Capn Jimbo's Rum Project Forum

[sleepy]

Not something I'd normally consider, given the absurd price, but a bottle was regifted to me, so...

I'm reviewing my second tasting, as I didn't quite believe that my first impression was fair. For Sue, it comes in a heavy, square-shouldered bottle with a faux parchment label portraying a classic island plantation house.

It has a high nose of dried orange rind, merging into honey as it airs, with an extremely powerful french oak below. It has moderate legs in the glass and a clear green edge (ok - yellowish in current light).

It hits the mouth bone dry, edging toward bitter, with almost no forward flavor and a delayed BLAST of oak and mouth numbing pepper continuing into a very long finish. The after flavor brings a return of the orange rind and a bit of spice - clove, maybe. A mild belch confirms my initial thoughts on this rum - it's far closer to Cognac than to any rum I've encountered.

I'm not going to waste time searching, but I'm going to guess that this is aged in new oak (most likely, French) barrels - toasted, or minimally charred. I see no age statement on the bottle, but Clement VSOP is definitely oak dominant.

Nope, I won't rate it - I feel that it is out of class - an attempt at making cane juice cognac, which just ain't rum by my lights.

[Capn Jimbo]

Thanks for the review...


Sleepy, thanks. Had to laugh, a "mild belch" confirmed some flavors for you, lol. But we know what you mean. Sue Sea would call this an exhale. Some good taster will allow the spirit to pool in the sides of their mouth, then kind of inhale over the sort of bubbling spirit to draw off more vapors, which are then "exhaled" through the discriminating nasal cavities.

That aside, it's clear you got a lot - perhaps too much wood. According to their site the VSOP is aged for 4 years - and you are right - in new Limosin (French oak) "barriques", but also some Amercian bourbon barrels. The distiller sites tasting notes but they are nothing like yours...