Uitvlugt 1988 - 17 y/o - 52,9%
Photo taken at Roche Bobois Stuttgart
Unicorn. Rare like a Two-Dollar Bill. Distilled on the famous French Savalle Still. Distillery shutdown in 2000. Stills bought by DDL and moved to Diamond Distillery. You need more facts and history? Have a deep dive into the Guyana reports by Barrel Aged Mind. Let's concentrate on the spirit.
Nose
Can somebody please call the Drug Enforcement Agency? That dope being highly dangerous and addictive. Several types of sweet glues and adhesives (dominantly Pattex) make you wanna sniff on that nose like forever. We should actually lead by example and hate this stuff, but the flesh is weak. Moreover we get concentrated tamarind and sesam paste, manioc, melted butter, earth, caramel drops, fresh paint and a lot of dried mango, seasoned with sage and mint. The bouquet is so fat, dense and powerful! We also get essential oils of swiss pine, cedar wood and camphor. Elegance and sophistication. B.I.G. Time.
Palate
The fatness strikes again. The liquid is perfectly balanced, heavy, oily and bittersweet with notes of toffee, dark molasses, milk coffee & chocolate, banana milk together with old manioc and a bit of glue indeed. There is also spicy wood, but not unpleasant. On the palate it's not that complex, but royally to the point. The alcohol is perfectly integrated. This is the best you can squeeze out of a column still.
Finish
Michael Ende could write The Neverending Story Part 2 with this dram, with cocoa, coca cola and tamarind as main characters and no happy end, considering the bad availability of this treasure.
Rating
Oh boy, where have we been when this stuff was still cheap and available (supposedly enjyoing Jim Beam and Jack Daniel's)? Together with Skeldon 1978 and Albion 1986 (coming back to those later) this Uitvlugt is the Grand Cru of Rum for us. In terms of esterification we personally prefer the glue from Guyana over the high ester nail polish/acetone from Jamaica. But that's a matter of taste. If you excuse us now, we have to leave for another sniff.
