The Duchess Caroni HTR 1998

This is a 1998 vintage Caroni bottled by Dutch independent The Duchess, a pot still single cask aged twenty-one years. Caroni is the legendary closed distillery of Trinidad, established in 1918 and shut in 2003, its finite stocks rescued and championed by Velier and now bottled by a handful of respected houses. The Duchess works in the full-proof, unsweetened tradition, and this release delivers the classic heavy Caroni character with extra age and proof.

Distilled on the pot still and matured in ex-bourbon oak, it shows the tarry, industrial side of the distillery. The aroma carries vanilla, rubber, caramel and tar, the palate brings rubber, tobacco and tar alongside vanilla, and the finish runs dry and leathery with woody honey. There is a raw, classic dirt to it that sits over a mature, evolving core, the kind of bottling that opens and shifts over a long sit. Certified unsweetened, it asks for slow neat pours to manage its 64.1%.