Clarendon 1995 - Flensburg Rum Company for Tara Spirits - 65,5
Photo taken somewhere in Stuttgart
We've tried plenty of Clarendon a.k.a. Monymusk 1995 EMB, among which the 100% tropically aged 70th Anniversary Velier has proven to be the benchmark (93/100) so far. Huge fans of this mark and vintage. This new candidate was bottled for the wonderful shop Tara Spirits in Munich by Flensburg Rum Company. Let's place it on the dissecting bench. 23 years of tropical aging they state. How tempting .
Nose
EMB, you are the holy mark of Jamaica! So clearly EMB that it almost hurts. See, lavender sticks and fermented mangoes, pineapples and bananas. Precious rose oil (doTERRA quality) and thick liquorice. Wet earth and muddy roots from the jungle nearby (what?!) plus some hints of nutmeg and cloves, giving it a nice christmassy twist. That's complexity lasses and lads. After a while in the glass one also finds some stewed apricots, alright. The nose rattles like a snake.
Palate
Bursts like a cannonball! Thick and heavy the initial start coats the whole palate, delivering bittersweet pink grapefruits juice, caramel, pineapples, dark chocolate and hints of rubber, almost caroni-esque. Very good. 65,6%, sure? Wonderfully integrated we'd say. Now, it's lacking a wee bit of creaminess compared to the Velier, but that just might be our personal taste. Still it has a profound sweetness with being super sippable and delicate compared to some other old Jamaicans, like the two Monymusk 1984 by Velier for example.
Finish
Quite sure you can taste it even the second day after. So much about the length. The cloves, the grapefruit peels and the rubber just don't wanna leave the party.
Rating
Thanks to Tara for the sample! Fantastic EMB. Pretty cask-forward, but they all are. Clearly the tropical ageing played a large part in this play. Beats the representatives from Rum Artesanal and Wild Parrot we've just recently had. Together with the continentally aged Hampdens from 1990, the Clarendon 1995 vintage surely rules the Jamaican 90's era, like Pac and Biggie used to do (with 1997 EMB for Begnoni representing NAS. Now which one's Snoop?!).
Tadaa! No surprise, we have to rate this high.
