Velier Caroni 36th Release Heavy Rum Guyana Stock HTR 1994

Caroni is the most mythologised name in Trinidad rum, a state-owned distillery that ceased production and closed by 2003, its forgotten warehouses later rescued by Luca Gargano of Velier. This 1994 release is one of the heavy Trinidad marques, distilled from molasses, aged twenty-three years with part of that maturation in Guyana, and bottled unsweetened at full proof.

The heavy Caroni profile is unmistakable and uncompromising here, tar, burnt rubber and leather over machine oil, smoke and bitter, minty herbs, with deep oak from long tropical ageing and only a whisper of dark fruit underneath. At 57.18% it is intense, very dry and demanding, the kind of rum that opens up slowly and rewards air and time in the glass. This is a bottle for seasoned enthusiasts who already love the industrial Caroni style and want it at its most concentrated, a finite piece of a vanished distillery.