Penny Blue: Mauritian spirits, and a rum...

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Capn Jimbo
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Penny Blue: Mauritian spirits, and a rum...

Post by Capn Jimbo »

A new member brought this one to my attention...

...and from a guy who appreciates Mount Gay XO and Doorly's XO as well. The website is well worth visiting:

https://www.pennybluerum.com/

"Mauritian" refers to the island of Mauritius (Wiki: "Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent.")

Although I couldn't find much specific information regarding their process, I did note that the releases seem to be limited batches, and using some interesting combinations of ex-bourbon/cognac/whiskey barrels. Several of the PB rums have been tested (see the Master Sugar list) and were relatively pure...

If anyone can add some tasting notes, that would be well appreciated by all...


*******
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritius
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The Black Tot
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Post by The Black Tot »

Will post some notes when I get back to land in a few weeks.

It's a very nice drinking rum. Berry Bros will have us believe that each batch is sufficiently different for us to "collect 'em all", but I'm a much tougher customer these days than I used to be.

I haven't sipped mine in nearly two years so I'm not ready to give notes other than I figured it was worth its price, but I was focused on rounding up things that were in greater risk of extinction, so I didn't stock up.

It's aged in BB+R's scottish warehouses where they also age their Glenrothes single malts. Not open to the public for tours - I asked a while ago.
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Post by four bells »

Cap'n,

I read somewhere that they use a continuous single column still. The last time I drank it, I got the flavours coming to me in layers which has only happened to me once before with MGXO. The PB opened up with oranges followed by vanilla,cream, chocolate and oak. I remember it balancing out beautifully and giving of more citrus flavours that my inexperienced palate could not discern whether it be lemon, grapefruit, or both. Amazon say my next bottle will arrive today (although I can't see them delivering on a Sunday)!
Will give a proper review here when she comes.

Black Tot,

I hear what you say about there not being any noticeable differences in each batch, although I noticed from their site that batch#4 is the only batch not to have used cognac barrels. Batch#5 coming out soon would have been aged in 62% cognac, 30% whiskey, and 8% bourbon and whiskey casks. If there is no noticeable difference then what would be the point in going to the trouble of using specific barrels to age the rum in, instead of just using any old barrels. I will review batch#5 also and see if your claims are substantiated.
I find that I need to drink a full bottle before I get to really know the rum.
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Post by four bells »

Forgive me Black Tot,

I see that you're saying 'sufficient' differences, not 'noticeable' differences..........
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Post by The Black Tot »

No worries 4B.

You've definitely added to the discussion, as I didn't know about the differing cooperage strategies.

It's a good distillate, they may be using a column still but they're not taking it to vodkaland.

Having said that, I'm not inclined to jump through the hoop every time they put it in a different finishing barrel.

If they do a particular finish and it's so awesome that they decide to stick with it, that will pique my interest and I'd buy another bottle at that point. Until then I'll run with the "replace when empty" strategy.
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

Guys, nice discussion, love it!

Tot made a good point about the column, and I think Richard Seale - who also uses columns - might agree. So would the boyz over at "Home Distillng" - it's all in the set-up, number of plates, draw off points, etc. El Dorado also uses some smaller columns that at least once were more than capable of producing some pretty heavy distillate. Of course these are FAR different than the huge, multi-industrial stills used by the Big Three.

4B, I too found the differing woods interesting. PB would surely benefit by a more informative discussion of not only their still, but really the entire process and the aging regimen.

You know it's funny to think that ten years ago the distillers loudly denied that rums were altered in any way - which as most know we fought tooth and nail. And today unadulterated rums are much more widely produced and appreciated.

Great comments. Soon my gal and I will be travelling much more extensively (either by sailboat or otherwise) and I can't wait to check out rums that even in South Florida were hard to find.
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Post by four bells »

Allo chaps,

Just spent a good hour or so reviewing foursquare spiced rum that didn't 'submit' because I was not logged in!
Better make some lunch now while I've still half a bottle.............
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Post by four bells »

If you sail down to the leeward islands, enjoy the nudist beaches of saint martin and guadeloupe!
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Post by The Black Tot »

Not sure how much fun Saint Martin will be right now, nearly a third of it was flattened by Irma.
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For the victims of Hurricane Irma.

Post by four bells »

It's easy for me to forget this tragedy across the ocean as I don't see the news much these days, so must apologise for my insensitive remark and offer my condolences to all you american and Island people who have lost so much, or in a lot of cases, have lost everything. I hope that you receive help and kindness in these hard times, and mother luck shines down on you.
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Post by four bells »

Received my Penny Blue on Monday, looks lovely but there's a tiny white spec floating in there, must be from the corking I suppose. Unfortunately I've been indulging in my other passion the last few days, drinking tea!
So will review soon at the right moment.........
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