Foursquare's new Exceptional Cask Selection (ECS) Mandamus was announced just slightly over a month ago, and this time we're so lucky to have Foursquare's very own Gayle and Christian Seale swinging by to drop off a bottle with The Rum Cartel who gave the bottle a nice debut moment at Shangri-La Hotel's Origin Bar - so let's get right into it!

Foursquare's ECS releases has persistently held on to its fanbase because it's just been so consistently solid - each year sees about three new ECS expressions - and yet at the same time the Barbados distillery has always found the ability to weave in there just a little something that moves the needle that much. And so what you get is an assurance that it's going to be good, and yet it's also always going to be something exciting because it's just that much a different take on Foursquare's signature flavours. Be it cask type or age, or the combination of both - let's just call it 50 Shades of Foursquare!

Foursquare Distillery's Master Distiller and Blender Richard Seale.

|Read: [Interview] Don’t Call Foursquare Experimental: A Word With Richard Seale, Barbados’ Hottest Rum Maker

Which really is at heart the ethos of Foursquare's enigmatic chief Richard Seale. He's been clear that he's not interested in being experimental or new for newness sake, and that for him it's all about the art of consistency. Yet at the same time, the ECS releases have painted a picture of an expert craftsman whose mastered their artform and yet continuously seeks to explore and better understand how each adjustment in his technique or the finest changes in his brush can serve to reinterpret his style or subject matter. It draws to mind Monet's iconic water lilies - always the same flower, yet somehow every painting is different.

Monet's Water Lilies.

And that's all landed us here today in front of the Foursquare ECS Mandamus. This is ECS XXIX or the 29th Edition of the Foursquare ECS series. This is aged for a whopping 16 years old (notice how we're comfortably pushing beyond the 14 year old mark for each release by this point, therefore even if it's the same cask selection, it's not quite the same rum) which can be broken down as 10 years first in ex-Bourbon and then 6 more years of aging in ex-Port barrels. As is always the case for Foursquare's ECS releases, this is a blend of pot and column still rums from Foursquare Distillery.

Let's go!

PS. Shoutout to Monsieur Fred from The Rum Cartel who's always amongst the first (and very often the first) to get hold of the most exciting rum releases! 

Rum Review: Foursquare Mandamus ECS XXIX (29th Edition) 16 Year Old, 57% ABV

Tasting Notes

Aroma: Bursts with familiar layers of brown sugar, honey and caramel, deep and rounded in the way you’ll come to expect from Foursquare. There’s a glaze-like sweetness that reminds me of teriyaki sauce, woven with burnt orange peel. There is a slight floral edge that brightens the profile in the form of white elderflowers. Then comes the tart and jammy fruits, with sour cherries, black grapes, liquor-soaked plums and dried apricot. Liquorice runs underneath along with a lifted mintiness. A subtle resinous note of polished agarwood. It feels very much a classic Foursquare at its core, but with a noticeably more light honey/floral accent and fairly rich oakiness that comes with age.

Taste: Unmistakably a Foursquare ECS, opening with a distinctive rancio in the initial attack, with honey and dark fruits setting the stage. It’s full of lush red tones the likes of maraschino cherries, stewed plums, and dried orange peels that ease into mid-palate vanilla, caramel and earthy-savoury touches of hazelnut and butterscotch. It’s got a generous but precise sweetness that never tips into excess. Towards the back, a herbal syrup quality blends with aromatic agar wood. The oak begins to softly assert itself here, with tannins and spice–cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg.

Finish: Long and unfolding, carrying that herbal syrup well into aftertaste. Dry oak spice and mixed nuts as tannins grip more firmly now, along with minor impressions of vanilla and a gentle creaminess of toasted coconut that contrasts with the dry spice.  

My Thoughts

The Mandamus is a rum of great generosity and character. The longer aging seems to bring out more vanillic sweetness and honeyed tones, while the port continues to contribute those jammy, stewed fruit dimensions that sit more comfortably in the more aged blend (as compared to older port-influenced ECS expressions).

What I mean is that while the port cask lends more tannic grip and oak spice than a pureplay ex-bourbon ECS, the density generated by the longer period of ex-bourbon aging seems to incorporate it better and keep things balanced while some tannins and spice add structure and liveliness. 

This line is famous for its consistency, and the Mandamus is no exception in terms of its DNA, yet you can clearly taste the rewards of an extended 16-year aging: richer caramel, brown sugar and vanilla depth, with port influences well integrated. For me, this is probably the most layered of the ex-port cask aged Foursquare ECS so far. To take two points of reference, this feels a little rounder and more confectionary-influenced than the Covenant (which stands at 18 years, 100% ex-bourbon), and its port integration seems more seamless and complete compared to younger port-aged expressions like the Détente (10 years, of which 6 were spent in ex-port casks).

@CharsiuCharlie