After the Caroni 1996 Guyana Blended Paradise #1, it was only natural to taste the second bottling of the Paradise range too - the Caroni 1998 Heavy Trinidad Paradise #2.

This particular Caroni bears the Heavy Trinidad Rum (HTR) marque, having been distilled in 1998, transferred to Cognac, France, in 2019 and stored in dame-jeannes until its bottling in 2022. It comes from a single cask #3918 and bottled at 56.3% abv with an outturn of 242 bottles.

Like its older brother, the nose of the 98 is very gentle despite being a HTR, caramel and molasses. There’s lots of fresh notes in the glass too, mint, green apples, interestingly I did pick up a slight greenness, coupled with a side of malt, ripe mangoes and tropical flavours.

The palate is where the HTR reveals itself, and from the start you get a blend of sweetness and tar that envelops the tongue. Strangely enough, despite being the younger of the two, the wood stands out in the glass too, spicy, oak, rather dry and grippy on the sides of the palate. The finish brings back a bit of the tar, but mostly dominated by more pleasant and softer notes of vanilla, guava, and florals.

Between the two, the common consensus was that the 96 was by far the better one. Not only was it more pleasant, but it also showed more depth, more complexity, and perhaps more character. The 98, while still a rather pleasant Caroni, unfortunately did not shine as much as we would have expected, which may be reflected in the common trend that earlier Caronis from 96-97 are seemingly better distillates when compared to the ones from 98-99.

Image Courtesy of @weixiang_liu