 Barbancourt 15, Reserve du Domaine
Haiti
I don’t believe in Voodoo. Except maybe for that bit in Live and Let Die, that’s properly unsettling. Having said that this bottle of Barbancourt has got me wondering. From the dark brown glass of the (soon to be changed) dumpy bottle to the sepia soaked labelling there’s something knowingly funereal and apposite about this rhum. Haitian voodoo speculations aside this is the old world in the new world and all that jazz.
There’s a wild history surrounding Haiti, from Columbus’ discovery of Hispaniola, through Toussaint and Desallines, the Treaty of Ryswick and Duvalier’s Tonton Macout. Tales of waste and destruction aided and abetted by the island’s propensity for being regularly battered by tropical storms and a cavalier attitude to deforestation. Haiti features prominently on lists of ‘lowest human development’ and ‘most corrupt nations on earth’ and has implausible illiteracy rates and skyrocketing unemployment. With this as the canvas for Barbancourt’s brushstrokes other forces must surely be at work.
Dupree Barbancourt relocated to left hand side of Hispaniola from Charente and in 1862 perfected a rhum recipe that survives today. Barbancourt produce rhum from fresh cane juice, a la agricoles, and vesou, juice from crushed cane, which is filtered, clarified, heated and vacuum concentrated to invert the sugars and prevent crystallisation. The juice and vesou is subject to a 72 hour ferment using the obligatory ‘secret formula’ yeast.
As you would expect from a ‘cheese eating Charentais monkey’ Barbancourt’s production is closely related to that of cognac, from the double distillation in the unique 3 part stills, to the select ageing conditions in Limousin oak barrels. The wood, from western France, is naturally seasoned and possessed of a tighter grain than it's American counterpart which allows for a slower and more considered flavour extraction..
In the glass the 15 year old is somewhat menacing, soft and burnished gold with syrupy legs that glide around the glass. On the nose there is a Piaf like delicacy, aromatic and refined but possessing of a notable constitution. Strong honey and simple almond notes, readily derived from the lactone heavy Limousin oak, overlay an inherent verdancy.
The palate is beautifully soft with a bittersweet tinge. Well constructed layers of vanilla, apricot and cigar smoke follow rapidly and are bookended by a nicely bitter cocoa and cream tail. The rationale behind the cognac style ageing becomes apparent on a vigilantly dry, carefully tannic finish and just a suggestion of ginger. The aromatic equivalent of a gallic shrug.
There’s a 4 year old and a quite staggeringly good 8 year old in the range,
providing a breadth of opportunities for mixing classic cocktails to showcase many elegant complexities.
The 15 year old though is pure Amor Fati. Leave it a while to breathe in the glass and then enjoy it with dark thoughts....
Get in touch with the chaps at www.specialitydrinks.com to scratch your Barbancourt itch.
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Banks XM Royal
Guyana
There is something innately right about a bottle of XM Royal rum. Partly it's in the blue collared, deeply blue-collar packaging, all squat, straight lines, absent frills and a sense that what you have here is a proper bottle of rum. Harrison inspired marketing aside, it's the limpid, auburn waters within that tell you that here is something that needs no fanfares or grandstanding introductions.
When the d'Aguiar family picked up the Demerara Ice House in 1896 a predilection for Canadian ice schooners hinted at a sense of forward thinking elegance, which is evident still. This 10-year old expression of the Guyanese goliath's range is a fluid exemplar of just that.
Over 9 of the minimum 10 years are spent in bourbon casks with the carefully selected blend spending a subsequent 6 months in sherry butts, which lends a complexity and subtlety to the sweet character that is merely hinted at on the nose. Most striking of all is the jaunty, bright copper colour and legs which suggest that Marangoni may not have left the building but he's got other things on his mind.
Where the scent of most rums will meet you at the water's edge XM 10's silken aroma, redolent of tropical fruits, sweet oranges and caramel, seems to send a welcoming committee to your nose, like a collaborator in some fine endeavour. Up close there are cloud like and estery banana, pineapple and orange notes with some rock solid vanilla reminding you of its Georgetown roots.
The palate is surprisingly light, presenting bitter cocoa, Valencia orange and just a hint of bay laurel but as the attack phase passes, maltol from the bourbon barrel ageing delivers burnished caramel and honeyed, wood expressions that envelop the mouth. The tannins, bountiful in sherry casks, briefly throw a cloak about your tastebuds before harmonizing with a sweetly peppery finish. Minds may wander to the crashing Kaieteur Falls whilst fingers inevitably wander back to the prosaically bottled Demerara silk.
Variously described as the cognac of rums - I'd argue with the necessity, for the six peoples, the many waters and 'the glory their eyes did not see', this is Demerara rum, a difficult, diverse history and a blessed ecology - in a bottle. Incidentally the 23rd of February is Republic day in Guyana, if you needed an excuse......
Get yourselves over to www.specialitybrands.com and pick up a bottle
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Ron Los Valientes 20 year old
Mexico
Sometimes it's just a joy to be sitting here doing this, today is one of those days. I have in my maw a healthy slug of Ron Los Valientes 20 year old, charged as I am with telling you about it.
From within the province of Veracruz in eastern Mexico, the Villaneuva family has been producing fine spirits for three generations. Veracruz, and specifically the town of Cordoba, has been famous for it's sugar cane for 500 years and it's both the juice and molasses from this local cane that goes into the small batch production of the Los Valientes range.
The slow fermented juice from the Veracruz cane is double distilled in pot-stills, with only the corazon taken from the second distillation, this is then blended with column distilled, fast fermented, molasses from the same crop. The 70:30 juice to molasses ratio should tell you something of the delights that await.
The 20 year old, numbered and signed by the cellar master, is a deep copper red number with soft, distinct legs that seem to ooze down the glass where other spirits simply adhere to the laws of gravity.
A nose of sweet, mellow pungency, rich in oily phenols, hints at dried fruits, treacle, chocolate and nutmeg. The extended barrel ageing on the Caribbean coast is reminisced with a strong liquorice backbone and nutty char.
If the nose is a valiant one, a brave fighter of 1910, then the palate is a different animal altogether. The 43% abv is immediately evident as an intensely unctuous and spirited spicy clove and bitter almond flavour dominates a medium sweet body. It's a sharp bite that drives a complex character and the Greek is a big fan of adding a splash of spring water to placate the eugenol driven spice. Uprising quelled there are beautiful dark chocolate and hazelnut notes to savour.
The surprisingly restrained and refined palate is thanks to a counter-intuitive approach to ageing whereby much larger, 180 gallon, white oak barrels are used to avoid exaggerating the ageing influence and afford the finished spirit a more sophisticated, lighter, dare I say ethereal quality than many Caribbean aged counterparts.
There's a strong kick, as you might expect, from Los Valientes, but it's balanced and well structured, perhaps a result of the charcoal, cotton and compacted cellulose filtration and almost certainly courtesy of the exclusive selection of the beating Mexican heart of the cane juice distillate.
With a 10, 15 and 20 year old in the range (a 25 year old has been hinted at) there may be more evolution than revolution going on in Veracruz these days but Los Valientes rums are enough to make you want to fire off a Springfield and grow a moustache. I may be some time....
Los Valientes is available from Bibendum. for more details contact wlowe@bibendum-wines.co.uk
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Ron Atlantico Private Cask
Dominican Republic
Atlantico is a super premium blend of hand selected cask rums from the Dominican Republic. Once married the blend is then re-casked to mellow and bind the flavours before being transferred to a solera ageing system under the watchful eye of Aleco Azqueta and Brandon Lieb. The finished rum, having been subjected to the, ever vague, sherry making process splash lands in the glass a blend of 15-25 year old spirits.
The Atlantico philosophy is certainly an exacting one with the bottles sourced from Italy, the closures from Portugal and the rum itself subjected to the stringent criteria of the two vastly experienced premium spirits operators whose initials adorn every bottle.
The proposal is an equally enticing one. The elegant, square bottle itself, the sepia labelling and the soft, honeyed glow of the liquid, are all inviting enough, promising a luxuriant, sophisticated libation.
A clear, mid-amber rum with a reassuringly pronounced dark green halo and soft legs which cling determinedly to the glass. The nose is rich and sweet with a slight, waxy undercurrent and precious little indication of the flavours within. At first the toffee and cocoa assaults the palate with a Viking simplicity before receding and allowing the notes of faraway tropical fruits and light rosemary to filter through. The effects of the barrel ageing become more evident as the rum develops with some grassy and distinctly European notes sticking their noses in. Toffee and charred wood dominate the finish, which is pleasantly sustained and manfully bitter.
Some light vanilla and warming clove opinions are expressed as a closing argument before Ron Atlantico takes a bow and exits stage left. All in all, and allowing for the distinct possibility of successful mixing with punchier partners, it's the kind of rum that will do you quite nicely with a decent cigar and a well upholstered leather armchair.....enjoy.
Ron Atlantico is available in Florida AND there's a rum festival in Miami from 13th of May. I would, you should too.
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