Barbados Plantation Rum

[Kristian]

Barbados Plantation Rum is one of the rums that I bought on my trip to New Orleans and the first one that I have opened up and tasted. I bought it primarily because the clark at the Martin's Wine Cellar praised it quite highly. At this point, I have yet to form a complete opinion about it, but... As I sipped it straight up, I found it a bit too mellow for my taste, although rather hot on the throat.

What I'd like to know is what the text 'vintage 1991' really means? Can one interpret it somehow to get the age of the rum or what does it actually mean? I was unable to find a website with any info on this rum.

[Ed Hamilton]

Ah, you just hit the heart of marketing vintage rum. 1991 means that it was distilled in 1991 without any indication of age. I have to agree with you that this rum lacks much character since it is most probably highly distilled and aged less than 10 years, can I be more diplomatic?

I wouldn't suggest not buying such vintage rums but unless the bottler puts some kind of age statement on the bottle the consumer can only guess. Unlike wines, distilled spirits vary only slightly from year to year. The biggest changes occur when the distillery changes the distillation equipment, which in most cases means higher distillation purity and less character. Since rum is made from molasses, it is much less affected by the climatic conditions during the time the cane was grown, and since we are talking about a distilled spirit the climatic conditions are even less important when related to the year the cane was grown.

[Kristian]

Yes, the rum was rather a disappointing experience. My main reason for buying it was that I wanted to buy someting that was easy to sip for someone (not me) who finds the 'more characteristic' rums too much for them, and the person who recommended it said that she buys it all the time and their friends, who mostly think rum as too strong, are comfortable with sipping it.

Well, the person to whom I intended to introduce this particular rum did not much like it, but I found another use for it. Mixed with vanilla ice cream, this rum is at its best!  

[JOHN REEKIE]

I hope you had a good trip to New Orleans and managed to find some interesting rums. Then managed to take some home, Let us know other than Barbados Plantation Rum what else did you aquire?

Also would you please read the Plantation rum label and read who the distiller is, who produced it and hopefully where it was bottled. then let us know as this one of the unknown boutique rums. This information helps built what the family background  would be. But read carefully as the wording could be deceptive. The rest I agree with Ed as to age and distillation and to your thoughts of this rum. This might also apply to the other Plantation Rums. Private blendings away from the Islands using Island Rums and younger than the labels want you to think they are.

Anyway I hope you did get other Rums let us know.

[Kristian]

Well, here's an image of the label. I couldn't get it as sharp as I would have liked, but you can read the text, at least!

Other rums that I acquired are Cruzan Single Barrel, N.O. Rum and Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva.

I'm hoping to open either the Cruzan or the Matusalem this weekend to celebrate my birthday...

[Jason Perlow]

The 1991 you have is one of the family of rums made by Gabriel & Andreu, a french Cognac company that also owns Kaniche and makes the Plantation series, one of which you have. They also have a 1983 Jamaica which I have, which is aged a bit older than the  1991. They also have a Trinidad and a Guyana. I like the 83 Jamaica a lot but its more like a Rhum than a typical Jamaican Rum or even an older aged rum from Appleton/Wray. Its actually a lot like Kaniche but somewhat better I think.

[Kristian]

That's correct! I found Barbados vintage 1986 from Gabriel & Andreu's website and at the store where I bought my bottle, these two vintages were side by side on the shelf. Judging from the information on their website, vintage 1991 (although it is not expressly mentioned) should be aged about 10 years (1986 is 14 years old). That makes it rather old...  :wow:

It is unfortunate that it's too mellow and soft for my taste. I prefer Kaniche G. over this. I wish I could get my hands on the other products from this rum family, though, if they are at all representative of the quality rums from those islands...