Sansibar Caroni Shinanoya HTR 1999

Sansibar drew this from a single cask of Caroni, the Trinidad distillery that ceased production in 2003 and has since become one of rum's most mythologised names. Distilled in 1999 from molasses and carried over twenty one years, it is one of the heavy marks collectors chase, the HTR style that trades light Trinidad cleanliness for sheer industrial weight.

Matured in ex-bourbon oak and bottled at full cask strength, it opens on tar, rubber and old machine shop, the petroleum signature of heavy Caroni, with woody depth and ripe tropical fruit underneath. The palate stays oily and intense, rubber and tar threaded with fruit, before a warm finish that turns faintly bitter. At 64.7% it is dense and uncompromising, a pour for those who want Caroni at its most savoury rather than its most polished.