This Tasty Overproof by Guillaume Ferroni is a blend of 3 white rums from Jamaica (distilled by Worthy Park in Pot Still - the largest proportion of the blend), Martinique (distilled in a Creole column at Simon) and Mauritius (Saint Aubin, also in column).
The blend is finished in barrels of vin cuit de Provence. Vin cuit is a very old and traditional product of Provence (consumed mainly during the Christmas season), but one that has virtually disappeared. It's a wine made from grape juice that has been reduced by heating to concentrate its sugars. An ancestral product but forgotten by European regulations, the few winegrowers who produce it continue to use its historic name, even though officially it could not be called "wine". In fact, it's a wine made from cooked grape juice.
Nico's tasting notes
In brief: funky - exotic fruits - ripe - cane sugar - cane - lime zest - pepper
What a funky nose! We're immediately transported to Jamaica, and the cane sugar has made the trip with us. The exotic fruits are very ripe, swimming in plum or pear eau-de-vie. The red fruits are concentrated and greedy, as in a lightly sweetened grenadine syrup. The sugar is nevertheless powerfully expressed, but more through its cooking aromas. There are, of course, some heavy olive and resinous notes.
On aeration, the profile doesn't seem to deviate much from its trajectory. But by some magic, in the blink of an eye, we find ourselves with an agricultural rum in the glass! Cane, lime zest, a touch of pepper, but what's happened? The cane eau-de-vie is even very charming, and then the two styles gradually come together, it's superb and it's completely crazy.
The attack on the palate is typical of Jamaican overproofs, very fruity, concentrated but round. The honeyed cane confirms this roundness, and the two rums complement each other extremely well. The synergy is perfect. The candied, just-peppered cane and the very ripe fruit come together, embrace and then drift apart, before starting again.
In the finale, the Jamaican monster has the elegance to let the pretty farmer express himself.
"A completely mad rum! As funky as it is elegant, as molasses as it is agricultural, a great success..."
Guillaume Ferroni's tasting notes
In addition to our own tasting notes, here's what Guillaume Ferroni has to say about it: a very fragrant, suave and fruity nose; on the palate, the toasting of the grape juice brings delicious stewed, even slightly caramelized, aromas and gourmet notes that blend superbly with the barrel ageing.
