Samaroli New Yarmouth Rum 1994

Samaroli is the historic Italian purist bottler, known for elegant, balanced single casks, and here it takes New Yarmouth from the celebrated 1994 vintage to 27 years. New Yarmouth, a pot and column house in the Clarendon orbit, has become an independent-bottler darling, and this cask shows its richer, deeper side.

Distilled from molasses and matured in ex-bourbon wood, the long tropical ageing has built a dessert-like depth: butterscotch, tropical fruit, varnish and coconut on the nose, then vanilla, brown sugar, roasted almond and pastry across a rich palate. Tasters note it sits between Demerara, with salted-butter caramel and spice, and Jamaica, with tropical fruit and a light varnish lift. The finish carries spice, dried fruit and a woody warmth. Bottled unsweetened at 59%, it is a layered, elegant old New Yarmouth that rewards slow, unhurried sipping over many minutes in the glass.