Compagnie des Indes West Indi es is a blend of rums from the English and Spanish traditions: rums from Barbados, Guyana, the Dominican Republic and Panama.
The Barbados distillation is pot still, while the 3 other origins are column still.
The rum is aged in American oak barrels for at least 8 years.
Nico's tasting notes
The nose is balanced between a typical Barbadian woodiness of white oak, tobacco and vanilla, and a lighter, still vanilla-flavored body, slightly tinged with herbal notes. The cane sugar syrup is gently spicy, the fruit delicate, like an exotic fruit salad in syrup. Some dried fruit hovers over the rum without heaviness, as if on a knife-edge.
With a little time and air, the rum gains in roundness and develops its Barbados side on vanilla blond tobacco and coconut. The wood is young but tender and melted. The style is seductive and easy, round but not sweet, well balanced between English and Spanish tradition. The aromas are clean and luscious.
The palate is soft and pleasant, with a well-rounded, fruity and somewhat milky entry. The texture is very comfortable, the rum spreading out gently, without exaggeration. It quietly conquers the palate with sweet caramel, vanilla, tobacco and very tasty coconut. The exotic fruits are gently milky, easy but really pleasant.
The finish is very caramelized and mellow, still somewhere between Barbados and the Latino tradition. There's a hint of stone and resinous wood at the very end.
"A blend that is a helping hand between two worlds, the gentle, light Spanish tradition and the more aroma-laden English tradition..."
In addition to our own note, here's what bottler Florent Beuchet has to say about it: on the nose, a delicate, fragrant blend of macerated fruits, followed by barley sugar, honey, peach and sweet spices, evoking oriental dishes; on the palate, the attack is frank with notes of honey and spices, followed by barley sugar and smoky molasses. The mid-palate offers hints of vanilla pods intermingled with rhubarb and licorice aromas; the finish is a delicious marriage of fruity eaux de vie and woody notes.
