The second Rasta Morris, This time we’re traveling to Trinidad and Tobago. An island we all know for the legendary caroni and some (mostly locals and rum-geeks) know for Fernandes. Today Trinidad is home to only one distillery. TDL (Trinidad Distillers Limited), these are the kind people who make Angustora rum, the world famous bitters and some other products.
TDL is a pretty modern institution when you look at their production method, the distillery has these huge column stills which make rum a very light, approachable rum. Think Bacardi or Havana Club, but better quality and taste. Angustora has a very wide portfolio ranging from a 3 year old white rum (charcoal filtered) to special blends with significant dates for the company as names such as: 1919, 1824, 1787.
Overall I’m not to crazy about this type of more commercially focused “light” rum. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a very tasty tipple and more people should be drinking this than Don Papa or Kraken or whatever is in a new skull-shaped bottle. I just don’t really get as much pleasure from drinking this type of rum. So, I’m very curios what Mr Bruyneel has done with this distillery.
The rum is 13 years old, having spent 8 years in Trinidad & Tobago and then another 5 years in Europe. And -here’s the real put-your-mouth-on-the-curb-kicker- bottled at 67.5% ABV, yes, sixty-seven point five. We’ll see how it goes, I’m intrigued.
Colour:
Light golden with a subtle brown hue.
Nose:
On par with its baffling 67.5% ABV, very prickly and rather sharp at first. Some coconut shavings and dried plums are closely behind this initial sharpness, this sharpness also translates to some glue-ish nose. All this is being coated by honey, or at least a floral sweetness. The nose isn’t bad, nothing too mindblowing either.
Taste:
The taste is much better than the nose lets on. My first impressions are that the rum is warm, with a pleasant alcoholic spice. Not like the sharp nose. I do feel the alcohol going down my throat, though it’s way more Hot Toddy than shot-of-vodka.
The light floral theme does carry over to the palate, behind the ever-present heated spice of 67.5% there is a very subtle rum full of fresh honey, coconuts and orange blossoms. The combinations of both extremes (the ABV and subtle flavours) gives a whole range of flavours. As the honey sometimes transforms itself into dark slightly bitter caramel and the coconuts get roasted a bit.
Finish:
The finish is medium-long. The main notes remaining are those of roasted coconuts, the bitter caramel and a tiny amount of the floral orange blossom. The finish gets darker the longer it goes on, eventually leading to a distant hint of tobacco.
I didn’t expect this rum to work as well as it does. The ABV is something you’ll probably won’t get used to, and that seems to be the point here. Trinidadian rum in general is nice, in both meanings of the word. it’s pleasant tasting, but it has no real presence, no fist slamming on the table and demanding your attention.
This kind of does have that. 67.5% is a pretty big fist of course. It also makes the lighter, “nicer/kinder” flavours heavier and more interesting while still preserving them somewhat. I also really do love that it’s still such a drinkable rum, even at this ABV. This one works way better than the lower ABV Venezuela from Rasta Morris. Good one Bert!
8/10
The Rum Robin 