Foursquare Distillery 14yo Barbados Rum, 70 cl

Product Information

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. Po druhom ochutnaní je jasné, že chutí je tu ďaleko viac. Pridávajú sa zázvor, čerešne, jablká, melasa, kokos. V chuti nájdete ovocnú sladkosť, aj drevitú suchosť. Rozhodne zaujímavý zážitok z pitia. Verím že pri ďalšom ochutnaní by sa našli aj ďalšie kombinácie chutí. Differences from the rest of the Doorly’s range come with the new box (as pictured) which is an improvement on the box used for the Doorly’s 12. The box can now act as a total cover for the rum but can also be used to present the rum. Should you wish to do such a thing.

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. So I bought just one bottle when I arrived to the store. When I got it home, I was pleasantly surprised to find no damn bourbon notes. Yes, some wood notes are there, but not enough to be repulsive to me. Only one other Bajan rum appeals to me more, which is the Mount Gay 1703 Master Select at three times the price. I will take this bargain from Foursquare any day over their ECS rums!!! A well deserved 9 rating from me! Doorly’s 14-year-old is a blend of Pot and Column distilled rums, some of which has been aged for fourteen years in ex-Bourbon American white oak barrels, and another portion aged for the same length of time in ex-Madeira casks.

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

We can imagine distilleries that would build barrel pools, all filled with saltwater to various degrees. Honestly, I've also tasted submerged wines, and it wasn't great. But this is something else, especially if you like salted liquorice. Let's move on... Pure cane juice. To think that not so long ago, the Thai state was prohibiting any spirits bottled at above 40% vol. I also remember the first Chalong I tried really impressed me – at 40% vol. Colour: white wine. Nose: pure fermentary cane wine, vesou, pears, cherries, Jerusalem artichoke eau-de-vie (worth trying), varnish, diesel oil, drop of ammonia, lemon, even formic acid… May sound horrible but I just love all this. With water: rotting pineapples and bananas, that's just brilliant. Mouth: insane earthy cane, citrus, capers, tar… With water: immaculately salty. Oysters, olives, lime, lemon, grapefruit, yuzu, liquorice… Finish: long, incredibly clean, some total 'clear line spirit'. Comments: I'm not 100% sure I got the shochu part. Mea maxima Culpa. The rest I adored. if we look the price is also good for this stuff, it costed like a dictador 20 (that is ok but not at that level if we look taste and ABV) or half than a millionario XO (sugar bomb very over rated) 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! It's unlike me to dislike a Foursquare rum, and Doorly's 14 makes it easy to continue that tradition. The long-aged Barbados rum is just as finely crafted as other Foursquare offerings, and features a nice proof bump and extra character by way of the Madeira cask finish. The flavors lean just a tad too much into the finish for my taste, with red fruit overpowering some of the more nuanced notes.

My Account

We're going to make a big leap from Barbados to... Thailand. We can afford it, we don't use any kerosene (but it's true that sometimes there are notes of kerosene in our spirits).

The Sovereignty rear label bears the following quotation that befits the dawn of Barbados’ new era. 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). 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 Bottled without any sugar, sweetener or other flavours added (which cannot be said for many other rums). This rare and limited rum is bottled as a good strength of 48% ABV, a little stronger than the younger Doorly’s Rums. 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.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. 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.“

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. 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. Doorly’s 14y je vyrábaný z lokálnej melasy, ktorá sa fermentuje a následne destiluje vo vákuových kotloch. Vďaka tomu je možné zníženie teploty varu a je tak možné vyhnúť sa neprirodzeným arómam. Rum prechádza dvojitou destiláciou – v oceľovej kolóne a v medenom alembiku pot still (je to slávny rum na štýl bajan – barbadoský rum). Notice. On this November 11, armistice day, we are taking advantage of the slot of Angus, who is having a break, to get a bit ahead because we have massive quantities of rum to taste in the coming weeks. And we're not complaining... On that note, Angus will join us in a few days at Château Whiskyfun, and we have planned a very short duo tasting, but one like you've never seen before, neither here nor elsewhere. Seriously. Peace.

Recenze Doorly’s 3 Year Old

Vanilka, Drevo, Citrusy, Korenie, Škorica, Pomarančová kôra, Hruška, Lak, Lepidlo, Zelené jablká, Slaný karamel, Melón