TBRC Caroni HTR

That Boutique-y Rum Company, the honest no-additive bottler curated by Peter Holland, offers this twenty-year Caroni as an approachable way into Trinidad's most mythologised distillery, closed in 2003 and made finite by the Velier rescue. At 54.7% and unsweetened, it keeps genuine industrial character without tipping fully into the fiercest territory.

Molasses-based and matured in ex-bourbon oak in the heavy Caroni idiom, it leads with tar, rubber and brown sugar on the nose, then turns mineral and toasted on the palate with dark chocolate threaded through. The finish is smoky and roasted with espresso and yet more rubber. The trademark petrol-and-rubber markers are present but wrapped in fruit and wood, so this works as a real bridge for the Caroni-curious, dirty enough to be honest about the style yet rounded enough to drink without fatigue.