Foursquare Distillery 14yo Barbados Rum, 70 cl

Product Information

Nosing Doorly’s Fine Old Barbados Rum Aged 14 Years will be a familiar experience for anyone familiar with Foursquare rum. The bottle is very attractive, the saturated colors of the parrot motif invoke the atmosphere of tropical nature, Caribbean, warm weather and bright sun. The shape of the bottle is old-school, squat, curvy, topped with artificial cork embedded in plastic (no problem for me, there is not enough genuine cork for all the booze in the world). After waiting a while for Doorly’s Aged 12 Years to be available outside of Barbados another new Doorly’s release wasn’t anticipated by myself. I was quite surprised when Doorly’s Fine Old Barbados Rum Aged 14 Years was announced.

Handcrafted by Master Distiller and all-round hero Richard Seale using a blend of column and pot still rums that have matured for at least 14 years in ex-Bourbon barrels. It offers phenomenal value for money especially considering that a 14-year-old spirit matured in a tropical climate displays an equivalent development that might take nearer 30 years in Europe. Rums from Foursquare contain no flavourings or added sugar this one just has a little caramel to restore the cask colouring after dilution to 48% and a small portion of the blend was matured in ex-Madeira casks giving a wonderful natural sweetness and richness. There’s also more tropical fruits than a Carmen Miranda headpiece the nostalgia of toffee apples ginger beer and chocolate orange plus hedgerow berry jam cinnamon smoking barbeque embers vanilla mulled wine summer pudding and marmalade. Sip this slowly lovingly and neat.the best i ve tried so far, in a rum the aroma/taste i appreciate the most is fruitiness and this one have it at maximum, more than mount gay (their rums where my preferred, no more), nose some alcohol burn (of course, it s warming at 48% ABV) but after this some vanilla and tons of tropical fruits, in the mouth tropical fruits are so present, yes, some wood and spices attenuate the (natural) sweetness and give some complexity, but fruits are so predominant ... when i hear people speaking of bajan rums being the best, i confirm that they really are the cream of the cream of rum (and this one is a true bajan with a pedigree), people who like sweetened rum please don t drink this just to rate it bad !

Doorlys 14 Year Old Rum is a premium Barbados rum. It is produced at the Foursquare Distillery and is the oldest permanent rum in their range. It is Single Blended Rum, a blend of pot and column still rum that have been aged in ex-Bourbon and ex-Madeira Cask. We sampled Doorly's 14, and I immediately loved it; I have a big soft spot for madeira-finished rum. My girlfriend and I later sampled other products at the tasting bar on the Foursquare premises, which also included the 14 year; I made sure to grab a bottle from their available selection to support the distillery directly. So my particular bottle isn't just an exclusive bottling or the oldest in the brand's lineup, but also a special souvenir. The aroma originally is very muted, distant, dominated by a focused sweet note - candied apples, marmalade, canned pumpkin, after adding a bit of water (the rum is bottled at 48 percent), the aroma slowly unfolds with more acrid, acidic notes of soft wood. Ak nie ste zvyknutí na silnejšie rumy, tak po ponorení nosa do pohára jasne pocítite jemne štipľavú silu 48%. V aróme dominujú citrusy a drevo, ja vnímam aj znaky pomarančovej kôry, sladký karamel a tradične (ako aj v ostatných Doorly’s rumoch) vanilku. Akonáhle ho ovoniate, je vám hneď jasné, že o chvíľku ochutnáte niečo veľmi zaujímavé. Keď som rum degustoval druhýkrát (a priznávam, čítal som si aj desiatky recenzií, aby som v tom mal úplne jasno), vo vôni už poznávam aj tak často ospevovanú kombináciu laku a lepidla (poznámka pre začiatočníkov – netreba sa toho báť). Tie vo chvíli zmiznú a okrem zmienených vôní z prvej degustácie cítim aj zelené jablká, melón, hrušky, korenie či škoricu. 48% sila destilátu umožňuje divoký rozsah skutočne rozličných vôní. Prvé ochutnanie – chuť je nie je taká sladká, ako by sa dalo z arómy vytušiť. Je tu jasne drevo, korenie (škorica?) a vanilka, celkovo je chuť silná a hrejivá. Došlo mi na um: „netreba veľa chutí, stačí tieto výrazné. Sú skvelé.“

A somewhat familiar “ Foursquare” nose (if you drink as much rum from the Bajan distillery as we do, you’ll know what we mean). Ginger, cold toffee, raisins, prunes, nail varnish and fruit cake are second to a hefty dry, oaky woodiness. It’s not as boisterous a nose as some Doorly’s expressions, leaving room for pondering and intrigue. Taste

With so many recent releases comparisons will be sought. I find both this and Doorly’s 12 to be slightly more “wood driven” than some of the Exceptional Cask series. This is for example more woody than the very Fruity Premise of Zinfandel Cask rums. More oak and less vanilla and sweet fruit. As mentioned above, Doorlys 14 Year Old Rum is a blend of pot still and column still rums, the pot still brings complexity, depth and weight to the blend whilst the column still brings a good balance or aroma and flavour. The rums are statically aged for a full 14 years in small American oak casks which leads to complex character with delicate aromas, something that only time can produce. There is also a small component aged for 14 years in ex Madeira wine casks, this brings some chocolate and marmalade character to final rum. The rums are blended and allowed to marry together for a period so the rums fully integrate, prior to bottling. Let me please remind you that my humble assessments of any spirits are done from the point of view of a malt whisky enthusiast who, what's more, is aboslutely not an expert in rum, brandy, tequila, vodka, gin or any other spirits. Thank you – and peace! Vanilka, Drevo, Citrusy, Korenie, Škorica, Pomarančová kôra, Hruška, Lak, Lepidlo, Zelené jablká, Slaný karamel, MelónThis cookie is set by Rubicon Project to control synchronization of user identification and exchange of user data between various ad services. V súčasnosti vyrába rumy Doorly’s pálenica Foursquare a sú najdôležitejšími z celej produkcie. Tú postavil v roku 1996 sir David Seale a dnes ju riadi jeho syn Richard. V konkurenčnom boji sa drží autenticity, takže do rumov nepridáva cukor (doslova 0 g/l), umelé aditíva ani arómy. Doorly's is one of Foursquare's brands. Colour: amber. Nose: not the first time that I have the impression that by using molasses and blending column and pot still, they often manage (not saying that was their goal) to create some kind of 'agricole' rum. This one's got the same kind of waxy polishes, slightly salty, almost olive-y touches, the slightly heady floralness, the crème brûlée, the tarte tatin, these slightly 'burnt' touches, this earthiness… Now, yes I know Barbadian rum existed way before the French started to make agricole rum, thanks to Napo and the British navy (or the other way 'round). Mouth: excellent, bold, salty, full of liquorice and smoke, cigars, burnt caramel, varnish and olives, some lavender (sweets), aniseed, caraway and cloves… I'm wondering if you wouldn't achieve some rather similar results if you would let some yellow chartreuse age for a decade or so in active wood. Like, in a proper ex-solera manzanilla butt. Seriously, I find this Doorly's just perfect and, perhaps, a little 'funkier' than the Foursquares. But not too sure about that part… Finish: long, with a little pepper, one olive, some orange juice and some caraway. Comments: I even like the blue parrot on the label. Is that an ara? What would the rum world do without parrots? In any case, this Doorly's was extremely convincing. The ABV for this Doorly’s has also been increased – 48% ABV. So it’s not Cask Strength but it has a bit more oomph than the 40% ABV Doorly’s. It may be that the other’s Doorly’s rums are also increased in ABV. Doorly’s White is now available at 47% ABV and R L Seale’s also had the ABV increased to 46% here in Europe. Foursquare are now also using synthetic cork stoppers rather than real cork. There have been a significant number of complaints about broken corks (not just from Foursquare products) over the past few years