Berry Brothers & Rudd 16 Year Old Enmore Rum

Subtle, soft and medium bodied rums originating in Guyana and that define the fourth major standard style. To our sweethearts and wives, may they never meet!
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Hassouni
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Berry Brothers & Rudd 16 Year Old Enmore Rum

Post by Hassouni »

I bit the bullet and bought a $90 bottle of rum (two actually, but the other hasn't been opened). This is the first real independently bottled rum (though perhaps Scarlet Ibis and S&C count?) in my collection.

16 years old, from a "Versailles" pot still at Diamond, according to Berry Bros. What's Enmore about it? Who knows. Here's my half-assed review, given that I'm not great at picking apart flavors and smells:

Nose: bitter almond/kirsch notes, slight acetone/paint thinner type aromas down low, extremely faint almost strawberry-ish, bits of heathery scent reminiscent of highland malts. Initially varnished wood, then unvarnished, aged wood more apparent as it airs out. Notes of freshly carved pumpkin hit as well.

Taste: Initially fruity, but balanced. Indeterminate fruits, then pineapple on the finish, possibly passion fruit, balanced with black pepper and smoke (not peaty smoke); some pot-still esters and pervasive molasses tang/funk without the sweetness. in the same vein, a quick flash of Middle Eastern sugar syrup (the kind used for baklava), but again without being sweet. As in the nose, the wood also asserts itself in the taste after a few minutes.

General remarks:
Well, there's no doubting this is rum (as opposed to whisky), but 16 honest years in oak really have a lot of the same effect. Although I'm sure the sugar levels are 0g/L, it is marginally less dry than an unsherried single malt. It has a lot in common with MGXO and Seale's 10, but more robust, presumably due to it being 100% pot distillate. It's more powerful than the Bajans without arriving at the do-your-head-in dundery funk of a Smith & Cross or a Wray & Nephew. (Next up is the 10 year old Jamaican BBR rum....)

This is the first pour from the bottle, I'm sure it will change. I will do a side by side with ED15 later, but from what I remember of the latter, there is no comparison. From the last time I had some, the ED15 points in the direction of what this BBR rum offers, but doesn't reach it.
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Capn Jimbo
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

Lovely review...

Thanks for sharing it.
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