Well, we're 26 releases into Foursquare's incredibly impressive Exceptional Cask Series (or ECS for short)!

And here we have the Edition 26, or Mark XXVI for the Latin folks out there (where my ancient Rome fans at?), and this is named Magisterium, which usually relates to a high office in a religious order whose job is to protect key texts from a higher order, as well as hold up important traditions - now what might that be a dig at?

If this is a showcase of rum mastery, is Foursquare chief Richard Seale therefore the rum master?

In any case, Foursquare's ECS Mark XXVI Magisterium is also very impressively a whopping 16 year old Bajan rum! That's incredibly long for Barbados, and we're really getting into some untested territory here - but that's what Foursquare has been showcasing to us, haven't they? This one is a pot and column still blend that's aged in ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks, and the key here will be to watch for how the wood is being controlled from turning the rum too tannic - very key here.

Now more specifically this is a blend of three parcels of single blended rums:

1. Parcel 1 (3 Years Ex-Bourbon + 13 Years Ex-Oloroso Sherry)

2. Parcel 2 (9 Years Ex-Bourbon + 7 Years Ex-Oloroso Sherry)

3. Parcel 3 (16 Years Ex-Bourbon)

This 58% ABV rum is indeed going to be a real show of some mastery of blending right here. 

So let's get right into it! 

PS. We were able to try this in the presence of Gayle Seale herself as one of Singapore's hottest new bar openings Bar Madame had organised a Barbados night! Shoutout to Bar Madame which sports an incredible selection of rums!

Rum Review: Foursquare Rum Magisterium ECS Mark XXVI, 58% ABV

Tasting Notes

Colour: Dark Amber / Copper

Aroma: It opens up luscious, really fruit forward here, with bright and candied cherries and red grapes. It's intense and forward, without much of that oaky dryness. It's also rather zesty, and packs some heat. More on strawberry jellies. yet there’s a floral touch of fresh lavender too. This is full on cherry, with some peach blossoms tossed in. 

Taste: Flavour forward with great smoothness. We're back on the strawberry jams, vanilla, with a light touch of Hack's candy even, as well as some orange peels. It is fuller bodied with a good, rich thickness. The spice gradually builds, with baking spices of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Finish: A long and persistent finish. More on brown sugar, strawberry jams, as well as some black licorice candy. The spice is equally persistent here, evoking a deep warmth. Hits of pepper. It's got a good polished quality to it.

My Thoughts

This was incredibly flavourful and yet remained mellow and approachable. What impressed me most beyond the great control of the wood - there was hardly any prominent oakiness at all after 16 years! - is how that red fruit character of strawberries simple persisted throughout. The baking spices also added to it some nice complexity in how it began to build over time. Really tasty stuff! And once again, such an impressed control over the oak! We're in rarefied territory here!