We see ourselves with another Rum Exchange bottling. I recently looked at their Belize offering which you can find here……but again, a little about Rum Exchange. Rum Exchange is Facebook Group that was created by Andreas Isopp to provide a platform for bottle and samples trading, but much more than that, it is also a company that was set up to facilitate the introduction and selling of Rums that not considered ‘mass market’. They take complete control of the import, trade and distribution of these brands and products. They provide a link between producers, retailers and consumers. I first covered their Rum Exchange Jamaica Trelawny back in August, which was release #001 for them. This Rum Exchange Barbados 2009 from Foursquare Distillery is release #005 for them. I’d delve into a little information about Foursquare but a quick search in the box at the head of the page will uncover all that you need to know. So we’ll go straight into it.
Rum Exchange Barbados (Foursquare) 2009 – 59% abv – Single Blended Rum – 0 g/l additives
Distilled in February 2009 at Foursquare Rum Distillery in Barbados this Rum Exchange Barbados (Foursquare) 2009 Single Blended Rum, a blend of batch and continuous distillates matured together in ex bourbon saw a full 9 years maturation at the distillery in a tropical climate prior to shipping over to Europe where it saw a further 2 years continental maturation. It has been bottled at 59% and there is no sweetening added and no colouring either. But what is it like and does it offer anything different to what we’ve seen before?
Tasting Notes
Nose: Needs a decent amount of time in the glass as it displays in quite a muted way initially with alcohol vapours being quite forward, heavy oak and not much else to start with. Time and a little warmth bring a more rounded approach to what is still quite heavy oak with a touch of wood shavings, burnt paper edges and something new to me in a Foursquare offering…..a touch of sandalwood. It also brings a little cedar wood cigar tube insert too. It then falls back in line and slips straight into the usual suspects that we’d expect with milky, freshly cut and also desiccated coconut sitting alongside milk chocolate and vanilla. Mixed dried tropical fruit and raisins. There’s also a lightly oaked white wine note sitting on top of the aromas. Mildly nutty and spicy at the back end, it still harbours quite a bit of alcohol on the nose. With water and time (probably taking it down to around 55% abv) the initial blast of alcohol is calmed somewhat and this lays the blanketing oak down a little and this in turn opens up the sweetness with some marshmallow and Madeira cake. The oak remains but it is far more pleasurable, almost floral and enveloping rather than heated as the approach displayed initially.
Mouth: Quite heated initially but that soon gives way. Wood wood wood. Not as big on the palate as I was expecting from a mouthfeel point of view. Heavily drying and carrying some banana milkshake….surprisingly and a first for me in a Foursquare. Grain whisky candyfloss sweetness brings a touch of honeycomb and milk chocolate…..Crunchie Bars. Coconut is present and accounted for as are raisins and a hint of dried peach. Vanilla buttercream on a homemade sponge cake. A strong bite of pepper on the mid palate brings more barrel influence and allows the spice to dominate with jeera, ginger and pepper sitting on top of a warming wet wood. The finish, which is of a decent length ushers in the banana and coconut which leads into very drying and spicy oak and all of the heat that it brings. Pencil shavings and cocoa powder lead into those raisin notes and peach vapours on the back end. With water its very much a more relaxed version of the full abv glass of Rum but with a more profound peach influence running through the mouthful from start to finish.
In conclusion: It offers something very familiar and akin to a lot of other releases…..but then the banana and sandalwood usher in new experiences to the familiar. They lift it into slightly new territory for a Foursquare bottling and this is to be welcomed. I find that the abv, or at least how the distillate is dealing with the abv doesn’t help it initially but time (and maybe a drop or two of water) is your friend. It can become a little bitter on the finish with water added but there’s a simple solution to that…..keep drinking. All in all, its good juice and to be honest its a bit of a steal at less than 80 Euros. It almost feels like a higher abv Foursquare 1998….just saying.
Again, not quite a 4.5 for me but its pretty darn close.
4 / 5
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