Cadenhead‘s Caroni HTR 1998

Cadenhead's, the long-established Scottish bottler, released this Heavy mark Caroni from the 1998 vintage, an 18 year single cask drawn at a formidable 65.8%. Caroni is the Trinidad distillery that closed around 2003, and the HTR Heavy marks like this one sit at the most intense end of its finite, much-sought casks.

Distilled on Caroni's pot still from molasses and matured in ex-bourbon oak, it is a dense, oily rum, with vinous, garage-dirt aromas giving way to melon and dried plum, then a smoky palate of tar, rubber, liquorice, tobacco and espresso. The finish is intense, spicy and warming, holding the strength for a long time. This is the archetypal industrial Caroni, hugely powerful and packed with workshop funk balanced by fruit, a slow and attentive pour reserved for drinkers who already love heavy, cask-strength Trinidad rum.