Nose: Through medicinal smoke, a little linseed oil, tar and warm rubber there’s homemade blackcurrant and raspberry jam, ripe banana, manuka honey and bread and butter pudding. Muscovado sugar, rich vanilla, rancio truffles and a touch of drying wood spice emerge among old red wine, orange peel and a soft touch of polished oak.
Palate: Intense, drying tannins lead with thick molasses, a little golden syrup and vanilla cream layered over heaps of ripe tropical fruit and dried apricot in support. Underneath there’s some minerality, as well as touches of bitter liquorice, Terry’s Chocolate Orange, dried cherries, iodine, game meat, coffee beans and roasted nuts.
Finish: Oak char lingers in a long finish among hints of eucalyptus, salted caramel and cinnamon bark.
Overall: Simply put, it’s just one of the best rums around. I’ve got a case of Caronimania.