Cuba, Italy, Scotland

The Scots from Murray McDavid Renegade offer a range of around ten rums from different origins that they send to Islay to mature them for a few years, with the particularity of giving them different finishes in order to add complexity and character. Before reducing everything to 46° with pure Islay water… And like any good independent bottler, there is no filtration or coloring. Direction Cuba, via Italy and Scotland…

Price : €50 for this rum limited to 1800 bottles (70cl and 46°).

Age : 11 years. Distilled in 1998 (Paraiso distillery in Sancti Spiritus in Cuba), aged in bourbon casks and then bottled at the Bruichladdich distillery in Islay in Scotland. The rum was refined there in Amarone casks (Italian red wine).

I have had several more or less successful experiences with the rums bottled by Renegade. It is not easy to find your way around with their finishes which give their range more or less powerful aspects and a certain character... especially when you are not a whisky lover. In comparison, I find the Bristol Classic rums much better balanced. On the French side, let us note the good ideas of HSE (Habitation Saint-Etienne) who also offer refinements to their rums.

This Renegade has a beautiful golden color and beautiful legs that swing out at a great pace.

The nose is fine and delicate, and gives off a scent of orchard fruit: apple, pear, and let's be clear, it almost feels like a calvados ! It is very light as you would expect from a Cuban rum. The almond paste is quite present and gives this gourmet dimension to the rum, added to a very pleasant floral note and some sweet spices (including cinnamon).

The nose now moves towards grapes (white) and recalls a dessert wine, slightly bitter and sweet. For a short moment we have the impression of no longer being above a rum but indeed facing one of these wines (pouilly). Amarone is however a red wine but it is clearly towards white wines that this rum oscillates. A light woody, suave, makes this nose truly unique and very perfumed: the term perfume is ideal here given the magnificent nose that this Renegade offers us.

The entry in the mouth is soft and silky but quickly becomes powerful despite the 'small' 46° ; we are on the vegetal, fresh (grass) and dry (straw), and the mineral with notes of iodine quite present and which sets the tone for a mouth resolutely different from the nose. The smell of dessert wine has given way to a mouth that would be closer to tequila than rum (note that we are still not facing a rum). The apple (green, granny smith) still makes an appearance, as well as dried fruits.

The finish is moderately long , still vegetal and herbaceous, spicy, before letting the apple reappear. A rum which in the end is far from boring, very expressive and this until the end.

A rather destabilizing rum. First we have a magnificent and unusual nose, closer to a perfume and which moves away from a classic rum, and then we have a powerful mouth which goes towards vegetal and mineral notes until the end. Destabilizing therefore, but suddenly very interesting. I always find myself mixed in front of this one, can the nose make all the difference? of course not, but the contrast is stimulating, and the apple which makes the link during the whole tasting is there. the balance is perhaps not perfect but this rum has something unique and it is all to its credit. Note : 78

To help you (and me) find your way around, regarding the notes:

90 and + : exceptional and unique rum, it is the best of the best
between 85 and 89 : highly recommended rum, with that little something that makes the difference
between 80 and 84 : recommendable rum
75-79 POINTS : above average
70-74 POINTS : in the low average
less than 70 : not very good

Review courtesy of DuRhum.com.

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