Last night’s affair at @mandalaclub.sg was an excellent one with @matthieugouze who brought us through the various rums from Jamaica, Barbados, and Fiji, that could be found in @plantation.rum’s lineup.

Perhaps what surprised me most was how the blends had changed over time, such as the Barbadian XO 20th Anniversary and the Xaymaca Special Dry, both markedly different from what I remembered them to be, but still tasty drams nonetheless.

Not forgetting the 1998 @longpondrumja that was bottled exclusively for Singapore, aged for 20 years in ex-bourbon casks, followed by another two years in ex-Ferrand cognac casks, before being finished in a Bardstown bourbon cask for ten months. The result is a rather elegant rum, quite clearly not one of those high ester marques from Long Pond, rich, fruity, with notes of red apples, mangoes, lots of vanilla and caramel from those long years in bourbon casks, and the unmistakable roundness stemming from the cognac influence.

Thank you @maylis.brg for the invitation to this wonderful tasting!

Image Courtesy of @weixiang_liu