"last, but one"

It's not all that contestable to say that everyone loves the Foursquare Exceptional Cask Selection (ECS) series of Barbados rums - we've come to count on it for above and beyond, incredibly consistent and reliable flavours. You know it's going to be good, and when in doubt, it's what you reach for at the bar, knowing full well you're going to enjoy it. Yet perhaps we've started to get too comfortable with the thought that perhaps this series was always going to last, and maybe we need to stop taking it for granted - maybe this might be a signal for the end.

Before rums were as big as they are today, Barbados's legendary Foursquare Distillery, helmed by its just as esteemed owner, master distiller and blender Richard Seale, had already begun what will most certainly go down in history as an iconic hallmark collection of rums, that is the Exceptional Cask Series. The first release all the way back in 2008, with the debut Foursquare 1998 Vintage ECS Mark I. And into the close of 2025, the series is about to count 30 releases till date, with its Foursquare Penultimus ECS Mark XXX.

Now along the way, we've learnt a whole lot of vocabulary with every several ECS being given a name which also happens to be a word we didn't yet know the meaning of and had to look up, yet this one - Penultimus - we can reasonably gather as to what it might refer to.

On the back, it seems that our suspicions are confirmed with the message "last, but one" - could this be the end of the Foursquare Exceptional Cask Series in sight?

Say it isn't so!

Yet, the fact is that all good things must come to an end and Richard Seale and his mighty distillery has most certainly given it an incredible run, but also maybe it could mean something entirely else? At the moment only Richard knows the answer!

Nevertheless, we do know what the specs are for this potentially fateful release.

"A blend of rums distilled in the copper double retort pot still and the continuous twin column still of Foursquare and aged for 15 years in Ex-Bourbon and Ex-Moscatel casks.", the Foursquare Penultimus ECS XXX is bottled at 57% ABV (114 Proof).

Kanpai!

88 Bamboo Editorial Team