Together with Excellence Rhum, La Confrèrie du Rhum released two Cuban Rums from Eminente (Cuba Ron S.A.) at an elevated strength of 55,5%, which naturally sparked our curiosity. What is more Wu Dram Clan joined the party with a 31YO from 1992, which spent basically two thirds of its live in the tropics, making this a tasting session we do not get every day. Eminente 2012 10YO “Excellence Rhum & La Confrérie du Rhum” Batch 1 (55,5%): I have to admit, I never managed to taste the standard Eminentes, but why not simply start with the (on paper) more promising alternatives!? Nose: Very aroma ..read more

It finally happened: Single Cask Rum now runs its own bar – Welcome to the Jungle! As you may have guessed, the focus is on Rum (what else!?), as we host private Rum tasting sessions and cocktail evenings with Tiki-stlye drinks. While we plan to announce a few events in the future as well, the bar currently operates exclusively on an “inquire and invite” basis. So if you are interested in visiting or having us host a tasting or cocktail session for you and/ or a small group of people, please feel free to drop a message and we will surely be able to arrange something! Contact: Facebook Instag ..read more

We are having two young Monymusks from 2015 today. The difference? The wear different marques and aged in different climatic zones. S.B.S Monymusk “EMB” 2015 7YO (65,7%): To paraphrase a buddy of mine “you can always buy EMB” and I think I can agree. But here we do not know (yet). This almost entirely aged on Jamaica, by the way. Nose: Plums and plum juice, plenty of cinnamon and cloves, baked apples, pepper as well as wood lacquer. It is a very Christmas-y profile indeed. Palate: Very spicy, with cinnamon, cloves, different sorts of pepper, caramel, anise and nutmeg. After a few seconds also ..read more

Established in 2021, Papa Rouyo is a very recent addition to Guadeloupe’s portfolio of Rhum distilleries. They exclusively distill fermented sugar cane juice in two pot stills, with a strong emphasis on terroir. Please refer to this (great) interview by Velier for more information on Papa Rouyo. Papa Rouyo Le Rejeton 2021 (56%): This should contain some of the first drops produced by Papa Rouyo, i.e. “Le Rejeton”. My understanding is that it makes about 10% of the blend, the remainder is unaged red cane juice distillate. Nose: Fresh, crisp and clean. In that sense, it differs a bit from many ..read more

The amount of Armagnacs in our sample library keeps getting bigger and bigger and since we didn’t have a proper Yak session for some time, at least not on this blog, that’s what we shall do today. As you are about to see, we will quite a few “firsts” for us, but nevertheless I believe I can say that I am starting to get a solid understanding of Armagnac, i.e. what’s out there, what’s possible, and what we enjoy. Neverthless, there’s still a lot to learn. So let’s also see this as a warm-up for the German Armagnac Festival next month. If you are there, feel free to say “Hi” and have a dram wit ..read more

There never have been many, and they are getting fewer and fewer, a dying species if you want: truly independent bottlings from Saint Lucia. The Secret Treasures St. Lucia 2008/9 6YO (52%): Bottled in 2015, we don’t know for sure when this Vendome Pot Still Rum has been distilled with certainty. Nose: Herbal rubber, paired with acacia honey is a pretty good descriptor I think. Behind that quality black tea, fresh sugar cane juice, a whiff of iodine and light fruits. Later also more heavy bananas. All these notes are very nuanced and come in many different layers. We very rarely have such comp ..read more

Trois Rivières really isn’t a brand that spoils us with a wide array of different Rhums, most notably because they don’t really seem to release a lot of vintage bottlings anymore. Nevertheless, we still have a few samples left in our library – which will be void of any Trois Rivières after today. Trois Rivières Blanc (55%): I don’t really expect this to be any different from the 50% version but as this is a different bottling and since we didn’t score the former, we can just as well have this one (again). Nose: Very fresh and fruity, with a few more earthy elements. My impression today is ver ..read more

Renaissance is an up-and-coming new distillery from Taiwan, which, despite their rather young releases and short history, already managed to make a new for themselves. To me, that means that the distillate has to be very good, first and foremost, but cask management seems to play a crucial role for Renaissance as well. As a long time reader of Single Cask Rum, you probably know that we always had a deeper interest in the historical aspects and background information as well. With Renaissance, that has to wait for some other time however. In case you are super curious, you might want to check o ..read more

The initial plan was to review pairs of all available vintages from the 1990s but I’ve quickly dismissed that thought as that would have been way too much for a single post. Alas, let’s just have just a few of them, shall we!? And 1999 seems to be the perfect start! The Colours of Rum Uitvlugt (Port Mourant) 1999 21YO (52,6%): Nose: This feels familiar and we are immediately set back to other bottlings of the 1999 batch. Wet, maritime and salty wood meets pepper, anise, a hint of brine and herbs – this is the quintessential “modern” Port Mourant profile if you ask me. Perhaps an oyster and ci ..read more

Today we do something I actually wanted to do for a long time now – we explore the impact chill-filtering has on a spirit. This has been made possible by Wild Turkey, who always sold a chill-filtered version of their Rare Breed Bourbon but decided to release a non-chill filtered version of the very same Whiskey in 2021. What is “chill-filtration” and why is it used? Chill filtering is a method that is used primarily in Whisky making to remove any residues found in the spirit, mostly for cosmetic reasons. These residues are compounds such as fats, proteins and esters, which turn cloudy or hazy ..read more