(Image Source: @exceptionaldrinks on Carousell)

Background: for my taste, 1996 is the best vintage for a Caroni rum. This particular one comes from a cask selected by Old Whisky, as a part of “[t]he first release of single casks of Caroni 1996 of which three barrels were bottled”. Since Old Whisky is a retail arm of Velier, this cask is most likely handpicked by Luca Gargano.

Nose: exceptionally rounded for the proof, yet thick and rich as hell; buttery brioche is an immediate association; then yeast, cheese, salted caramel and freshly roasted coffee beans; this almost starts like the Bérêche & Fils Reflet d'Antan I recently drank; sweet, perfumey wood and resins precedes a layer of minty grape bubblegum; this great balance of acidity and sweet-savouriness persists all the way to the base notes; further into the glass, the 20 years of ageing becomes more apparent; like the best Caronis, the assertive oak structure is perfectly integrated with the earthy, industrial notes representative of the distillery's profile; tar; used frying grease; sizzling fish and meat fat; the Hampden-esque earthy brine of hummus, baba ganoush and olive tapenade; more dense earthiness, on conched cocoa, salmiak liquorice, grilled mushrooms, artichoke, and all sorts of deep-fried starchy roots; Marmite; green herbs and medicinal herbs; a blend of numerous old amari; baked and roasted mixed nuts; the caramelised maltiness indicative of the Rare Malts line of scotch whisky; a base that combines potpourri with intense notes of tobacco.

Palate: oily and syrupy, with immense concentration; incredibly drying at first; all kinds of wood gums and powdery resins; conched cocoa; coffee beans fried with butter; brioche; a melange of herbal root extracts; dusty fernet; zhu ye qing jiu; root beer and cola; cumin; curry; sichuan peppercorn; Christmas spice cake; aggressive tea tannins, first from oolongs such as rou gui and da hong pao, followed by pu-er, matcha and first-flush Darjeeling; the nice greenness of morning dew on grass, raw almond and ripe William pear; an explosion of berries followed by tropical, yellow and citrus fruits, similar to what I got in The Last, just that the fruits here are of the dried and concentrate varieties; mango; apricot; peach; kumquat; mandarin peel; ume and dried black prunes and raisins, in hot chocolate – the combination is evocative of Amedei Chuao; on the back-palate, there is black forest cake and a creamy, peppery Cuban cigar.

Finish: one of the longest in recent memory; rather similar to the palate, with more brine, herbs and minerals and less fruits; first on amari, tobacco, embrocations, tar and industrial grease; then a huge hit of umami; Marmite; charred hummus; burnt ends; cocoa in many forms, from the sweet-savoury roasted beans to the most lusciously sweet and yoghurty dark milk chocolate bars; dark fruits and baking spices; sugar roasted chestnuts; cassava and tapioca chips; vegetal peat; norimaki senbei; wasabi-coated green peas; chargrilled fatty fish the likes of salmon and tuna belly; olive rice, fried with a ton of dried mushrooms; salted caramel; freshly baked earthenware; more fishy brine, this time accompanied by the smouldering landfill note of a high-ester Long Pond; burning plastics and rubber; some vanilla rubber tyre note too; wet rocks and wet metals; the chocolate comes back to support notes of fresh blood, rust, liquorice, camphor, cling wrap and Luxardo cherries in the aftertaste.

Conclusion: while its sister cask #R3719 (selected by Giuseppe Begnoni) has got the most singular expression of tar and earth, this cask stands out with its humongous depth and breadth. In fact, it is deeper and broader than any other Caroni I have tried. It is also Caroni at its most savoury, and that must count for something. Who would have thought that pairing a Caroni rum with rich and heavy mains can work so well. Yet it does here, only the pairing is done in the confines of a small nosing glass. A spirit more than worthy of its mythical status.

Score (assuming a normal distribution with mean 50): 95/100

Image Courtesy of u/zoorado. 

u/zoorado