Sue Sea and I have been down with a touch of a virus. After 3 days of this, cabin fever drove me out of the house anyway; I ended up checking a couple of my rum stops and was pleasantly surprised to find a very rare bottle of Sgt. Classick at $19.95. Inasmuch as SC has received a double gold at the SFO competition -and - a 94, "best buy" from BTI, this purchase was a no brainer.
Attractive too was Sgt Classick's promotion as a California micro-distillery using a pot still to produce rum from Hawaiian molasses. The timing was also propitious as I'd recently reviewed Charbay Tropical Island Cane Rum (a cane juice rum) - yet another California family distiller, also producing rum via pot still with cane juice syrup imported from, yup, Hawaii.
There are some important differences, however...
1. SC is molasses based, Charbay is a cane juice rum.
2. SC is distilled via a single pass through a modified pot still process with the vapor passing through an "analyzer" column for what amounts to a second distillation or reflux. Charbay is the result of a true pot still process and is triple distilled.
3. SC is distress aged for only a very short time using oak chips. Charbay uses expensive French Limosin oak barrels for aging.
4. SC stands for Sgt. (Dave) Classick, a Vietnam veteran who settled in Hawaii, and fell in love with rum. His love led him to establish a micro distillery in California. His team consists of himself, his son Dave Jr. and owner Andrea Mirenda - all experienced high tech employees with backgrounds in information technology, sales/marketing and process engineering.
Think Steve Wozniak sponsors the US Festival rock and roll extravaganzas.
5. Charbay is a family run business with a long history of distillation reaching back multiple generations. Their products are truly artisan. They continue to use time and labor intensive techniques developed quite literally over these generations.
The question:
Can a relatively new distiller - using a modified pot still process with an included secondary "analyzer" column process, producing an unaged rum in a single run - match a rum produced by an artisan family utilizing a classic pot still with three separate distillations, and who use authentic French Limosin Oak?
........... 3 days later ................
Welcome back rum lovers. Although I'd had a taste or two of Sergeant Classick, a real tasting is not complete until dear Sue Sea lays her mind and tongue to it. That day was last night. Earlier in the day Sue Sea's waiter son I did an informal tasting. He's an experienced waiter with much wine experience, and is turning out to be quite a rum taster as well. I'll include his impressions as well.
Enough, this review is way too long already...
Sue Sea:
Me:Hi all! I've not been at my best, but Sergeant Classick is the kind of rum that no ordinary cold can disguise. Classick comes in a tall, narrowed shapely bottle, slightly pinched near the base and with the indented bottom that I like. As a Floridian, I'm a sucker too for the tall coconut palm on the unusual textured paper label. A nice change from sailing ships and high seas piracy. Simple and understated. Unlike the rum.
My first nosing of this rum was not pleasant. Pungent sour moldy cork, with a strong alcohol prickle. High nosing is usually the answer to such pungent rums, but not in this case. Descriptors like sauerkraut and chemical come to mind, all over a tarry oakum and a bit of reedy oak, a faint honey sweetness and a far distant hint of vanilla. But overall think harsh and rancid notes.
Sergeant Classick's early palate presents surprisingly smooth and sweet, but this is all too fleeting. This was quickly replaced by a growing, sour dry astringency and heat, leading to a black peppery and chestwarming finish and aftertaste - all unfortunately consistent with the aroma. Some aftertastes of rums are quite pleasant, but a few rums make me reach for a palate clearing sip of cool water. I regret that this was one.
I really hesitate giving a rum a lower score, as I work very hard to keep my personal preferences out of it. But as a molasses rum I can't recommend this rum. It simply does not fit my expected molasses profile, though it may appeal to whiskey or cane juice rum afficianados. And it is not a rum I'd present to a new rum drinker.
Please allow me to put it this way - I don't like whiskey or strong alcohol spirits, compared to the molasses based rums that I much prefer. Unfortunately, for me Sergeant Classick is more like the former.
Let me start by saying I had high hopes and anticipation for Sgt. Classick's gold rum. Despite the fact that I distrust commercially influenced "competitions", BTI is a resource that is more difficult to ignore. I have repeatedly tasted it alone, with Sue Sea's waiter son and of course, with Sue Sea. And always again I as post these findings.
Sergeant Classick color was a slightly cloudy golden with minimal, with late legs. It presented first with a sour moldy cork, over a tarry leather, background. A bit of honey and with much airing, a bare hint of vanilla. On reflection I find what I can only describe as a raw, edgy oak. Some very deep spice notes.
As for taste, Classick opens really quite beautifully, sweet and smooth. The sweetness slides into a smooth growing pepperiness, for an astringent leathery, hot black pepper finish that glides into a glowing white pepper aftertaste. Chest warming. Sue Sea's son Brian concurred and found the Sgt. smooth, hot and easy to drink.
Sergeant Classick was a very difficult rum to both taste and rate. I have to agree with Sue Sea that the pungent, sour and even harsh aroma was hard to get past. It colored my entire experience. And few, few molasses rums have presented this way. Classick did not fit my expected profile. Still, it did present some remarkable smooth sweetness in the palate, though finishing very hot (something we like).
I believe this is a rum that may - may - become an acquired taste for some. But I believe most molasses-based rum drinkers will prefer a more traditional profile. This is not to say this is a poorly made rum, or that it lacks quality. But it must be rated with a view to the profiles of molasses rums generally available, and in consideration of expectations for this class.
I am caused to speculate as to Classick's unusual profile. It is reported to be a very young rum, in fact not aged at all! The distiller has used what others call "distress aging" - a brief use of oak wood chips for color, some quick oak notes, and to hopefully round some of the harsh edges of a new spirit. But no quick dunk can be expected to replace years of expensive and careful aging in oak. What you likely get are oak additives, some substractives but relatively few interactives.
This technique is normally restricted to home distillers who lack either time or money for barrel aging. It is also an occasional and controversial technique used in the wine industry.
This, plus some possible heads and tails elements (normally smoothed or removed by real aging) may account for the sour and musty edginess we experienced. Our tasting differed from the few reviews I have seen. My bottle may have been an aberration, or this small distiller has not yet achieved consistency. Or the rum that was supplied to the competition or BTI was not what was in our bottle - or - that as an unaged gold rum, it was rated more for its mixing qualities. Classick may be trying to replace years of expensive aging with his special still and distilling process, distress aging and filtration techniques - for which he gives Ed Hamilton some credit.
In sum, an unaged and unusual rum that needs more time, and consideration. Now for the magic question: should you buy a bottle? I say absolutely yes, if only for your rum education regarding heads and tails, and the importance of aging.
And you may just like it...
Ratings (10 is best): Sue Sea - 4, Jimbo - 5