Foursquare Shibboleth

One wonderful cross between rum, bourbon, and cognac. Aged for a whopping 16 years in the tropics, it has notes of canteloupes, molasses, maple syrup, cinnamon, white chocolate, treacle, brown sugar, pecans, caramel apples, raisins, plums, cloves, espresso, apricots, hazlenuts, nutmeg, chili peppers, Luxardo cherries, oranges, and vanilla.

I think this is the perfect rum for the first two thirds of the experience. The nose is deep and decadent, and the front half of the palate delivers the same rich, oaky depth. Unfortunately, this takes a sharp turn at the finish and gets quite bitter. Maybe if you don't swallow this one it might remain perfect. Like Sovereignty, others from the ECS series that I've tried were better, namely the 2009 and Nobiliary. Thanks much to @ctbeck11 for the sample.

The nose is rich starting with a mix of hay, diced cucumbers, green plantain and butterscotch pudding then a moderate sourness from lemon juice and fresh cut pineapple before fruits of orange creamsicle, caramelized cinnamon apples and cherries jubilee that transitions to chocolate covered macadamia nuts, leather and polished oak with high ethanol burn. The taste is a rich mouthfeel starting with a moderate tannic and vegetal spice that slowly fades to a mix of hay, diced cucumbers, plantain chips and butterscotch pudding then a light sourness from lemon juice followed by bourbon infused cream cheese frosting on pineapple upside down cake before fruits of orange creamsicle, caramelized cinnamon apples and sour cherries that transitions to chocolate covered macadamia nuts, leather and polished oak with high ethanol burn. The finish is medium length with dark chocolate covered dehydrated pineapple, orange zest, banana pudding with vanilla wafers, a moderate vegetal spice, leather and polished oak. This is a big and bold rum that manages to combine bourbon and rum flavors together well, but has a vegetal tannic spice that I can best describe as licking a cutting board after dicing a jalapeño pepper on the front of the palate and at the finish that I don’t particularly care for. Side by side with Nobiliary the Shibboleth is more abrasive with a youthful astringency along with those green vegetal and moderate tannic notes that I’m not detecting in the Nobiliary. The Nobiliary is the clear winner, but the Shibboleth is no slouch and outside those vegetal tannic notes, it’s a great rum that showcases the incredible products coming out of Foursquare. A huge thanks to @ctbeck11 for the generous sample.

Nose - bittersweet molasses, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, buttercream frosting, black cherry, orange zest, dark chocolate, herbal notes, lemon, powdered sugar, straw, nutmeg, allspice, caramelized banana, pineapple rind, anise, moderate to high ethanol burn. Taste - bittersweet molasses, cardamom, cherry, brown sugar, dark chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, overripe banana, allspice, bitter herbal notes, lemon pith, sour apple, earthy mint, moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium length with molasses, earthy herbal, and bitter citrus flavors. I’m finishing off my rum series with the oldest of the Foursquare expressions at 16 years. The nose shares many of the same qualities with the other ex-bourbon aged releases, but this one is interestingly more herbal than the others. It’s notably less sweet and actually borders on slightly sour. This is great rum, but it tastes surprisingly younger than Nobiliary even though it’s two years older. I’m guessing it’s either the greener palate or the lower proof compared to the others that creates this youthful impression. While this is still top notch rum, the herbal notes aren’t a particularly welcome addition to the profile for me. Well this concludes my rum tasting series for now, as I’ve exhausted all my samples and bottles. After 28 reviews, Nobiliary reigns supreme but there were many solid offerings along the way, including this one. Next up, I’ll be shifting my focus back to whiskey and doing a set of blind reviews, which should put my tasting chops to the test.

This rum is of top quality. This release was bit lower proof than previous releases but the flavours are exceptional. If u like more tannic oaky and bourbon notes mixed with molasses this is definitely not to be missed.

I feel as if I’ve been prejudiced against rum for a long time now. I always associated it with the sweet saccharine drinks that are more suited for lounging on the beach somewhere. That impression really didn’t change when I had my first Caroni ( the now ghosted Trinidad distillery). I assumed the Caroni was a one-off. With its funky earthy diesel fuel induced flavors, it was more Springbank than Captain Morgan. i just thought Caronis were the one-hit wonder of the rum world, and it’s defunct ghosted status was mere proof of its inability to survive in a world where everything else is Captain Morgan or Bacardi. Foursquare changed that prejudice. These series from their Excellence Mark are amazing. This one is probably one of the oldest that’s aged in the tropics. Aside from Caroni. You would expect 16 years in Barbados would mean you’re about to drink liquified wood, but instead this is dark fruits, earthy, and a tad bit smoky. Hence the name “shibboleth “…which means you would assume one thing, but it’s actually something else. These are now hard to come by…but lesson learned: Caroni are probably the best, and now almost unattainable, but these Foursquare Excellence series are an annual release and a worthy replacement to the Caroni. Buy it…will be worth the price. Thanks to @ctbeck11 for sending over this pour !