Rum Exchange Barbados (Foursquare) 2009

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

© Steven James and Rum Diaries Blog 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, both written and photographic without the express and written permission from this blog/sites author and owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Steven James and Rum Diaries Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Rum Exchange Belize 2009

This wont be the first time that you’ve encountered a Rum Exchange release on these pages. 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 Belize 2009 from Travellers Distillery is release #003 for them. But a little about the distillery first.

In 1950’s Belize, sugar was a popular and plentiful commodity and seemingly on the surface everyone that owned a Plantation was bathed in wealth and producing their own Rum. Enter Jaime Omario Perdomo Sr. (Don Omario), a man with very humble roots who in 1953 opened a bar in Belize City. Given that his bar gained most of its custom from people travelling in or out of the city, Travellers seemed to be the most appropriate name. Travellers sold imported spirits and beers alongside locally produced Rums. At the time in Belize, the custom was for bars to create their own Rum blends and offer them for sale exclusively through their establishments and Don Omario was no different. He created his unique blends combining varying flavours and essences. As the exclusive Rum blend for Travellers proved popular, Don Omario sought a more consistent base for the blends. This proved to be more and more difficult as growing competition in the Rum manufacturing business meant that it was becoming harder to obtain spirits of a consistent enough quality. To overcome this, Don Omario entered into partnership with Luis Alberto Espat who agreed to build a distillery for him in Belmopan. Joined by his sons, Romel and Mayito in the 1970’s, the company began to grow in size. In 1983, Travellers was registered as a limited company and in 1989, when Luis Alberto Espat decided that he wanted out of the business, Travellers purchased his share of the company gaining full control over all aspects of the business for the first time. In 1992, Travellers upgraded its facility moving away from utilising acids to expedite its fermentation process and now, for their Rum (other spirits / alcohols are produced on site) they employ natural fermentation using locally sourced molasses and a double distillation in their triple column continuous still. Maturation is carried out in ex bourbon barrels at their facility.

Now most of us will have at some point had a run in with their most famous export, One Barrel…..a truly horrific concoction. Five Barrel doesn’t fare much better…..but apparently their Don Omario range breaks the cycle for their distillery bottlings. We have also seen other releases from Tiburon, Fair, That Boutique-y Rum Company, Cadenhead’s, Duncan Taylor, Whisky Broker, SBS, Kintra and The Duchess…..and now we have the Rum in question today, Rum Exchange Belize 2009.

Rum Exchange Belize 2009 – 60.8% abv – Modern Rum – 0 g/l additives

Distilled using local molasses, natural fermentation and a double distillation on their triple column continuous still in 2009, this Rum was matured in a tropical climate at the distillery in an ex-bourbon barrel until 2019 when it was bottled. A release of 288 bottles at an abv of 60.8%, this has no colouring, no additions and has not been chill filtered. With that said, lets have a look at how this fares.

Tasting Notes

Nose: A touch of solvent…and weirdly liquid paper, soon dissipates to usher in quite an apparent barrel led nose with plenty of splintery wet wood. Toasted coconut, a hint of vanilla. Charred wooden splints. A possible very light sulphur, but it doesn’t stick around. The alcohol definitely doesn’t interfere with the experience and it all remains quite calm and balanced providing you don’t shove your nose into the glass. Milk chocolate over sweetened coconut chunks. Something bitter but nutty, maybe a touch of walnut and maple syrup with the corresponding levels of bitterness. There’s also a caramel aroma, not burnt sugar caramel initially….more Caramac bar. A little perfumed and floral. Portuguese Custard Tarts too with their sweet custard and buttery crispy pastry.

Mouth: The entry is a little heated and initially carries none of the sweetness from the nose. As you acclimatise the heat builds with spicy, peppery barrel notes. This is quite cutting and dry straight away. What strikes you is just how big a mouthfeel this Rum has…not viscose, but more of a palate weight feeling. It’s a little in the ball park of a well aged Barbados Rum initially. Mid palate the spice and moisture sapping oak gives way a little to reveal mixed nut brittle, white and milk chocolate florentines. Cold Custard and warm Madeira cake. The Caramac from the nose makes an appearance. The oak remains a prominent characteristic of the experience through to the finish which carries a decent length and hangs vanilla, peppery barrel spice and a touch of walnut bitterness on the woody spine.

In conclusion: Beautiful development from nose to palate. Very well balanced and approachable even at its 60.8%. The nose is warming and carries enough interest to hold your attention with equal measures of wood influence and sweeter notes. The palate doesn’t succumb to the sweetness of the nose and it retains a pleasant woody character throughout with the light bitterness, mildly sweet / spicy interplay and pleasing weight lifting this Rum way above my expectations. Forget One Barrel……this is good stuff.

Not quite a 4.5 but more than a 4. Lets call it a 4.25.

4 / 5

© Steven James and Rum Diaries Blog 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, both written and photographic without the express and written permission from this blog/sites author and owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Steven James and Rum Diaries Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.