Roots Foursquare Rum 2008

Roots bottle this Foursquare single cask from the 2008 vintage, drawn from Richard Seale's St Philip distillery in Barbados. At around fourteen and a half years, unsweetened and 57.1%, it delivers the familiar dry Foursquare profile at cask strength, with no added sugar, colour or flavouring, and a reputation for strong value.

The pot-and-column spirit was matured in ex-bourbon oak. The nose runs woody and roasted with chocolate and coconut, the palate firms up around wood, dried fruit, raisin and a roasted edge, and the finish stays on wood, caramel, barrel and allspice. Some sour, solvent-tinged tropical fruit shows the spirit's drier, varnish-edged side. The body is focused rather than expansive, sitting just below the very top releases but holding all the recognisable Barbados character. This is an honest, dry, cask-strength Foursquare that drinks well neat and offers a lot for the money.