The Foursquare-Velier collaboration is one of the bastions of the rum world going gaga in the real time. What do I mean by that? The rum world (and more broadly fine spirits) is driven alot by scarcity - when something is rare, it's often times more valuable. Of course that's not a necessity nor is it law, but it tends to be the a major underpinning when we look at what's most sought after.

And early in the days of Velier's success with chief Luca Gargano at the helm, were rums that were entirely impossible to recreate or produce anymore - these were either rums from early vintages, from no longer existent distilleries, or one-offs that would never be made again. And certainly, it was a feat to stay true to one's conviction that these were products of great quality and to also mete out an excellent execution of its marketing to the world - it's one thing to know something is valuable, its entirely another to convince everyone else of its value. But Luca did. 

However, in my opinion, what happened after would make that seem like a piece of cake. 

At some point the number of one-offs/yesteryear vintages/bygone distilleries producing great rums would have eventually run out - every stone had been turned, and so what then? Velier would find a way to popularise rums that didn't quite have scarcity value - just consider that for a second. You're getting folks to value something that wasn't traditionally valuable.

Now, of course, one could argue that the rum tasted so good that everyone wanted it, or that each limited edition was after all, limited to the number of bottles produced. But that's still a tough sell; why should people take a chance on younger rums that are still in continued production?

Luca (left) and Richard (right). (Image Source: Velier)

Velier's collaboration with Barbados' Foursquare is one such instance. Expressions like the "2006", "Sassafras", "Triptych" have definitely become collector's items and are more coveted than anything legal could taste that good.

In my opinion, what Velier had successfully done was to sell these rums' future value - that they would one day be the stuff of legends.

Of course, things might've been slow at the start, but you see where I'm going with this. While the Velier-Foursquare collaboration continues to add to its tapestry, the entire series remains highly coveted beyond the passe quality of simply being scarce. These bottles are snatched up the moment they hit the virtual SKU pages - that's the perceived future value at work.

Now, I've talked at length about one half of this collaboration. Let's expand on the other - Foursquare and its chief Richard Seale.

To make the aforementioned dynamic work, two hands have got to clap. You can't promote something people can't trust will be good in that perceived future.

Richard, the king of consistency. (Image Source: Rum Auctioneer)

And hence Richard's ability to produce great tasting rums with such consistency is truly a feat - his superb blending ability, willingness to experience with various casks and maturation regimes is simply phenomenal. Rather than rest on the laurels of a well-regarded core range, he's constantly embraced putting out new expressions in the form of the Velier collaboration for one, and his own Exceptional Cask Selection (ECS) being another. Each release demonstrating his repertoire of technical capabilities, and yet somehow delivering the same high quality each time. 

However, as the laundry lists of Foursquare limited releases stretches on, I'm not sure if it's become its own hurdle at times, with many folks beginning to get complacent, of the opinion that Foursquare's eventually pretty much taste the same, and are within arm's length of one another - perhaps some drama is what the people want? I think we've seen some compromise to make that happen with the likes of the Foursquare LFT (Long Fermentation Type) White Rum that was released under Velier's Habitation Velier umbrella - a real first for the distillery as it pandered to the high ester trend.

In any case, I'm not one to snuff at what I have with me on the basis of consistency - I'm generally down to see what I find.

Foursquare, a real treasure out of Barbados, second only to Rihanna. (Image Source: Visit Barbados)

And that brings us to the new Velier-Foursquare Raconteur. 

The Raconteur is the eighth release in the collaboration I believe, and is also the oldest. It is a single blended rum - meaning it all comes from the Foursquare distillery and comprises of both pot and column still rums, as is typically the case for the Barbados distillery. One component of the blend is a 17 year old rum entirely aged in ex-Bourbon barrels, and the other component is a double matured rum that's been aged for 5 years in ex-Bourbon and then 12 more years in ex-Oloroso Sherry barrels. Foursquare has indicated that moving forward, longer aged rums will be a new major theme for the distillery's releases.

"The name of the new release is a tribute to two great rum “raconteurs”: Luca himself and the late Stephen Remsberg, a great collector who passed away last December." says the Velier website.

Let's have at it.

Foursquare Raconteur 2006, 17 Year Old, 61% ABV - Review

Tasting Notes

Color: Copper/Amber

Aroma: Punchy and intensely aromatic with lots of spiced honey, a more earthy and dark tobacco and clove spice, and then the classic licorice, cola syrup and sarsaparilla root. Little bits of cacao nibs and heavily toasted coconut flakes and again heavily toasted hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts. There’s a little bit of wood varnish and glue too. Rolling back the top notes, denser notes of caramel, vanilla cream, maple syrup, and also dusty rubber tyres. A very distinct herbal and earthy quality all throughout - of medicinal roots, that’s backed up by caramel, cola syrup, clove, and woodiness. 

Taste: It starts off almost this body of buttery textured sort of maple syrup and cough syrup mixture. It’s quite mellow and neutral, and then after a second it turns more herbal and medicinal of eucalyptus, with alittle bit of that squeaky varnish and burnt brown sugar, and then more on old wood. It’s very herbal with light drying tannins, reminiscent of extra strong black tea. Further down it gets alittle more savoury and umami, still on that light acetone towards the finish.

Finish: The flavours almost seem to turn up more here - with more on dark chocolates, worn leather, dried fruits, raisins and trail mix, but at the same time it continues to remain herbal and medicinal, think sarsaparilla roots. This is reinforced by herbal but sweet notes of manuka honey, Pei Pa Koa cough syrup, clove spices and heavily toasted coconut flakes. There’s a long warmth and then ending with alittle bit of those rubber tyres.

My Thoughts

The aromas and the finish certainly delivered in bringing out such intense flavours that had a classic Foursquare core but wrapped around with the Sherry flavours - albeit the Sherry flavours are subtle and so well-integrated that they don’t immediately stand out, but have being married into the mix. 

The body, however, was really mellow, and while from a technical perspective it is a marvel that despite such long aging, it remains this mellow and isn’t over-oaked, taste-wise it didn’t offer anything particularly special or matched the intensity of the aromas and the finish, which was alittle bit of a letdown. It also seemed like the Sherry component of the aging might have blunted the classic Foursquare flavours and neutralised one another, as it seemed to display neither profile and was quite neutral, really. 

On the whole, this was definitely a decent Foursquare, but it certainly doesn’t bring the action like we know the best of Foursquare’s to have been able to achieve. I would have liked it more if at the front of the palate it came through more flavourwise and had more intensity and especially if it could showcase both the classic cola cubes, coconuts, peaches that we love from Foursquare, as well as more of those dried fruits, maybe even the nuttiness and balsamic that we find in Oloroso sherries - these became more prominent towards the finish.

Judging from the community consensus, I think a mix of the technicalities of the bottle, the price, and of course, the sheer unavailability as always, it seemed like fans were expecting more - more intense, perhaps, or at least having brought something unique to the Foursquare literature, of which it seemed to have fallen short.

A tasty Foursquare worth trying no less, and a technical marvel. 

Kanpai!

@111hotpot