For those who don’t know, the RumFest was founded in 2007 by Ian Burrell, the Global Rum Ambassador, and it features an impressive collection of rums to taste, masterclasses, seminars, Caribbean music & food and so on. This year the event was like an oasis for plenty of industry staff and rum enthusiasts in this … More Review: UK RumFest 2021
Last time when I managed to review an Exceptional Cask Selection release from Foursquare was over one year ago. The reason for that is its increasingly lack of availability as everyone is trying to get one to either enjoy, collect or simply re-sell in order to make a quick buck – and who can blame … More Review: Foursquare 2009 – Mark XVII
If you’re reading this when it was uploaded, today is my birthday and I wanted to taste and review something from one of my favourite rum producing countries/distilleries – Barbados/Foursquare Distillery. Lately, thanks to Brexit, popularity and, of course, bottle flippers, getting one of the new Foursquare releases is basically a sprint to checkout before … More Review: The Real McCoy 12 Year Old Limited Edition Madeira Cask
Black Tot Day is known as the day the British Royal Navy ended a over 300 years old (intermittent) tradition as on the 31st of July 1970 it stopped issuing rum rations to the sailors. This year’s 31st of July marked the 50th anniversary of the Black Tot Day and to celebrate it the Black … More Review: Black Tot 50th Anniversary
When a spirit matures in oak a percentage of the liquid in the cask evaporates depending on the climate, pretty simple, right? Well on our side of the world the simpler explanation was that the angels were taking their share to make the spirit (most often whisky) taste good, hence the angels’ share. In the … More Review: The Duppy Share
Last year there was a question on the Foursquare Rum Appreciation Society on Facebook as to when to celebrate World Foursquare Day and how. Plenty of people came with suggestions for the date like 4th of February (because four-square) or the 30th of November as it’s the Barbados Independence Day. The date everyone agreed one … More Review: Foursquare Nosing & Tasting Set (Zeewijck)
Veritas (or Probitas in the US) is the first collaboration between two family owned Caribbean distilleries: Forsquare from Barbados and Hampden from Jamaica. They are both high regarded distilleries, known for their high quality distillates and no additives ethos. The “white” rums are slowly distancing themselves from the idea that they have to be made … More Review: Veritas White Blended Rum
The second in the Foursquare Distillery (Barbados) – Velier (Italy) collaboration. Molasses based, pot and column still distilled, a blend of 3 different vintage rums aged in 3 types of casks: Bottled at 56% ABV with no colouring, additives or chill filtering. While not on the market anymore, when it was released in 2017 there … More The Barrel Sample: Foursquare Triptych – Velier
There are companies that release rums at the minimum ABV required by the European regulations – 37.5% ABV. And then you have Richard Seale who released some of his flagship rums with an increased ABV – R.L. Seale 46% ABV is a good example. White rums with a higher than 40% ABV aren’t unusual, most … More Review: Doorly’s 3 Year Old (47% ABV)
This is probably the oldest (oak maturation wise) Foursquare (Barbados) I have ever tried. Comes from The Duchess, a Dutch independent bottler I’ve reviewed before on my website, and it’s part of the Hummingbirds series. Molasses based, a blend of pot and column still distillates from 2001, aged for 8 years in the tropics and … More The Barrel Sample: The Duchess – 18 Year Old Foursquare