Mezan Jamaican Barrique XO Rum, 70 cl

Product Information

Well, I think I’ve given all the information I have on this particular bottling and I’m getting a bit thirsty. So lets see how this went down……… Mezan Diamond Distillery Guyana 2007 PX Cask Finish. I’ve not been reviewing a great deal of Independent Bottlings of late. I’m not going to pretend I’m wearing some kind of halo and advocating Distillery Bottlings. Thing is though, with the likes of Foursquare, Worthy Park and Hampden Estate producing so many of their own bottlings over the past few years, I’ve found my buying habits pointing more in that direction.

Mezan produces a range of rums from all of over the Caribbean and Latin America, and its latest is this offering born in Panama, which starts with column-distilled molasses that is aged in second-fill American white oak casks, then finished in Portuguese Moscatel wine casks. No sugar is added. The initial sip is quite sweet with notes of sweet sherry, toffee, raisin and plum. This isn’t the full story though. Further sips reveal notes of tobacco, oak and some heat – a touch of green chilli/wasabi. The mid palate moves into a mix of tobacco, vanilla and sweet Rum and Raisin ice cream. With some toffee sauce maybe……. At least that is what the first sip gives you. It’s worth persisting beyond one glass with this rum. It’s almost as if your palate needs to open up to it. The second glass is so much better. You get more of the notes that were in the nose. Despite being quite high in esters and some “funk” it has a beautiful balance which younger Jamaican rums do not have. It’s similar in many ways to Hampden Gold for example yet it also shares some of the qualities of more aged Appleton Estate rums. The finish is still pretty short but as a Jamaican sipper its not bad at the price. What was the thinking behind bottling at the 40-43% mark when so many Indie bottlers go for cask strength? The Jamaican rums in this blend come from at least two very well respected distilleries. Monymusk and Hampden Estate. Both companies do well in the domestic market but their reach outside of Jamaica is mainly through bulk rum sales to be used in blends. Both currently have rums available in the UK. Hampden Gold and Rum Fire from Hampden Estate and Monymusk have a Gold Rum on offer. Neither can match the reach or popularity of Appleton Estate. Jamaican rum is produced in such a traditional and well-regulated manner, not too mention the wonderful tropical climate that these producers would have to be doing something truly awful to be producing a bad rum.Now, the exact still is not stated on the bottle. It’s about the only information that isn’t available. However, it is noted on the rear label that this “rum is blended from spirit produced by several of the column stills” at the Diamond Distillery. DDL have a number of column stills (I am not 100% sure how many were operational as of 2007) including the EHP Coffey Still originally housed at the Enmore Sugar Plantation and the French Savalle still which was moved from Uitivlugt. Both stills can produced a variety of different rum marques which are used in some of the El Dorado rum brand line up. In the glass Mezan Diamond Distillery Guyana 2007 PX Cask Finish is a very dark brown almost mahogany in colour. When deemed to have reached optimal maturity, Mezan rums are bottled with just a hint of filtration to preserve their intrinsic character. This practice underscores the cellar master's commitment to highlighting the individual craftsmanship of each distillery.

First up as you can see from the photo above this Mezan is a lot clearer in the glass than the bottle. It is almost straw like in colour and once again Mezan assure us on the label that it has not been coloured or sweetened in anyway. So I was quite surprised to find that my wife had decided to buy me a bottle of this Mezan Diamond Distillery Guyana 2007 PX Cask Finish. To be honest she’s really been pulling out some great stuff over the past couple of years. The type of rums I consider buying but opt for something slightly different. Then wish I had bought them a few weeks later, when they sell out! The nose on this rum is full of Dunder and Jamaican Pot Still “funk”. For those un accustomed to such rums this may not immediately appeal. For those, like myself who know how well such rums work in mixed drinks and as occasional sippers it will be a welcome and familiar aroma. There is so much going on with this rum, it’s difficult to describe everything that you will encounter. This drinks more like a Tropically Aged Demerara than a lot of other IB’s, I have had recently. This is a rich, fruity rum which shows just how rum really doesn’t need to be artificially sweetened. A secondary maturation or finish in a quality cask will give you all the sweetness you need.It has some quite strong alcohol notes yet a quite surprising note of vanilla. I can detect some oak and woody notes, quite a lot of spice. All in all its really quite complex. Some nice tropical fruit notes and a even a hint of toffee/caramel. Mezan have been producing this rum blend for some years now and this is Lot No 23030 – this Lot or Batch consists of 5000 bottles. It states on the rear bottle that the rum is double matured so once it is blended it is re-casked until it is selected to be bottled. Apart from wishing to put out unadultered rum what were the main visions for Mezan as a company when you first started out? Over the years has anything changed?