wrong, but where’s the complexity and the depth from the old Guatemala? Give it a good 20 minutes and it gets rather vegetal with a slight sour tone at the end.

Finish: sweet, but short. Too short actually, this one is gone in the blink of an eye.

 

Our score: ***

Plantation 3 Stars

Our next rum is often presented as a mixer. Now let’s see if this means it’s undrinkable as a ‘neat’ rum or not. Presenting :

 

The Rum: Plantation 3 Stars – 41.2 %

Origin : Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad

Distilled: not indicated

Bottled : not indicated – ca 2013, by Cognac Ferrand

 

Nose: Fresh sugarcane juice, but refined and subtle. Fruity aromas and vanilla, with a hint of coconut and some mango and papaya. Give it a good 20 minutes and the vanilla comes through much stronger, accompanied by green bananas and some more powerful spices

 

Taste: Soft, fruity : banana, tropical fruits.  Also some orange zest and a minty freshness. Medium sweet. Seems to me it’s mostly the Barbados rum doing the talking here, with the Jamaican rum playing second violin, giving the whole a bit more power. Now this might miss some complexity, but there’s definitely nothing wrong with this rum. It goes down real smooth and easy.

 

Finish: like the taste, but a little less pronounced. A little oaky bitterness and the very end. Nice, but rather short. Let the finish last a bit longer, and you gain an extra point.

 

Our Score : ***

Remarks :This is a blend of unaged rum from Barbados; a clear filtered 3-year-old rum from Trinidad, and the Jamaican composed of two Jamaican styles, an unaged rum  and a small amount of  12-year-old rum.

A mixer? Maybe. But highly drinkable ‘neat’. And more important : for around €20 this is excellent value for your money !