Our friend Dave Russell is back with more commentary about Endangered Rums. Check it out.
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Endangered Rums
by Dave Russell
Rum is Fun, but this is one rum I’ve had to fight for! Well, at least I had to use strongarm negotiating tactics to win one of the last bottles of Foursquare 1998 on Barbados.
Richard Seal, head of Foursquare Distillery, doesn’t often make a vintage rum. Pity that, since his 1998 Vintage is one of the world’s finest. It had a short production run, but errant bottles can still be found proudly displayed on the top shelf of a few Bajan bars, or left behind and forgotten in a liquor store. 1998 is a sublime rum, get it!
The aromas are more appealing and less forward than found in many premium aged Bajan rums. Perfectly proportioned too – no single scent overwhelms, and each is released in a new layer if you take time sniffing to explore each one. First you’ll find caramelized sugar, vanilla, oak, and smokey char, then 1998 produces a slight must, pleasantly smelling like the inside of a barrel aging building. Hints of cocoa, dried fruit (apricot, plum, currants) and nice earthy vegetal qualities (cane and fresh tobacco) and just a bit of spice (cinnamon and clove) are also apparent.
Foursquare’s Vintage 1998 rum is so incredibly well balanced that its complex individual flavors stand together like a well rehearsed chorus. It’s worth the fight. SRP $35
To read more from Dave, check out his website, RumGallery.com.
