Barbancourt Réserve Spéciale - 8 year - 43% abv.

Barbancourt Réserve Spéciale - 8 year - 43% abv.

I thought after seeing some posts recently discussing the Barbancourts, with very mixed reviews, that I could give my two cents on the 8 year release.

A brief background; Barbancourt is not your typical Haitian Rhum although it has been around for just over 150 years. They do use primarily fresh sugar cane juice, however small amounts of cane syrup are also added. Unlike the majority of small batch distilleries on Haiti, Barbancourt distillation is first carried out in a copper column still followed by a second pot still distillation. Unlike most rhum/Clairin in Haiti, which is bottled as unaged white Rhum, this Réserve Spéciale line of Barbancourt is aged in French oak, in this case for 8 years. So the addition of cane syrup, use of modern column stills and French oak aging make for a less funk-forward/grassy and milder product than one would expect when one hears Haitian Rhum.

On the nose up front I get sour/fermented bruised apples. Caramel and burnt butter. There is a grassiness although more like dried straw than the green hay that normally jumps out at me in cane juice rhums. Mild nuttiness blended together with doses of oak, although quite mild considering the 8 years they’ve spent together. Also some baking spices, likely from the oak, come through. Cinnamon and cloves. Vanilla. Light petroleum notes followed by acetone and rubbing alcohol. I can see how some might be turned off by this...although it does mellow out with some air. For me the nose is quite rotten-fruit and dark caramel heavy.

On the palate the wood is quite clear. Oak, Vanilla, slightly burnt caramel...Fruits are also there, but again nothing fresh or green. Instead I get figs, bruised apples/fresh pressed apple cider. Raisins. Black and white pepper. Almonds...starting to remind me of an unsweetened rum cake that has been set on fire...but not let burn long enough. Slightly boozy flavour in the finish. Very dry and a bit sour. Finish is also not that long and leaves you with the taste of chewing on a match stick dipped in cognac...that’s about all I get out of this.

Mouth feel is a little thin but with a nice heat for 43% abv.

For me this rhum is “fine”. Not my favourite, but not my least either. It’s fine.

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