TBRC Caroni Caroni Distillery Heavy Rum

That Boutique-y Rum Company, the Atom Brands range curated by Peter Holland, bottled this single cask Caroni at twenty-three years with no additives, in the house tradition of honest, playful releases. Caroni is the legendary Trinidad distillery that closed around 2003, its remaining stocks finite and increasingly sought after, and this is one of its heavier marks.

Column-distilled from Trinidadian molasses and aged in ex-bourbon oak, it leans firmly to the dry and dirty end of the spectrum. The nose is pure garage, rubber, tar and spicy oak, and the palate keeps that intensity with roasted wood, mineral grip and a flash of espresso, while air coaxes out peach and banana underneath. The finish stays dry, roasted and earthy. This is a slow, contemplative pour with a slightly rougher old-cask edge, built for drinkers who already love full-strength Caroni at its most savoury.