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| Photo copyright © Uhrskov Vine |
Another example of good indie value for money.
I seem to have grown an affinity for Compagnie des Indes. Not that I am stupidly in love with them, I just seem to keep circling back to them once in a while.
And every single time I am reminded that they bottle some great stuff.
That is why, I’m back again for another one.
This time the Compagnie des Indes Port Mourant 2002 13 year old Cask Strength for Denmark only.
Boooooo! Another one just for Denmark?! I’m afraid so.
Perhaps this is why I like CdI so much. They seem to like my people. And given the current state of affairs, that is a pretty uncommon thing.
But enough politics. Rum is fun. Politics are not. Therefore, do not mix. And back to the rum.
It comes from the Port Mourant still housed by Guyanese rum monopoly DDL.
Distilled in 2002 it spent 13 years in the barrel before just 239 bottles were bottled at a sinus destroying 59% ABV in 2015. The majority of time was spent in continental europe.
Best thing: No fiddling with anything. No additives, no filtering, no nothing. Just honest, pure rum.
Presentation
There is nothing new to the presentation, when comparing to the previously reviewed CdI rums.
The turquoise box is back, with its rather large window and scarce information.
The squat, green bottle is also back with its very large amount of useful information, and this time a turquoise coloured label, which has been chosen as the colour of Guyana I believe.
On the label; Any information you would want. Origin, still, age, barrel marque, number of bottles, etc. Nice.
The rum has a light hay colour, which isn't that typical for a Port Mourant of certain age.
In the glass the rum is a true gentleman. It only leaves an almost invisible layer of residue, and a nice ring of small droplets. Very much not a high viscosity drink.
Nose
At first it feels quite light and displays almost nothing except a lot of anise.
But as the anise scents scatter, they make way for some very thick, burnt oak.
Along with the oak, there is also a little vanilla and after that your nose is introduced to a certain sting. Not that friendly after all.
At the very bottom there is a little dried fruits to be found, but on a over all scale, the anise and the oak are the most dominating by far.
Not the overabundance of scents, but rather good at the things it does.
Taste
Very soft at first going in, and then BOOM! It detonates your face while screaming: ”Unleash the fury!”.
Huge butterscotch, anise and burnt oak, in a beautiful yummi melange coated in a buttery texture.
The oak tannins are a bit to aggressive for the balance to be perfect, but as it evolves in your mouth it evens out a bit.
To be frank, there really isn’t much more to it. It is fairly simply that way.
But I think it is great. It displays just a very few elements, but these are well balanced, tasty and provides one hell of a ride.
And when taking the rather nose into consideration, quite a surprise.
Finish
Huge heat on delivery, which just gets hotter as it goes down.
It fades rather fast, and leaves you with a clean tasty mixture of sweet, wood and liquorice.
The last aftertaste keeps lingering forever, and while cleaning it self up, it never even gets close to cloying even though the butterscotch if a very dominating part of the taste.
I could have wished for a slower fade. After barely coping with the heat explosion, I like to bask in the light of my little victory. But it doesn’t really allow me to.
It doesn’t want me to sit back and savour the moment. It just wants me to sip again. And again and again. And be thankful to be destroyed every single time.
Rating and final thoughts
I’m not really surprised. This is proper rum. Big rum. Strong rum. With explosives. And monstertrucks. And it’s very good.
Perhaps it is just a tad too strong. Every sip is a bit of a surprise. And instead of actually enjoying it, it turns into more of a dare. However I had too much fun to try to water it down, and if you have been following my scriblings you know I like my rums at cask strength no matter how much the end up beating me senseless.
Taste wise it is a bit narrow. The elements are very well balanced and super tasty, but it could have been more full bodied.
But what does it cost, you say?
Well, provided you can get your hands on it, you will need €110 to trade for it.
Not a bad price for a 13 year old cask strength Port Mourant if you ask me (and by reading this, you kinda did ask me).
You could go out and get a lot of other rums at this price. But you will be hard pressed to find a proper made, proper aged cask strength.
It case you already love cask strength demeraras, consider buying this one.
If you haven’t had a chance to try out proper cask strength rums yet, consider buying this one.
If you worship your Zacapa, don’t bother. You will feel both assaulted and violated.
Once again CdI has done a great job, and pulled something really impressive out of a warehouse somewhere.
It doesn’t deserve a place at the very top, but it is still a great product and it deserves a proper…
Rating: 81/100
Links
https://www.facebook.com/Compagniedesindes/
Note
Recently a fellow rummie expressed his new found love for a certain indie bottler. He was however a bit puzzled that this certain bottler wasn’t particularly present on the review blogs, despite the greatness of the rums made by said bottler.
I expressed my opinion: I agree that the rums from said bottler are very good (I even reviewed a few), but they are simply too expensive for what they are.
Most online reviewers are fuelled by a passion for the spirit they write about, and most spend unreasonable amounts of their own hard earned, siphoned-without-happily-oblivious-wife-knowing cash to pursue this passion to as full an extent as they possibly can.
Therefore products which don't deliver value according to (or in the vicinity of) their price tag, just don't end up in online reviews that often.
When it comes to shear value for money, the bottler in question just doesn’t quite deliver.
The CdI products I have tastet so far, do.
Disclaimer: As a freak of nature, unimaginable luck and everything wrong with the universe, I find my self in a position, where my better half actually supports my irrational passion for rum, encourages my often stupid and unreasonable purchasing, endures my endless ramblings and gives me time and space to write all this crap. Thank you, Mrs. RumCorner. I love you so very, very much and I know that I'm a lottery-winning-kind-of-lucky guy!
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