NederlandsColour: orange amber. Nose: deep, leathery and spicy. Lots of strong ginger, hot paprika, root beer, some darker chocolate tones, heavy tobacco notes, black pepper, camphor and some quite heavy tarry notes. Damp, animalistic, fat and earthy - some black olives too. I find this heavier, slightly drier style very good and more complex than the lighter Caroni. With water: softer, more cinnamon, camphor, hessian, putty, quite a lot of dried herbs and now touches of anchovy paste and more umami and saline qualities. Very good! Mouth: lots of dry, fat medicines, bitter herbal extracts, natural tar, a powerful earthiness, cured gamed meats, black pepper and an increasingly autolytic and rounded bready quality. The strength works very well here at balancing the more punch aspects of the distillate. With water: the texture has thickened slightly and there’s more rubber, more earth, some soot, plastic, pot pourri, strong black tea and some grippy tannins. Finish: long, leathery, spicy, bready, earthy, savoury and with a strong umami character. Comments: There’s a great tension between complexity and power here that has required quite an impressive balancing act. Worth trying.
BOW (89)
In honour of the 100th Anniversary of the Caroni Distillery, we have reproduced the original label of the historic 1940s Caroni Rum which was exported to the UK and distributed by Tate & Lyle Ltd. This 100e Imperial Proof Trinidad Rum like its predecessor from over half a century ago is a Caroni aged for 18 years in Trinidad and bottled at 51,4%.
