Tastes

After five+ years on Distiller, this is the first time I’ve requested a spirit review and the first person to review this. I’m excited about this tasty rum, so here we go! The nose here is much like some other Jamaican rums I’ve tried, with tropical fruits and overripe bananas, which some call hogo. Rum from Jamaica is much like peated scotch. There’s a distinct element of teroir on the nose. This particular expression has a lighter touch, much like Caol Ila in the scotch world. It’s fruity and buttery on the entrance with mango, papaya, guava, plantains, and then on the back half of the palate, a little barrel tannin and more of the hogo from the nose. So what to rate? I like this but Jamaican rum isn’t my favorite style of rum at this point in time. That said, Worthy Park makes a lot of quality rum, and this is certainly a premium offering worth tasting. Cheers!

Since my audience here is primarily whiskey drinkers, as am I, I'm writing from that perspective. Here we go! While many of us have a "home spirit" of sorts, be it bourbon, rye, scotch, etc., we will eventually find ourselves growing weary of our preferred spirit and start taking a closer look at those aisles at the liquor store we frequently breeze past. I've found myself engaging in that trope these past four or five months, burned out on pandemic whiskey consumption. I find myself drawn more and more to the rum and tequila aisles, where $60-$100 to play gets you some of the most complex and nuanced spirits of that category, whereas that would barely be scratching the surface in the single malt world. Foursquare rum (not featured in this review) is sometimes called a "Bourbon drinker's rum" or "the Pappy of rum". If that's true, then rhum agricole vieux (literally "aged agricole rhum") is (if I may venture a bold claim...) a scotch drinker's rum. Bottled at 43%, it pours a nice copper/brass color into the glass. It could almost be mistaken for bourbon at this point. The nose is something entirely different. The barrel notes show up, as in a bourbon, but theres a peculiar aroma, somewhere between fresh cut grass and a freshly minted penny (I grew up in Denver and there were frequent school trips to the US Mint...). The palate begins much like a bourbon barrel-aged Speyside or Highland single malt. Smooth on entry with some barrel character up front (Compass Box Spice Tree comes to mind), but it quickly translates into something quite different, with the grassy notes returning from the nose mingled with whisps of pineapple, light tobacco, and pecan. Baking spices of ginger and allspice round out the palate, leaving a light tingling sensation that covers the tongue with reminders of the grassy, brassy agricole sensation. This expression is the middle child of the Rhum J.M. core sipping line, which takes their labeling from French brandy producers. I suspect the V.O. offering scales back the barrel and amps up the grassy agricole notes, while the X.O. offering does the opposite. I look forward to trying both. I bought this unsure if I would like it and didn't want to shell out $75 for the X.O. in case I disliked it, which fortunately isn't the case! If you're getting into rum/rhum, definitely don't pass up aged agricole rhum if you're a single malt fan or a fan of wheated bourbons. Cheers!

As I tumble further down the rum rabbit hole, I’ve been studying the different styles of rum. So far most of my experience has been with Barbados rum, which I find excellent and appreciate Foursquare’s commitment to “authentic” rum, with no sugar or additives, and Demerara rum, the likes of Eldorado (excellent but you need a sweet tooth). I’ve been less enthused by some “premium” rums, which have flashy marketing and lots of added sugar (think Diplomatico). Plantation falls somewhere in the middle of that spectrum for me. I enjoyed their Fiji expression last year for its combination of fruitiness and diesel fuel, and the 3 Star is my go-to workhorse rum mixer. I’ve been interested in the so-called Jamaican rum funk, and decided to try this bottle at a $17 sale price before investing in a more boutique bottling from Worthy Park or Hampden Estate. The nose on this is identical to the Fiji expression, which leads me to believe it must be more influence from the Ferrand Cognac casks than the rum itself. It’s quite fruity and buttery, and leads me to think I should invest in a bottle of Ferrand Cognac. The taste is quite a bit more subdued. I’ll be honest, I expected more. It’s lovely and easy to drink, mind you, but it seems a little flat compared to the nose. I get banana, papaya, mango, grape must, coconut, and the slightest bit of hogo. Quite pleasant, but I was hoping for a bit more of a wow factor. That said, this can be a versatile spirit, for neat pours, rocks, or to mix in my ubiquitous summer rum drinks. I’ll enjoy this bottle, and I look forward to future exploration of the Jamaican rum category. Cheers!

Been riding the bourbon train lately and was looking for a change of pace. Last summer, after several community recommendations, I started getting into sipping rums (because I needed more booze) and fell in love with the Doorley’s 12 year rum from the Foursquare distillery. Lovely, brown sugar butter notes, it it was a bit thin at 40%. Fortunately, the folks at Foursquare have an Exceptional Cask Series (similar to special annual or semi-annual whiskey releases like Bookers or Ardbeg). These are rums that are well aged, non chill filtered, no dosing, and are aged in a combination of casks reminiscent of ye olde rum trade such as bourbon, sherry, port, Madeira, etc. This release, Detante, is aged ten years and is a blend of rums aged in bourbon and port casks. The nose is redolent of brown sugar, butter, figs, raisins, and strawberry jam. The port influence carries on to the palate with strong oak and vanilla flavors wrapped in a velvety port blanket. The taste betrays the proof at 51% until the finish where there’s a bit of a swell from said proof followed by a long, fruity, simmering finish. This is what Angels Envy or Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban wished they tasted like. This is the best port cask ageing I’ve tried. High marks for this one. It’s a special release from August 2020, but I found it gathering dust on a back shelf in Total Wine. There might be a bottle near you still, and with the weather warming up, you might want a detour from your regular whiskey-based programming like I did. Cheers!