Bellevue 19 Years Old Guadeloupe The Duchess Cask:22 54.9% 1998

Distillery	Bellevue
Bottler	The Duchess
Serie	TROPICAL FLOWER SERIES
Bottled for	The Duchess Spirits
Distilled date	1998
Bottling date	2017
Country	Guadaloupe
Region	Guadeloupe
Age	19
Cask Type
Cask Number	22
Alcohol percentage	54.9
Volume	0,70
Condition	In Original Carton
Label	Perfect
Stock	0

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (90)

Colour: dark amber.

Nose: not the first time we’re trying some ’98 Bellevue, and not the first time we’re much pleased. This is a perfect slightly mentholated chocolaty profile, with superb whiffs of fresh cane juice, then prunes and raisins, then camphor and small berries. Impeccable. With water: wonderful! These whiffs of fresh peppermint just work a treat.

Mouth (neat): luminous, zesty, cane-y, complex, citrusy, earthy… With water: amazing, a tad earthier, herbal, tense yet rich… This is one of the best rums in the world.

Finish: very long, perfectly herbal, grassy, cane-y, slightly phenolic and smoky…

Comments: exceptional agricole rum. I mean, rhum, from the Islay of the French Caribbean. I know, pushing it a wee bit…

Malt Fascination (88)

Apart from the Rum bottle share I don’t really drink a lot of rum. If anything, that bottle share sort of killed my apetite to sink some money into trying more. I know there’s good stuff out there, and I do find it an appealing concept. However, there’s so much randomness out there, that I don’t think I know enough about it to make an educated guess to what I like and dislike.

Luckily, sometimes you get a sample and get to try something new nonetheless.

On the nose, this Bellevue rum from Guadeloupe shows a lot of sweet alcohol, very different to the whisky described above. It’s rather sugary with lots of dark oak. Oak in the tropical way. Sugarwater, with a hint of glue (in a good way), but showing lots of spices. Clove is the one I am getting mostly. The palate is sharp and dry, with fresh hard wood, very different to the whisky again. Sawdust, dryness, sweet with clove, pepper and a lot of complexity. A slight chemical hint that is restraint enough to make it more interesting. The finish is very warming with charcoal and bonfire notes, hardwood, sweet barbecue and spices.

Well, luckily I got to try this indeed. This is a better rum than any in that bottle share and really shows how interesting it can be, as a category. A highly recommended drink if you’re looking to diversify and still have a very complex, cask strength drink at hand. Unless you don’t like spices that is. There’s a lot of that going on.