Established in 1703 in Barbados, Mount Gay is the oldest commercial rum distillery in the world.
The newest MG release comes from Trudiann Branker, their new Master Blender who took over from Allen Smith earlier this year. What makes this rum special is the fact that is pure pot still rum, not blended with any column component. Pot still rum releases from Barbados are quite rare as most of the bottlings are often a blend of pot and column, light and heavy, in order to deliver a good balance between fruity and creamy.
Mount Gay also released the Origin Series – The Copper Stills, a pack with two 375ml bottles – a column still rum and a pot still rum – in order to showcase both styles and allow you to play and make your own blend. You can read about that here.
Mount Gay Pot Still is molasses based, distilled in 2009 in a double retort pot still and aged for 10 years in ex-Bourbon casks. For the last 6 months the rum was placed in first fill ex-Bourbon casks and then was bottled at a modest 48% ABV with only 4920 bottles available worldwide. Free of any additions but water. Let’s check it out!
On the nose there’s a certain acidity. Moth balls, wasabi, toffee, rose water, black peppercorns and grapefruit peel. It does smell quite spicy, then it’s followed by unripe stone fruits. Dusty cardboard, a bit of peppermint and honey with some floral notes. Complex aroma.
On the palate the spiciness is upped but so are the fruity notes. Ripe peach, melon, apricot and saffron. The wasabi is back and it tingles my tongue, drying up the fruity notes. Caramel, tobacco and toffee in the background just adding to the flavour along with some oak spices. There is a certain funk to it, but not in the classical Jamaican way. Mandarins, pistachios, English Breakfast tea, dark chocolate, raspberries and a touch of rhubarb. The more you leave it in the glass the fruitier and “sweeter” it becomes. The finish is long and spicy with hints of peach yogurt. This is a treat.
Absolutely gorgeous. Now when some people hear “pot still” first thing that comes in mind are those big bold funky flavours you get in a high ester Jamaican, but here it’s not the case. It has a lot of spiciness and stone fruits going on and definitely plenty of body but it isn’t funky per se, just delicious.
£120 on Master of Malt which is quite the money, but worth if you ask me.
Looking forward to what else Trudiann has up her sleeve!
Mount Gay Pot Still Rum score:
Flavour/taste: 61/70
Value for money: 13/15
Transparency/purity: 15/15
Overall: 89/100
Cheers!
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