With this 7-year-old High Ester rum, you have a brilliant example of nearly 300 years of Jamaican rum tradition.
TASTING NOTES
Nose:
This is unmistakably a High-Ester Rum! Overripe bananas and mangoes dominate, with an abundance of yellow fruit. There's a hint of green olives leaning towards a glue-like note, for which these rums are so well-known.
Taste:
With 63.1%, you'd expect the alcohol to hit hard, but it's surprisingly gentle. The rum is smooth and even a bit buttery in taste, with the ripe bananas and mangoes coming through again, while tropical fruits like lychees dance on the palate.
Finish:
A medium-length finish with a multitude of ripe fruit. Very subtle notes of fruit yogurt emerge towards the end.
Balance and complexity:
The balance between the nose and the taste is flawless, with the classic high-ester notes taking center stage. The rum gains a surprisingly complex touch from the creaminess, the buttery texture, and the fruit yogurt in the finish. A rum where each sip reveals a new layer to enjoy.
Serge Valentin (90)
240–360g ester/HLPA here (marque WPH), which is relatively light, though not too light. Indeed, it’s WP. Let me say it again—brands that block independents from using their names are shooting themselves in the foot, slowly fading out of relevance among aficionados. This has already happened with many malt whiskies that younger enthusiasts don’t even know about (yes, there are young malt whisky enthusiasts!), and it would be a shame if rum brands followed the same path. Just my humble opinion: no visibility, no image. Colour: white wine. Nose: the purity at Lluidas Vale is always rather striking (no brand names allowed, right). Here we’re deep into industrial harbour water, tar, fresh oysters, and green olives—two olives, no more. With water: carbon paper, wax paper, wallpaper glue… Mouth (neat): this Lluidas Vale is so good! Even at 63%. Full of ashes, lime, liquorice wood, more ashes, and a touch of mint oil… With water: incredible purity, fruity salinity, precise aromas—olives, anchovies, asparagus, lemon… Finish: long but quite soft, precise, almost refreshing, almost like a dry martini with Noilly Prat. The London experts will get it. A faint hint of strawberry cream at the very end—some peculiar molecule at play here. Comments: I’ve always been a big fan of Lluidas Vale—bring on the next Lluidas Vale!
