This Rom De Luxe bottling is a molasses rum from La Réunion, from a distillery kept secret. But any discerning connoisseur will recognize it 😉
The molasses undergoes a particularly long fermentation process lasting almost 15 days to deliver a highly aromatic rum known as "grand arôme", with a volatile substance content of at least 500 grams per hectoliter of pure alcohol. Distillation took place in 2013 in a Savalle copper column. The rum then spent 8 years in a continental climate, in American white oak barrels that had previously contained red wine.
Only 304 bottles were racked in November 2021 from this barrel number 8.
Nico's tasting notes
The nose of this grand aroma rum initially surprises with its relative lightness. This is a rum driven by the greediness of American oak, composed around toasted wood, vanilla and sweet spices.
With aeration, a slight hint of almost coppery smoke emerges, along with slightly harder, more bitter nuts, tending towards dry stone or even grape marc.
On the palate, fruity notes that seem to come from undergrowth evoke wine barrel aging. Tannins meet roasting, in an atmosphere both roasted and sweet, with accents of black coffee and licorice.
The finish is round and gently spicy, with a light rum that excites the taste buds.
"A very surprising Grand Arôme, in which the barrel has absorbed all the full-bodied aromas..."
In comparison, the Rom De Luxe Réunion Grand Arôme barrel #9 55.4° is quite similar, even if it is a little less sweet, more full-bodied and roasted. The slightly vegetal notes are, however, absent, as are the strong notes of great aroma, which is the main point in common between these two barrels.
AXNATT
Great Aroma too discreet for my taste too bad