Foursquare 12 Year Old (That Boutique-y Rum Company) 

I picked this one as I thought it was a distillery I hadn't tried but it was. They are a R. L. Seale company offering. There are a lot of the foursquare variants on distiller and they are consistently very highly rated. Apparently they are often referred to as the 'Pappy Van Winkle' of the rum world. The 10 year R. L. Seale is under $50 and at 4.25 is one of my top ever rums given I tasted this post my rum phase i.e. in a period I have nearly completely fallen out of love with the spirit. Only one rum was higher and that was in my earlier 'I love sweet shite' phase so take that out of the equation and it would be trumped these days. It's a pot and column variety with fantastic depth, oomph and perfect sweetness. I've seen Cadenhead variants aged in ex Kilkerran casks of all things! This is the oldest rum which has been sent to European Rum Brokers for additional maturation. This particular blend of Pot and Column distilled rum was aged for 11 years in Barbados before being sent to Europe. That Boutique-y Rum Company merely re-casked this rum into an ex-bourbon barrel in 2017 for an additional year of ageing. The rum has been aged entirely in just ex-bourbon barrels. MoM notes say.... "coffee bean bitterness, walnuts and spiced fruit, treacle trickling through tanned leather and a subtle note of camphor to form an interesting backdrop. Finish is a Bourbony vanilla sweetness lingers for what seems like an age" They have done a very very good job of summing up how I experienced this one. It got a Trophy in the Aged Rum year 2016 International Spirits challenge. They were also named rum producer of the year. Founded in 1926, R L Seale & Company Limited is a fourth generation, family owned, Barbadian business, whose flagship operation, Foursquare Distillery, is one of the world’s few remaining independent rum producers. Man this company is making me fall completely back in love with rum. If you see a bottling at a reasonable price double check it's a well reviewed one and hand over the cash. This is a thinking man's dram..I fully expected to take a few swigs and tip it down the sink but no an hour later i'm still digging it. 4.25 but could easily go 4.5.