Veritas White Blended Pot & Coffey Still Rum

The only way that you won’t have heard about Veritas (Probitas when released in the States) would be if you had absolutely no interest in the Rum world.

A teaming up of two amazing and honest distilleries to produce a pot and column blended ‘White’ Rum. These two powerhouses are of course Foursquare Rum Distillery in Barbados and Hampden Estate in Jamaica.

The front label, resplendent with a “Guardians of Rum” crest, states that it is a blend of Coffey Still and Pot Still Rums…..it also states the Master Blender (Richard Seale) and the inspiration (Luca Gargano). As you would expect, the rear label confirms that the Coffey Still component is from Foursquare and the Pot Still component is from Hampden…..the rear label also confirms that the Rum is aimed at the cocktail market…..but its so much more than that simple. There is also a ‘tongue in cheek’ mention of dosage on the label….I’ll say no more about that….but the jibe would fall flat if the Rum did not stand up to closer inspection. I have written extensively about Foursquare Distillery products and you can read more here, with a bit of information on Hampden Distillery here.

Veritas White Blended Rum – 47%

I mention above that this Rum is more than it appears on the surface….and here is why. The make up of Veritas is more interesting than stated as it is actually a blend of three Rums. The first component is a 2 year Tropically aged Foursquare Pot still Rum (the Rum has colour for a reason). The second component is an unaged Coffey Column still Rum from Foursquare. The third component is an unaged Pot still Rum from Hampden Estate. There is no charcoal filtration of the Rum. The biggest component of the blend is the unaged Coffey Column Rum which when tasted really does show that a little pot still can go a long way. Digging deeper, the Hampden marque used is OWH (Owen W Hussey). Numbers wise, this is the lowest count marque that Hampden produce….but as has been pointed out to me, purely elevating ethyl acetate isn’t improving the Rum. The OWH marque, whilst ‘low ester’ in relation to Rum, is actually high by spirit standards. The marque itself was put forward by Vivian Wisdom, Master Distiller at Hampden (and all round lovely chap) for use in the blend and its inclusion was agreed by Richard Seale.

 

Tasting Notes

Nose: Beautifully creamy. The abv excerpts itself robustly on the nose with a little sting. Portuguese custard tarts. Vanilla pods. Present but light and very well-integrated pot still element. It possesses the creaminess and fresh vegetal cane like quality of the Habitation Velier Foursquare 2013 and 2015 releases. Light acetone bite dragging citrus oils and a basket of fresh tropical fruit on the table at breakfast in summer.

Mouth: There it is. The pot still is way more present in the mouth feel which is a lot more oily than I expected. Real proper weight in this rum on the palate. It is the pot still that leads the early exchanges. Chewy Molasses. A touch of Kola Nut. Give it time and the lighter, fruitier elements come to the fore. Sugarcane. Light and so so typical marshmallow from the Coffey column. Banana. Guava jam on a buttery crumpet. Croissant like buttery pastry sweetness. Molasses in the finish. So much body to it.

Really really impressive. Prepare to have your preconceptions of young, cocktail oriented rum changed for good. It’s not just good for a young Rum, it’s good full stop. Yes…..I’d be perfectly happy drinking this neat….but it mixes so well. Daiquiris…good….provided you keep them on the sour side this Rum sings a wonderful tune. Banana daiquiris…..good. It even mixes well with coke.

4.5 / 5

A previous favourite of mine at home for daiquiris was Plantation 3 Stars…I enjoyed the fact that it had a bit of pot still in there and that it was reasonably cheap …..I have no need for it now. Tried side by side, the 3 Stars lacks palate weight, lacks character. Night and Day difference

Veritas is around £25 a bottle….you’ll have to buy from a France or Italy at the moment which is annoying…but it’s worth the effort.

© Steven James and Rum Diaries Blog 2018. 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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Chairman’s Reserve ‘Rovers X1’

*Press Release*

St Lucia Distillers has recruited a new Chairman’s Reserve X1 who are currently touring top bars in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield giving mixology demonstrations, cocktail tastings and discounted serves to eager customers who want to taste the rums which have won the “Best Rum” Trophy four times in the last six years.

The tour started at Kosmonaut Bar on Tariff Street, in Manchester’s Northern Quarter where Tom Higham has invented a new cocktail ‘5 Spice Sour’ to accompany their Spice Club evening when they serve a grand home-style 4 course Indian meal (recipe below).

Montpellier’s Café on Back Turner Street, Manchester organised a “Caribbean Calling” evening and informal food-pairing event with Chairman’s White Rum, Chairman’s Spiced and it included a warm goat’s cheese, pine nut and honey salad paired with a Honey and Walnut Rum Manhattan using Chairman’s Reserve Finest Rum.

The Almost Famous Bar at 100-102 High Street also in Great Northern, Manchester will also be offering individually created cocktails by four of the new Chairman’s Rovers X1: Adam Binnersley, Jonathan Leathley, Brodie Meah and Tom Higham at the new outside terrace area on Tuesday 26^th August, when all four join forces to run the Chairman’s Reserve evening pop-up. Also at Almost Famous, a new Chairman’s Reserve Rum cocktail called ‘Custard Reserve’ specially created by mixologist Jonathan Leathley will be on the drinks menu – for the recipe – see below.

On the same evening, Under New Management, the popular bar in Barlows Croft, Salford M3 5DY will host a late-night session with plenty discounted Chairman’s Reserve Rum serves including Brodie Meah’s new rum cocktail ‘Watermelon Punch 1999’ – recipe below.

Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield will also be hosting in the coming weeks master classes of Caribbean rums from St Lucia showing the blends of pot and coffey still rum from one of the world’s most successful distilleries.

*End*

All sounds pretty awesome and I’ll hopefully be able to nip along to Great Northern on the 26th for a drink or two as they sound well worth checking out…………

Cocktail Recipes

‘Watermelon Punch 1999’ – Brodie Meah at Under New Management , Salford.

37.5ml Chairman’s Reserve Finest

25ml Vermouth

15ml Wheat beer & Coriander Seed Reduction

20ml Citrus

Watermelon

 

‘5 Spice Sour’ – Tom Higham, Kosmonaut Bar, Manchester

40ml Chairman’s Reserve Finest

10ml Mandarin Liqueur

25ml Lime Juice

15ml 5 spice syrup

15ml Mango

Splash ginger beer

 

‘Custard Reserve’ – Jonathan Leathley, at the Almost Famous Bar

50ml Chairman’s Reserve Finest

50ml Cocchi Americano

25ml Lemon

25ml Cooked Custard Cordial

25ml Egg White

2 Dashes Jerry Thomas Bitters

© Steven James and Rum Diaries Blog 2014. 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.

Chairman’s Reserve Cocktail Competition Winners Announced

Press Release

Wednesday the 19^th March saw the final of the Chairman’s Reserve Cocktail Competition, staged at the Drinks Live Theatre in the Northern Restaurant and Bar Show in Manchester which, with over 250 exhibitors and 50 tastings and events, has become the largest food and drink trade exhibition in the North.

With an expert judging panel in Mark Ludmon, Editor of Bar Magazine, Lyndon Higginson of The Liars Club, Manchester and Scott Wallace of Emporia Brands, each judge looked for knowledge on the Chairman’s Reserve brand, the appearance and presentation of the drink, the aromas of the cocktail and finally how it tasted.

Six bartenders were invited down to the main stage to recreate their drink, after being selected from the initial entries by Peter Holland of The Floating Rum Shack, and Steven James of Rum Diaries.

Impressing the three judges, and winning himself a trip to St Lucia as the guest of St Lucia Distillers, was Adam Binnersley of Corridor #UnderNewManagement, Salford. His recipe, ‘Chairman’s Moo’, utilising Chairman’s Reserve Finest, Briottet fig, honey and pistachio syrup, Angostura Bitters and buttermilk fought off stiff competition from his fellow competitors. His presentation also made headlines, utilising a ‘cow’ to help serve his drink.

Thom Hetherington, MD of Northern Restaurant & Bar, said “This show is all about celebrating the best of the Northern food and drink world, and in Adam I think we have an absolute star. I don’t doubt he’ll hold his own in St Lucia!” Hetherington added “Needless to say I’ll be in to see him at Corridor #UnderNewManagement and put the Chairman’s Moo to the test for myself very soon”.

Despite only advertising the one opportunity to win a trip to St Lucia, the judges mentioned that it was an incredibly close call between first and second, so it was decided by James Rackham, Chairman of Emporia Brands, the UK Distributor of St Lucia Distillers, that second placed Tom Higham of Kosmonaut would also be joining Adam to St Lucia. His ‘Luciana Helena’ had a mix of Chairman’s Reserve Finest, pineapple and sage syrup, smoked paprika syrup, lime, egg white and Peychaud bitters.

Host and organiser of the competition Dave Marsland, aka Drinks Enthusiast and Northern Representative of Emporia Brands, mentioned “It’s great to see that the entries were so close that we are able to take two winners to St Lucia. They both join me for what will be an incredible experience, and we look forward to representing Manchester!”

A huge congratulations to both Adam and Tom, who will be visiting St Lucia later in the year and experience rum training at the distinguished distillery, and the chance to share expertise with the island’s enthusiastic bartenders, as well as plenty of opportunity to find out why the beautiful island of St Lucia is one of the world’s favourite Caribbean destinations.

The Winning Entries

Chairman’s Moo – created by Adam Binnersley, Corridor #UnderNewManagment

40 ml Chairman’s Reserve

10 ml Briottet Fig

15 ml Honey and Pistachio Syrup

Angostura Bitters

50 ml Buttermilk

Luciana Helena – created by Tom Higham, Kosmonaut

50 ml Chairman’s Reserve Finest

30 ml Pineapple and sage shrub

15 ml Smoked paprika syrup

25 ml Lime

Dash of Egg white

Dash Peychauds Bitters

From a personal perspective, it was great to be asked to whittle down a quite astonishing list of entries. It was even better to find out that I was doing so alongside Peter Holland of The Floating Rum Shack who is a well-respected member of the ‘Rum Community’ with both him and his wife Pauline (the other 50% of The Floating Rum Shack) being involved with Rum XP (The International Rum Expert Panel). I’d like to thank Dave Marsland for giving me the opportunity to be involved in the process. Also, as a brief aside, the first and second place entries made it onto my shortlist with the winning entry being the first choice to be added……I can only imagine how good it tasted.

© Steven James and Rum Diaries Blog 2014. 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.