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Fahrenheit 173 - Aged Spirits
"If it's not good enough to drink slowly, then it's not worth drinking"
Bristol Spirits Rum | 7 Dec 2008 | ||
At the "Whisky Ship" in Zürich last week I didn't just try whisky. In one room I happened upon a tempting array of rums from Bristol Spirits and I couldn't resist taking a closer look.
Bristol Spirits is a British company that selects and bottles aged rum, mainly "single rums" (i.e. rums from one single distillery). Most of their bottlings state the name of the distillery (sometimes even the name of the still!) on the label. I had an interesting chat with John Barrett, the director of the company, and I tried a handful of his rums. My tasting notes:
Bristol Spirits Caroni (Trinidad) 1998:
Fragrant, fruity nose with arrack and herbal notes. Quite nice palate: rich, spicy and a little smoky.
(86 p)
Bristol Spirits Caroni (Trinidad) 1989:
Mild nose with notes of fruits and caramelized sugar. Rich, complex, spicy and fruity palate.
Balanced and very nice! (The new bottling of the month)
(88 p)
Bristol Spirits Caroni (Trinidad) 1974:
Complex, rather nice yet quiet nose. Rich, spicy and oaky palate (but not too oaky)
with notes of dried fruits and cinnamon. Very nice finish. Best without water, despite the 46% ABV.
(87 p)
Bristol Spirits Rockley (Barbados) 1986:
Big, pungent nose, unusual - even strange - with notes of fruits, arrack and black tea.
The palate is nicer: rich, sweet with a light minty note. Big, full-flavoured but chaotic.
(80 p)
Bristol Spirits Long Pond (Jamaica) 1975:
Strange, "dark", musty nose with notes of spices and burnt sugar. Spicy, smoky
palate, also oaky and quite dry. (Milder and nicer with water.)
(83 p)
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