Source: Acquired in a trade.
Stats: Agricole style rum distilled in Mauritius (Indian Ocean island nation) on a column still using cane juice. It was 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. I’ve had (unaged, high ester) Savannah and (long aged, low ester) Reunion bottlings that I adore. Have only tried one or two lower ester, 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 I put beside a nice 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
Austin Rum Society 