The Duchess returns to us in this year 2020 with its brand new collection, « Hummingbirds » always dressed by the talented Hans Dillesse. The concept being to represent a bird native to the country where the rum comes from … concept like any other, it’s nice.
So here we are with two samples kindly sent by Nils to make us taste this … and on the program, we are entitled to a rum from Martinique and one from Barbados.
Yes, Martinique, this is rare enough to underline it, so the Martinicans are less inclined to let other people bottle their rums. Barbados and more specifically Foursquare, I seem to have seen a little more though 🙂
So , stop speaking and let’s see what these rums tell us of beautiful!
Le Simon 2004
Distilled at Le Simon in 2004, this rum will have aged 15 years in a barrel of ex bourbon. I think that most of this aging will have taken place on our good old continent.
Unofficial bottlings from Martinique are quite rare, apart from Chantal Comte and a few Compagnie des Indes, Velier and Excellence Rhum, I have no memory of others.
In fact, this Rum comes from Le Simon which does not really have its own brand … Which does not mean anything negative, but it is no longer really a « semi official » bottling as can be Chantal Comte or other Velier.
Rum has been aged in Europe for many years, where La Mauny, HSE, La favorite and recently Neisson have kept their rum for IBs at home throughout aging.
In addition, the Simon distillery is in fact the one that produces the rums for HSE and Clément. From there to say that what leaves for Europe is what the others two didn’t want, there is only one step…. which doesn’t mean bad, but it still means something 🙂
The bottling was done without reduction, the alcohol level shows a solid 61%.
Color
Straw
Nose
Pastry on almond paste and a rubber tip … a lot of spices with nutmeg, liquorice and wood with tobacco, a smoked veil, a little camphor and oak.
Ginger and lemon bring a nice fresh side and over time and some dried fruits appear.
A strong nose marked by the barrel in fact. The alcohol is rather well integrated for a liquid grading almost 61%.
Palate
Woody, quite worn on tobacco and a hint of liquorice, like a chewing stick. The spices are not left out either, and contribute a little more to this « dusty » side I would say.
In the second mouth, I find a little more fruit from the orchard but it is still quite marked by the barrel in fact.
The alcohol is lively but it is not annoying, the finish gives us a not nice wet cardboard side …
Price
89€
Conclusion
Moderately convinced by this Martinican in fact. I find the latter very woody, not greedy and fruity enough …
Could a reduction have erased this woody too present for me? Maybe it would have been nice to have both versions to verify this. I didn’t put a drop in my glass on my side.
I like woody rums, but I need other things to counterbalance these aspects, like on a Saint James 2003 or a Bally 18 years old for example.
Here, I do not find this delicacy and so, I would say that I am disappointed by this rum. Without being bad for the cause, just that it’s not as I like those ones from Martinique.
Score
82/100
Foursquare 18 yo
Haaa, it’s been a while since I had not had the pleasure of tasting a good Foursquare … and here we are here with a rather older version of the top of his 18 years!
As often, part of the aging will have been done in Foursquare warehouses to be finished most of its time in Europe. Measuring 56.9%, this rum was bottled from an ex bourbon barrel.
Color
Mahogany
Nose
Foursquare shall we say! It’s oily, generous and fruity …. voila, have a nice day 🙂
More seriously, there are a lot of cooked fruit, caramel coated with toasted hazelnuts. Vanilla is delicious, the sun-drenched lemon and grilled coconut as usual as well as the well-preserved cherry.
The wood is also present with rubber, tobacco, liquorice and some spices.
Palate
Creamy, fruity and terribly delicious …
The mango and pineapple are coated with a beautiful cooked caramel and citrus, the wood offers us a beautiful dark chocolate, tobacco and vanilla …
The attack is warm, delicious and the finish is sustained with this mango very present.
A beautiful « big » Foursquare as we like them I would say.
Price
99€
Conclusion
A fairly Foursquare profile (of course, this is one 🙂 ), well marked by mango among others. So, I find him a false air of New Grove in fact, it’s very interesting and not the least disgusting.
A great success, really!
Score
89/100
