Boardroom Spirits Ship's Cat Barrel Aged Rum

A lovely trip to Lansdale/Telford, PA for business training last week yielded a nice haul from this local distillery that I am excited to review here. I found this place on the first night I was in town while searching for some of my favorite things, and I was beyond happy to discuss spirits with the incredibly friendly crew working there. As I was tasting nearly all of their spirits (and they produce quite a lot), we had great conversation and opinion sharing that developed into cocktails being made and unlabeled bottles being produced from the back for "reminder" tastings. Boardroom's rums were the first spirits I tried, and remember the most, as I slowly became very drunk and quickly blew out my palate as the spirits kept going. So, revisiting what I recall being one of the sweetest yet underpowering aged rums I've had thus far. Before noting the color, I have to mention the sediment found at the bottom of this and every bottle found on the distillery's shelf. With such a low proof, I find it interesting that there's any sediment at all, although I suppose water was added without having any kind of filtering. Looking behind the particles, the color is dark gold combined with a lightly roasted chestnut. The room air is filled with molasses, but sweetened from natural wood sugars from the oak instead of the typical sickly sweetness. The ethanol is surprisingly powerful up front despite the low proof, with molasses, brown sugar, and caramel up front, with much smaller notes of green apple, raisin, and honeysuckle behind it (shockingly specific here). The body is very light, but flavors of roasted cacao and brown sugar develop quickly, while the dry, sweetened oak envelop most of the mouth and remain there. Floral notes are also present, and only near the finish is some molasses tasted. Repeat sips bring out more dry notes, but the approachable sweetness and barrel flavors make for an easily finished glass. Although my knowledge and palate for rum is still fairly amateur, I know a delicious spirit when I taste one. This rum bridges the type of people who are die-hard whiskey or even bourbon fans and also the type of person who likes rum but doesn't like the overly sweet flavors. A slam dunk from such a small, local distillery, and even more impressive considering the entire area within a 50 mile radius uses this as their "well" aged rum; an awesome support of local business while also giving a win to the customer. You certainly won't find this anywhere outside of Lansdale (all distillery employees were adament about not focusing on distributing), but if you happen to be in the area or see it, give it a try for sure.