Velier & Scheer Clarendon Plummer Continental Aging EMB 2004

Bottled by Velier and Scheer, this 14 Year Old Clarendon from 2004 carries the EMB mark and the Plummer ester band, a medium funk recipe from a workhorse Jamaican supplier that runs both pot and column stills. Unusually it was aged in continental Europe rather than the tropics, which keeps it leaner than a tropical Clarendon of the same age.

This is the dry, demanding end of Jamaican pot still. Yellow fruit, floral notes and honey sit alongside varnish and a peppery, woody backbone, with a bitter, alcoholic finish that runs hot at 64.8%. Matured in Ex-Bourbon oak and bottled unsweetened at cask strength, it benefits from real aeration and a splash of water to soften the edges. One for drinkers deep into Jamaican rum who want to taste how continental ageing reshapes Clarendon, sharp corners and all.