1423 – World Class Spirits are a Danish company established in 2008 that, among other spirits, take rum from around the world, age it and bottle it. They released their very first rum bottling in 2009 and today they are doing some interesting stuff like the S.B.S. The S.B.S or Single Barrel Selection are a number of limited edition releases where they source various casks from different countries and then bottle them when they are ready. As the name suggests they are only single casks – no blending occurred after maturation and the number of bottles on each release is very limited. The guys from Skylark Spirits are in charge of its the distribution in the UK.
My S.B.S Jamaica 2005 – 1 out of 227 bottles, is made from molasses at an undisclosed Jamaican distillery (Worthy Park), pot still distilled in July 2005 and bottled in March 2018 at 58.6% ABV (cask strength); non chill filtered and no additives as far as I know. The rum is 12 years old, spending 1 year in the tropics and 11 years maturing continentally. Not aware what type of cask so I am going to assume ex-Bourbon, like always, feel free to correct me, now I just want to drink it!
On the nose, oh that’s familiar, the estery fruits: pineapple, pear, green apple, rotting watermelon. Tobacco, leather and oak behind the fruits with hints of cocoa and nutmeg. Doesn’t feel as strong as it is, maybe that will change with the first sip…
On the palate, yep, that’s where the ABV is – punchy and acidic. Jamaican funk right there, take all the fruits from the nose, add some banana peel, put them in a bowl and let them rot. I have to say, this doesn’t want to be your bestie, I’m adding some water to try to discern more. This is better, I get some tomato juice, blueberries and honey too now; the 1423 website says hazelnuts, and I can see why, they are there if you look or them along with some butterscotch thanks to the oak. Peat smoke and a fruity sweetness lingers around for quite a while, almost like a nice scotch.
Funky cask strength Jamaican juice… yeap, I like this, the complexity is there along with a nice amount of hogo. The fruits take the main stage while the oak dances along in the back turning this into a nice choreography. If you think it’s too much when you sip it add a few drops of water – could do wonders. The more I sip it the easier it gets and more flavors arise. It’s not the only S.B.S Jamaican rum from 1423, they have quite a few more in their portfolio and I am looking forward to try as many as possible whenever I can.
S.B.S Jamaica 2005 score:
Flavour/taste: 58/70
Value for money: 13/15
Transparency/purity: 15/15
Overall: 86/100
Cheers!
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