Romdeluxe Caroni Bottled for Caksus TMCG 1998

RomDeluxe, the Danish bottler known for high-ester, very-high-strength single casks, selected this Caroni distilled in 1998 and held twenty-five years, bottled for Caksus at cask strength. It draws on the closed Trinidad distillery's rescued stock, the heavy industrial rum that Velier made famous and that collectors prize most.

Matured in ex-bourbon oak from molasses, it shows tar, wood, roasted notes and mint on the nose, then rubber, oily wood and mint on the palate, closing with wood, tannin, salt and fruit. At 62.6% it carries the elegant side of heavy Caroni, light roasted wood, liquorice, leather, banana, orange and faint tar layered into a refined whole rather than a blunt assault. Caroni was once too strong and strange to drink young, blended into naval rum, which is the dense, savoury character this long-aged bottling preserves. A collector's Caroni of real depth.