To be honest, people don't go loco for Trinidad's sole surviving rum-maker Angostura (or more specifically, its rum-producing subsidiary, TDL, which produces Angostura rums).

If you can find it all year round at supermarkets and they're positioned as mass market brands, with a lighter-style to boot, you'd have thought that a TDL rum would be a pretty tough sell. You'd be forgiven for that mistake because this 18 Year Old TDL, bottled by Compagnie Des Indes for Singapore's The Auld Alliance bar and wine and spirits retailer, Colheitas, was gone in record time.

It is apparently the first of a series of six single casks that were all distilled on the same day, but will be matured to varying ages before being bottled, and as such will give drinkers a chance to see the effect the aging factor has on it. 

Did you know Angostura made rums to supply its bitters business?

So how did it become such a hit? It was billed as a serious "fruit bomb" with heavy notes of tinned lychee. Who knew resemblance to a supermarket can of fruit was so motivating?

Before we go at it let's recap TDL's history. TDL is currently the only rum distillery in Trinidad, primarily producing the Angostura rum. And if the name rings a bell, you might be thinking about Angostura Bitters, which was actually the original product of the Angostura company.

(Image Source: Cocktail Wonk)

However, as the bitters got increasingly popular, Angostura found itself buying rum in bulk to lower the cost of producing its bitters. At some point it made economic sense to establish its own rum distillery to supply the base input for its bitters, the excess rum would then be bottled as Angostura rum under the TDL subsidiary.

Over a series of complicated geopolitical and economic circumstances, the company came to acquire another key distillery, Fernandes, and when the now-legendary shuttered Caroni Distillery came down as well, TDL had acquired some of its remaining rum stock. Regardless, TDL today remains as Trinidad's only rum distillery and hence we have TDL or Angostura rum.

Let's have a go at it! 

Compagnie Des Indes TDL 2003, Trinidad Rum, 18 Years Old, Single Cask For The Auld Alliance and Colheitas, 58.8% ABV - Review

Tasting Notes

Color: Copper

Aroma: Incredibly expressive! Immediate hits of bright tinned fruit syrup - lychees, very specifically. It's quite confectionary, sugary and estery. It's incredibly bright, think cotton candy. This takes some time to let up before more notes of canned peaches show up, green apple chewy candy, little bit of passionfruit as well as overripe pineapples. There's also a more herbaceous side of it - freshly chopped basil and mint, alittle bit squeaky as well with gentle notes of sharper diesel.

Taste: It is quite oily - whipped cream and tinned lychees. But also more funk of overripe pineapples and also passionfruit. There's more sweetness of butterscotch and also a hit of olive brine. A more earthy side as well that is reminiscent of fresh Crimini mushrooms, just harvested from the soil. Nonetheless the standout note is the confectionary syrup-laden lychees.

Finish: Long and more dirty - diesel and engine grease, more green olive brine, as well as a more herbaceous bite - mint, parsley, oregano. Olive oil and a touch of margarine emerge as well. 

My Thoughts

I can see why this was such a stunner to most folks, assuming they actually tried it rather than hoarded it - it has incredibly aromatic notes of fruit, which itself is insufficient for this sort of excitement, rather it is how acutely it delivers on the palate the tinned lychees and syrup promised on the nose. It is ultimately the taste that gets the people going!

It has a dirty and squeaky side of it that is reminiscent of high ester Jamaican rums and also alittle bit of its fallen Trinidad compatriot - or perhaps a tad bit of the Clairin Casimir. Which sort of propels the confectionary lychee notes into a mental image I have of jet fuel - intense, bright, and fume-like. 

This is really a wonderful rum in every sense of the word. It has a great amount of complexity, obviously the tropical fruits are the real draw, but also more underrated are the fresh earthy notes and the herbs. All incredibly fresh!

Nonetheless, this doesn't seem to quite fit what we know of TDL - is it wrong to say this is too good to be a TDL? Most TDL's lean closer towards light brown sugary notes, but this is nothing like that. This is truly a standout. A high-ester TDL perhaps.

This was gone in a flash, and most of them went to private individuals, but I do know Singapore's The Auld Alliance still has a bottle left on pour.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot