As the rum year is coming to an end, I thought, it would be a good opportunity to recap on the best 2021 releases
I have put below a ranking of my top 10 rums (it is somewhat ad hoc and doesn‘t strictly follow my ratings in the app)
RumClub Gardel 1983 (best nose 2021, although the palate could not quite keep up with the nose)
Caroni 5th Employee Release Breeze (the 6th Employee Release will probably rest forever in the shelves of collectors)
RA HD 1989 (best HD overall)
RA Guyana Enmore REV 1994
St Lucia Chairman Master’s Reserve 2005 The Nectar 15 anniversary
Old Brothers HD 2001 <>H (best high ester HD 2021)
RA EMB 1995 (surprise of the 10GRF RA release set)
Velier River Antoine (up with the best Clairins)
Excellence Rhum TDL 2003 (big surprise)
Velier FS Sassafras
Happy to see your favourite releases (Top 3, 5, 10 whatever). I think it would be fun to choose our rum of the year. In order to do so, we could create a shortlist (e.g. 20 rums) and do a poll to vote on our rum of the year
I was also positively surprised by the S.B.S. Guyana bottelings this year. And of course RA got a bunch of very fine rums as well.
Within the rum-x calendar the Appleton Hearts Collection, the Caroni 96 and the Flens JMC are my highlights.
I recently got a sample of the Port Mourant Milano Festival 2008 from @Rodolphe which I liked very much. So I decided to get a bottle (which can be still ordered at affordable price).
Not only to talk about the positve rums, I’d like to mention that I was a bit disappointed by the Nobilis bottelings. All of them are rated below 90.
Bislang ergibt sich bei mir nachfolgende Rangfolge (einige Flaschen und Samples sind noch geschlossen und können daher nicht mit in die Bewertung einfließen):
RA REV 94
RA HD 89
Rumclub HD 92
Perola REV 94
IdR Fiji 2001
Mhoba Velier 2017 (eine tolle Überraschung m. E. )
I have not yet tried the RA Rockley 1986, but I reckon it would have scored quite high
I did not put the Flens 2007 HD (10GRF release) into my Top 10 as it was very close to the one released the year before. But generally speaking, it is one of my all time high ester HD favorites.
As for the undeperformer rums, I have to admit that the new Plantation Single Cask Series did not impress me much. It is more about marketing with all those Duvel beer cask finishes etc. but on the nose/palate they were rather weak.
I thought I just create a screenshot because otherwise I might be a little less objective ;). The famous 1986 WIRD was only beaten by the 1983 Gardel which was the first rum I rated as „this is what I would call my single most favorite rum“. The TRC C<>H is no 2021 release but all the others should be from this year.
Regarding underperforming releases I have to agree with @mto75 since I was a bit disappointed by the recent Plantation SC lineup as well (a lot of rum with a lot of sugar if I wanted to sum it up )
Thank you guys for sharing you favorite lists! Very interesting to read. I could blame those of you how put the RA EMB on their lists to be the reason for my last purchase this year. I just got myself a bottle of that rum because of YOU! (it is still available at Rum Depot and you might use the code “Rum-Depot-150” to get some discount). I tasted and enjoied that rum a lot at the German Rumfest and was sneaking around that bottle since then
This is my (unordered) list for 2021:
St Lucia Chairman Master’s Reserve 2005 The Nectar 15 anniversary
RA Trinidad 2002
RomDeLuxe Trinidad Ten Cane 2009 (poor mans Caroni, like I use to say )
Nobilis HD 1992 (Rum Club HD 1992 is still unopened)
Rum Sponge HD 1990+1992
Concerning the “lemon price” I admit to be disapointed by the Plantation releases too.
Nice read so far. My best 3 releases this year were:
Velier FS Sassafras
Rom de Luxe Wild Series Rhino Hampden DOK 2 y/o in Caroni Cask 86,2%
Rumclub Nr. 18 Hampden 1992
My best priced Rum or biggest surprise this year was the RA Fiji 2001. Extraordinary Rum of unusual Region. Very nice find.
Bad surprises for me this year was the 2nd Edition of the Valinch&Malet Spirits of Art Series. Those were all underperforming. And i had very high expectations for them after the spectacular first Series.
I didnt drink “many” new Caronis this year, as there are mostly 98/99 vintages coming out these days, but I must give credits to Bellamy’s, who gave us a really nice '98 Caroni. I didnt believe they could perform that well in this sphere of Rums.
All in all a very good year regarding releases. But also prices habe exploded and I cant see anybody wanting to turn back the spiral of pricing. Lets see what 2022 brings us.
Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all of you!
I agree on both, the RA Fiji provided tremendous value for the money, given that it sold for around 70 EUR, and I liked the Bellamy Caroni, too, with the 64% ABV being very well integrated. One more decent value for money rum is certainly the Rum Club Australia (which we had in the calendar and one bottle split).
I was wondering whether we should not only vote for our ‚absolute‘ rum of the year but also the one with the best value for money, which could be any rum below 90 (or 80) EUR?
Hi everyone!
Thanks to the members of this forum I was able to taste many rums this year! Many thanks to all of you!
My palmares of 2021 releases (but I haven’t necessarily tasted a lot of them).
Plantation LongPond 22y bardstown bourbon(amazing for its price I find!)
Chantal Comte Tour de l’Or La Mauny 2010 (the Chantal Comte La Mauny are very good, all of them, the 2001 is amazing!)
RA Clarendon 1995 (Thanks Lukas!)
RA Guyana REV 1994
Rum club private selection HD 1992
Tamosi Karaya Port Mourant Levy Lane 1998 (the best PM I ever tasted)
(I really liked the St Lucia distillers The Nectar 15th anniversary in mouth but the nose is too marked by solvent I find)
The old releases I tasted in 2021 and that could be in the palmares are :
St Lucia distillers RA and RTN 2011 9y.o.
Caroni HTR Corman Collins The Auld Alliance 1998 (better than the Blog à Roger I found), thanks Michael!
Depaz Brut de Fût 2004
St James 2003 brut de fût (excellent price/quality)
El Dorado CBH DLR
Chantal comte la Tour de l’Or La Mauny 2001
The end of 2021 is marked by my re-discovery of French agricultural rums. Before, I often found them too spicy but I took great pleasure in discovering the “brut de fût” from Martinique distilleries that I did not know well : St James, Depaz, La Mauny and I find those rhums excellent! I will continue my discovery in 2022.
This is my list so far (I do think I still have some tastings to do):
RA 1986 WIRD
SBS 1994 REV
RA 1994 REV
Plantation 2002 Jamaica HJF (best Plantation for me this year)
RA 2001 Fiji
The Whisky Jury (selected by Road Rummers), 2009 Jamaica HD DOK
Sample X Travelers Belize
Appleton Hearts 1994 (EDIT: not 2021 sorry)
SBS Skeldon 2001
Rasta Morris 2010 Worthy Park
Most of the single cask expression from Plantation were indeed disappointing. The best ones apart from the HJC were the Jamaica Bardstown and the Fiji with japanse whisky maturation (but both not good enough to make “the list”). The St Lucia for 15 years The Nectar is pretty good too.
I would also like to add that I haven’t tasted anything from Nobilis that’s worth the hype and price surrounding it (but I’ve only tried a couple of their releases). I am curious about their Hampden C<>H and WIRD Rockley.
My list for 2021 so far, haven’t tasted all my samples yet;
French Antilles 2019 Virgin Oak
• this one was a real revelation of taste for me, a delight in the nose and on the palate. Am I to selfish to say that I was lucky to have this bottled for my shop?
Savanna Herr 57°
• What an amazing white thingy! It keeps amazing me each time I smell and sipp
Long Pond 15y for Daily Dram
• The first LP that blew my mind
Guyana 27yo The Duchess
• Simply love it
Jamaica 2016 PX Finish (Hampden)
• An accesible Hampden rum for those who are not yet in the funky estery like categorie this could be a nice introduction into the distillery
DOK from Rom de Luxe
• What can you say 1600 ester count, delicious
Savanna Créol Cask Strength
• Simply love it
JM Jardin Fruité
• Works amazing in Daiquiri if you use a bit of Passionfruit syrup from Giffard
WP from Rasta Morris
• A bomb after aering a half an hour
Foursquare by Rasta Morris
• The best Foursquare I’ve ever had from an IB
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