Another bottle, another Caroni rum from @masterofmalt. This comes in the form of release No.41 from @masterofmalt’s own line spirits which largely features single cask whiskies, and the odd rum or cognac in-between.

What I really like from the range is the wealth of information available on the labels, providing just about enough for the discerning drinker to know about the provenance of the liquid, the cask type, just to name a couple of them. This particular Caroni then was distilled in December 1997 and emptied from the cask in January 2020, resulting in 22 years of aging, although we aren’t sure the years of tropical and continental aging. It was eventually bottled and sold in 2022, with an outturn of 284 bottles at an abv of 61.6%.

The nose brought with it that unmistakable tarriness, paired with petrol fumes, varnish, oak, and vanilla. The fruity notes took a backseat in this one, although some of those red and yellow fruits were able to eke through the earlier pungency, bananas, fuji apples, and a little hint of dried mangoes. There was a nice bit of salted peanuts in the dram, and a kind of warmth or toastiness that came with it too.

The palate was unmistakably a dirty one, with tar and petrol enveloping the palate almost immediately, although it had a great balance too considering that you could hardly tell it was bottled at 61% abv. I could pick up hints of savouriness, and some of those red fruits, with a side of vanilla, oak, and slightly drying too. It then settled nicely into a medium length finish, with cola, more rubber again, and candy.

This one then is a rather nice, and a very reasonably priced Caroni, showing that there are still some fine casks out there which are very affordable, allowing rare liquid from a lost distillery like Caroni to be accessible to the masses. Kudos to the folks at @masterofmalt for a rum like this.

Image Courtesy of @weixiang_liu