Foursquare Plenipotenziario - 60%
Photo taken somewhere on Barbados
Today's patient is the freshest highend release from the collaboration Seale/Gargano. It has both heavy and light rums from the column still as well as from the double retort pot still. The maturation was mainly done in first and second fill ex-bourbon casks.
The last "black bottle" we had was the Principia (91 points). We are excited.
Nose
Holy mary, this is bold, rich and vegetal. Imagine yourself standing in an artist's studio that is jam-packed with fresh paintings, wood polish and pots filled with seldom flowers and vegetals. Mainly lavender, gentians, lilies, peppermint, agaves and one beetrot (seriously!). After some minutes in the glass the bouquet is supplemented by darker notes of wet tobacco, pure cocoa and an idea of wet mud (the good one you sometimes find in really old cask matured spirits). Stunning nose to this point.
With water: Becomes more creamy and delicate now, with melted butter and roasted vanilla pots.
Palate
The heaviest body of a sumo wrestler with an ultra dense and creamy texture! The oak influence is huge but still balanced, like pushing a sportscar to it's limit without ever losing control. A few years more and it would have been too much we guess. There is chocolate, sweet caramell, some roasted espresso and black pepper. The alcohol is well integrated (and dangerously drinkable for it's high abv). But let's stick to the protocol.
With water: Getting sweeter, with more caramell drops and some forest honey.
Finish
Long and dry with a pleasant cocoa bitterness and a note of grounded coriander seeds. It also seems quite ester-y and funky for a Foursquare expression, with agave concentrate, new plastics and a few drops of paint in the end. What's not to love here?!
Rating
The black bottles once more represented the very best of Barbados rum! It's different to the Principia, with a bit less elegance and complexity, but more power and depth and is definitely an asset to the existing range. It obviously wasn't by chance they named it after the attribute plenipotentiary. We raise this winner dram to the incredibly friendly people of Barbados!
