CoR Clarendon No. 16 1995

CoR Clarendon No. 16 is a single cask from The Colours of Rum, the Warsaw purist bottler working cask strength with no additives. Distilled at Clarendon in 1995, a strong vintage for the EMB marque, and bottled at twenty-nine years old, it is a long-aged example of one of Clarendon's most admired pot-still marks, often spoken of in the same breath as top Appleton stock.

Distilled on the pot still from molasses and matured in ex-bourbon oak, nearly three decades build deep wood while keeping a cooling menthol lift. The nose gives ripe tropical fruit, mango, mint and wood; the palate carries tropical fruit, wood, menthol and spice, closing woody and minty with lingering pineapple. Unsweetened and bottled at 61.5%, the extra years round the edges common in younger EMBs while the oak stays present without overwhelming. A dense, balanced and contemplative old Clarendon for seasoned palates who already love the EMB profile, best sipped slowly.