Sansibar Caroni Shinanoya HTR 1998

Caroni, the closed Trinidad distillery that ceased production around 2003, remains the most sought after name in rum, and its heavy HTR marks are the collectors' prize. This single cask comes from the German bottler Sansibar, bottled for the Japanese retailer Shinanoya. Distilled in 1998 and aged 22 years in ex-bourbon oak, it is presented at a powerful 63.4% cask strength without added sugar. Heavy Caroni typically delivers tar, burnt rubber, diesel and machine oil over dark dried tropical fruit, smoke, brine and deep oak, oily and dense, the archetypal industrial Trinidad rum. At over 63% that savoury, petroleum intensity arrives at full force, rewarding a drop of water. A finite, deeply collectible pour from a distillery that is gone for good.