Rum Symposium Amsterdam

Merry Christmas Rum Lovers! Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 24 - Velier Hampden 2010 - HLCF - 68.5% abv. It’s Christmas Eve and Day 24 of the 24 days of rum reviews! This means that I need to go with something near and dear to my heart; the Hampden 2010 HLCF. This has got to be one of my all time favourite rums, and I have never sat down to give this one a proper review. On top of that, this is my absolute last pour of my last of the 5 bottles I started with. This bottling by Veli

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 23 - 1423 Single Barrel Selection - Denmark 2014 (4 yo) - 50.6% abv. Yet another S.B.S. from 1423 in Denmark. Today, however, the actual distillate that we are drinking also hails from the land of the Danes and has been distilled at Enghaven Distillery in Northern Denmark. The distillery was founded in 2007 and started its first spirit production in 2008. They do also produce other spirits including whisky, gin and vodka, however they seem to take p

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 22 - El Dorado Special Reserve - 15 yo - 43% abv. Today I will be spending a bit of time with a old classic that I am sure many people reading this have tried. There of course will be a little bit of controversy around this rum, as it does contain added sugar. According to measurements from the Swedish Systembolaget and Johnny Drier, added sugar content ranges between 31-38 g/L. Let’s just say that this is a level of sugar that you will notice when

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 20 - Foursquare - Exceptional Cask Selection Mark VI - 2005 - 59% abv. In sticking with Foursquare’s spirit of Christmas and Forbes’ pick for best rum of 2018 (…and International Spirits Challenge (ISC) and International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC) best rum producer…and…and…and...) I thought I should shed some light on a rum that lately frequents the pages of all rum groups including the Ministry of Rum as well as bars of rum lovers around t

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 19 - 1423 Single Barrel Selection - Venezuela 2006 (12 yo) - 55% abv. Slowly, and happily, working my way through the 1423 Single Barrel Selections. Today I will have my first taste of their new release from Venezuela. The rum comes from an undisclosed distillery (I’m working on it…). It is 100% Column still, 100% tropically aged for 12 years. It is then caramel coloured in the barrel resulting in a dark, mahogany coloured liquid. Bottled at 55% in

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 18 - Worthy Park Single Estate Reserve - 45% abv. Today I am going to jump back to a rum that was released in late 2017, the Worthy Park’s Single Estate Reserve. A little background on one of Jamaica’s most prominent rum producers; Worthy Park Estate has been producing sugar cane since 1720 and its earliest on record production of rum was already in 1741 (although it was likely earlier than this). In 2004 Worthy Park’s distillery received a massive

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 17 - 1423 Single Barrel Selection - Jamaica 2007 (11 yo) - 59% abv. Yet another new release from 1423 in Denmark, this time the Jamaica 2007. Distilled at Moneymusk, which is owned by the National Rums of Jamaica who also are whole or partial owners of Long Pond, Clarendon and Innswood aging facility. While Jamaica is often associated with heavy high-ester funk, rums from pure single pots from Moneymusk often have a somewhat subdued funk when compar

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 16 - Velier Royal Navy Very Old Rum - 57.18% abv. Firstly, sorry for the lack of the promised Day 15 review - my son was born, so I think that was a pretty acceptable excuse 😉. Also a very good reason to celebrate today with one of my personal favourites - Velier's Royal Navy Very Old Rum! Back in the day of Navy rums, these were blends consisting of rums that were acquired from journeys from island to island in the Caribbean. Often bottled at gunpowd

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 14 - Union 55 - 41% abv. This rum is a little different than the typical rum I review, but seeing as it is soon Christmas, why not go for something festive. Union 55 is another rum bottled by an independent bottler in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Its base is sourced from column still Barbados rum that is a blend of primarily charred ex-american (I’m guessing ex-bourbon) barrels as well as a small amount of ex-sherry casks. They then infuse the rum w

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 13 - The Duchess - Barbados (Foursquare Distillery) - 13 yo - 59% abv. The newest of the releases from the Netherlands-based bottler The Duchess, this time from the Foursquare Distillery in Barbados. The rum was distilled in 2005 and was tropically aged for 11 year in ex-bourbon barrels before being shipped and aged for an additional 2 years continentally. It was bottled in 2018 at cask strength of 59% abv. and yielded 294 bottles. On the nose this

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 12 - Mezan Guyana 2005 - 40% abv. This Demerara rum (called Demerara due to the region of Guyana alongside the Demerara River where Guyanese rum is produced) is bottled by the UK-based independent bottler Mezan. These bottlers offer a wide range of expressions from around the world, releasing single distillery sourced rum. Their rums are non-sweetened, non-coloured rums often with a light filtration. This specific bottle was sourced from Demerara D

This white rum is a blend from 5 distilleries: four hailing from Jamaica - Hamden, Worthy Park, Clarendon and New Yarmouth. All unaged, high-ester copper pot still rum. The fifth rum in the blend is a 2-3 year, ex-bourbon barrel, low-ester rum from Trinidad (Anogostura distillery) that has been charcoal filtered to give it the clear white shine. This rum clocks in at 317 gr/hlaa of volatiles, meaning that we’ve got a funky one on our hands! This rum is produced by an independ

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 9 - Plantation - Grand Terrior - Fiji 2009 - 44.8% abv. I do love my Fiji and today I am sitting with Plantatoin’s Grand terroir series Fiji 2009 release. As with all rum hailing from Fiji, this was distilled at South Pacific Distillery and is a blend of pot and column still. This release was bottled in France in 2018 making it a 9 year old rum. Of those 9 years, 7 were aged in bourbon casks in Fiji, followed by an additional two years in France. Un

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 8 - Duchess Belize (Travellers Distillery) - 10 yo - 66.6% abv. Another independent bottling by Netherlands based The Duchess. This time they have selected a cask from the Travellers Distillery in Belize. This distillery has not been exporting rum for all that long, with their first released coming from around 2005. This specific bottling was distilled in 2007 and aged for 9 years in Belize before being shipped and re-casked continentally for an add

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 7 - 1423 Single Barrel Selection - Dominican Republic 2006 (12 yo) - 55% abv. This is another one of the exceptional S.B.S. releases from 1423 in Denmark. This time the rum is a molasses-based column still rum distilled in the Dominican Republic at an unspecified distillery. It was distilled in 2006 and bottled in September 2018 in Denmark, making it a 12 year old rum. A total of 309 bottles were produced and released at cask strength of 55% abv. On

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 6 - Appleton Estate 15 yo - 43% abv. This limited release Appleton Estate rum, hailing from one of Jamaica’s main rum players, is a 15 year aged rum that was produced specifically for the Canadian market - Canada being Appleton Estate’s largest market. As with the majority of Appleton releases, this is a blend of both pot and column still. Typically when compared to other Jamaican funk bombs, such as Worthy Park and Hampden, Appleton produces a slig

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 5 - Duncan Taylor Single Cask Rum - Long Pond 2000 (15 yo) - 51.9% abv. Another rum hailing from beautiful Jamaica! This time from Trelawny Parish based distillery Long Pond on the northwestern coast of the island. As with the majority of rums hailing from this region, and this whole island for that matter (with a few exceptions), Long Pond releases some funk heavy high ester Jamaican rums. On a quick detour from the rum itself, Long Pond experienced

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 3 - 1423 Single Barrel Selection - Mauritius 2008 (10 yo) - 55.7% abv. This is one of the 7 new single barrel selections (S.B.S) from 1423 in Denmark. It is a molasses based column still rum distilled at Grays distillery, which is the largest producer of rum in the region. This batch was finished in Port Casks, yielding 281 bottles and was bottled at cask strength of 55.7% abv. On the nose there is a lot going on! Hard to know where to start…It's go

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 2 - Ultimatum Rum Single Cask Selection - Fiji 12 yo - 46% abv. On the bottle it is stated that this rum is distilled at a “secret” distillery, however, there being only one operational rum distillery in Fiji, it is safe to assume that this rum has come from the South Pacific Rum Distillery. This pot still rum is bottled by Ultimatum Rum which is an independent bottler based in the Netherlands. It has been aged for 12 years in ex-bourbon barrels, an

Rum-Review-A-Day: Day 1 - The Duchess - Guadeloupe 19 yo - 54.9% abv. So it’s December 1st, which means the countdown to Christmas is on! Whether you celebrate the holiday season or not, many use these 24 days to give themselves a treat each day leading up to the big event. In recent years, rum advent calendars have become a delightful way of tasting a wide range of new products and getting to know the world of rum a little better. Personally, I have known quite a few pe