XXX/Six Mauritius 9 Year Old 2010 – 67.2%

Source: Acquired in a trade.

Stats: This cane juice rum was distilled in Mauritius (Indian Ocean island nation) on a column still, aged in oak casks in Mauritius from 2010 to 2018, then shipped to England where it spent ~2 more years in an ex-Bourbon cask, yielding 260 bottles at 67.2% ABV without filtering, coloring, additives or dilution of any kind. Selected via blind tasting with a panel of tasters from r/Rum and Aficionados.

Nose: Sour/salty sock, aquarium, jolly rancher of unspecified variety, heavy salinity, seaweed, ripe armpit, varnish, iodine/minerality reminiscent of a peaty scotch but not nearly as intense/earthy.

Palate: Olive juice, cherry cola, heat! Salt water taffy, Indian cooking spices, worn leather, long lingering green olive juice salinity.

Final Thoughts: I don’t have a ton of experience with rums from this region outside of unaged/high ester and long aged/low ester from Reunion. Have only tried a couple aged Mauritius rums before this one. The profile is bizarre to say the least. It’s teetering on the fine line of enjoyable/repulsive. I think if I had purchased this I wouldn’t be disappointed and might just grow to love it. It has a savoriness akin to a Clairin, but do I really need a bottle of this in my life? Probably not. I’ll save my pennies for something else.

Score: 3+

My scale:
1 – I don’t want this in my mouth ever again
2 – Best used for mixing
3 – Decent sipper
4 – Very enjoyable
5 – I’m buying a back up bottle