Blackadder Raw Cask 2009 Finest Panama Rum 11 Year – 63.2%
Stats: Independent Bottling of Panamanian distillate from March 24th 2009 that aged 11 years before being bottled in Scotland in November 2020 at 63.2% ABV. This cask (PR3) produced 265 bottles, of which this one was hand numbered 74. There was no added color or chill filtration. As with all “raw cask” expressions from Blackadder there is a crap ton of barrel char in the bottle. This is presumably column distillate rum and based on the deep color of the liquid I’d assume it spent some time aging at origin before being moved to temperate climate.
Source: This bottle was sent to me by importer Glass Revolution as part of a Blackadder tasting event they did for the Austin Rum Society last August. I distributed samples to club members and reserved the last few ounces for this review.
Conditions: Enjoyed neat in a Stemcairn over the course of two sessions. I double fine mesh strained my pour but plenty of sediment still made its way into my glass.
Nose: Baking spice, caramel, stale coffee, white chocolate, sulfur, chlorine.
Mouth: Hot with loads of barrel spice. Bread dough, baked pie crust, allspice, nutmeg, leather, sulfur, honey, cherry granola. Baking spice and leather lingers.
Final Thoughts: The nose is a bit muted but the palate is nice. After a few minutes it mellows out and drinks well below its proof. For being such high ABV it’s a surprisingly approachable sipper with a nice mouth feel and lots of spice. I will say this is probably the best Panamanian rum I’ve tried to date (previous experience being various Granders, a Cadenhead and an Ultimatum), with the caveat that overall this isn’t my preferred profile of rum as it lacks the excitement and character I crave from long fermentations, pot distillation, etc. The distillate itself seems fairly neutral and the majority of flavoring likely comes from barrel aging. Oddly, it has sulfur notes that I usually associate with sherry casks, but I see no evidence that this wasn’t aged in ex-bourbon barrels. I could see the appeal of this, especially to whiskey folk. It’s solid but not something I’d visit often.
My Rating: 3/5
My Scale:
1 – I don’t want this in my mouth ever again
2 – Underwhelming
3 – Decent tipple
4 – Very enjoyable
5 – I always want a bottle of this on my shelf
Austin Rum Society 