REV aus 2006, klingt sehr interessant 
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Very interesting! Thanks for sharing. It will be my first table entry for the year 2006.
I also had the assumption that MDXC might also be REV based on this snippet from the CocktailWonk interview with Shaun Caleb:
How many different marques do the three heritage stills produce, and what are they?
The wooden heritage stills each produce a patent marque named after the estate (now defunct) where the production still was originally installed:
- Versailles (original marque VSG, but the caramel-coloured variant is REV) from the Single Wooden Pot Still that was first installed at Versailles, which was amalgamated with the previously amalgamated Schoonord-Goed Fortuin (SXG) to form Versailles-Schoonord-Goed Fortuin (VSG)
I assumed this quote meant that all Diamond era dark Versailles marques were REVs, such as the MDXC you cited. Upon rereading, it seems like he did not really answer the question. We know that other Versailles marques still existed as of 2002 (KFM) so maybe he was just listing some marques rather than all possible marques from Versailles.
If 2004 MDXC is REV, I would not have been able to tell based on taste. All Diamond era Versailles rums have tasted vastly different from Enmore era Versailles for me thus far, so it is hard for me to match marques between the two distilleries. But I have only had 1 MDXC so far. I have the Rum Artesanal 2004 VSG 16 coming soon and it might change my opinion.
The 06 REV is an exciting new piece of the puzzle and I hope it helps us answer some questions about 04 MDXC.
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I have updated news that the 12/2003 Column Still MDSL batch is actually Savalle Still rum and not Diamond Metal Coffey Still.
I had a conversation with Marius and he mentioned that he found out from the broker. He acknowledged that his old review articles about dark 2003s being Diamond Still are outdated based on this information.
This means that there are at least 3 dark Savalle batches from 2003 (May, October, December).
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Thanks for sharing this information. I updated the table above.
Is there actually any confirmed Diamond Coffey Still Rum bottled by any IB?
The interview snippet you quoted is one of the few indications I have for my hypothesis.
I had two rums from the 2004 MDXC batch, one was the RA 2004 12 yo - which is strong on the minty, spicy, licorice notes I associate with the 1994 REV.
I canât say 100% that any of these are confirmed but here are my best guesses for Diamond Coffey Still IB batches and a few bottles that might be from the batch.:
- 05/2005 SV - Rum Nation Rare, Lâesprit, Samaroli Dark
- 06/1996 MDS - OriginR, Rom de Luxe, Corman Collins
- 04/2008 MDS - Ancient Mariner(?)
- 1992 ? - Silver Seal
- 1998 ? - Bristol (I think this is different from the 05/1998 Enmore still âDiamonds.â Bristolâs Diamond has caramel coloring added while the other batches of 98 demeraras are naturally colored)
Side note: they are all dark with caramel coloring.
Here are a few anecdotal guesses based on tasting experiences:
- 06/2011 ? - The Single Cask (based on a someone elseâs tasting notes)
- 04/2011 ? - The Single Cask (based on personal tasting)
Also there are probably some batches from pre 1990 and post 2008 but my notes arenât as good for those time periods.
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I had a cross tasting two nights ago. I tasted the RA 1994 (2021 release), RA 2004 12yo (MDXC), RA 2004 16yo (VSG) and the SBS 2006 (REV).
In my opinion those rums are very similar. Especially the RA 2004 VSG (Which is a MDXC as it is from the same batch as the RA 2006 yo), is very similar to the new SBS 2006 REV. The new 2006 REV isnât that strong on the herbal side as the 2004 batch was, but youâll find those prominent herbal notes (Mint, menthol) in some of the 1994. It will be interesting if more 2006 REVs will be released and perhaps my control group of the 2004 colored batch gets bigger (there are still some interesting bottlings available)
The difference compared to the modern uncolored Versailles (2002 KFM. / 2003 MDK(fm)) is striking - the coloring and maybe additional changes on the distillation changed the flavor profile strongly.
I firmly believe that the coloration makes the biggest difference by far. It is well known that several barrels were tipped together during the long period of storage. The E150 does not evaporate, and you can taste it clearly, this special bitter note. And they all have pre-colored rum, sometimes stronger, sometimes less.
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Great notes! I did the same thing when I got my bottle and posted my notes in a different community. I actually came to a different conclusion. I feel like 04 MDXC is closer in nature to 92 MEC (AWM with color) than 94 REV. My guess is that 04 MDXC and 06 REV are different marques⊠but my sample size is only n=1 in this cross tasting
Here is the record of my notes:
SBS REV 06: Grapes, prunes, oil spill, dough, âdarkâ are the forward notes. Coffee, licorice, dark berries, and some nice custardy aged wood notes are also lurking. Musky soup, honey, and cologne are pushed way back. Like nearly all Diamond era Versailles, this one âsuffersâ from grapefruit. Grapefruit/candied orange peel shows up mid palate and dominate the experience. Sadly, grapefruit takes the place of the pencil-y sweet soy sauce and marshmallow interplay present in Enmore era Versailles. Mouthfeel is extra viscous - I wonder if they added enough of their barrel caramel such that it also registers as notable sugar increase or gravity difference? It doesnât taste particularly sweetened, but it feels very thick.
Tasting group:
Kill Devil Enmore 1992, 24yr MEC ( Assuming MEC = production marque AWM + Color)
SBS 1994 26yr REV
Rhumb Runner 2004 16 MDXC (Assuming MDXC = production marque ? + color)
SBS 2006 16yr REVThe main goal of this flight was to better guess the marque of 04 MDXC. Some people have speculated that 04 MDXC is also REV but based on this mini flight I think MDXC more likely a diamond version of dark AWM or a different dark Versailles marque. 04 MDXC is very soup and honey forward like 92 MEC. 06 REV is dark fruit and oil forward like 94 REV.
I should have the Artesanal 2004 VSG by next week. I will update once I have tasted that one as well.
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Thank you for your notes that were far more nuanced than my flight!
Iâll get a sample of 1992 MEC soon, too. I have two samples of KFM 1991. Iâll give it another try. Iâd love to have more MDXC samples, but most of the rums are actually sold by now (I had wrongly assumed that there were still some bottles available)
A new mark again. Sometimes it feels like a new Savalle Release brings a new mark, too.
Seems to be a broker mark again? Main Diamond - but what is the R?
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Das R dĂŒrfte fĂŒr die Multi-Column Savalle Still stehen. (Multi-pressure Rectification Still)
Also könnte man MDR wohl wie folgt ĂŒbersetzen:
Multi-pressure/column Diamond Rectification Still (sollte ja nicht die einzige multi-column still sein die es gibt, daher das Diamond, sonst wĂŒrde MR reichen) evtl. aber auch Main Diamond Rectification Still ⊠so genau weiĂ man das ja nie was sich ein Broker da gedacht hat.
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Das klingt plausibel, dann schon fast wieder nach DDL selbst statt nach Broker. Ein Savalle Cross Tasting mĂŒsste man mal machen, um zu schauen, ob man ĂŒberhaupt systematische Unterschiede zwischen den Marks finden kann.
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Egal, ich habe mal ne Flasche zum probieren bestellt!
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Ich wĂŒrde da die These aufstellen, dass das nicht so ohne weiteres klappen wird. Klar werden die Rums ĂŒber die Jahre anders schmecken, aber das liegt eher daran, dass die Stills in ganz anderen Distillen standen und der Rum mit ganz anderem Zuckerrohr hergestellt wurde und nicht weil es per se ein anderes Mark ist. Heutzutage bleibt Diamond Savalle Still aber Diamond Savalle Still und ich gehe nicht davon aus, dass man die ganzen Marks explizit auĂeinander halten kann (eher schon die Art der Lagerung).
Bei den Jamaica Rum Marks speziell wenn man sich Hampden anschaut finde ich das ganze deutlich distinktiver (gibtâs das Wort distinctive so ĂŒbersetzt ĂŒberhaupt 
) wo sich die Marks aufgrund der unterschiedlichen Ester Level deutlich unterscheiden wobei auch da zwischen unaged und aged wieder Welten liegen. So schmeckt ein unaged C<>H sicherlich âheftigerâ als ein lange gereifter DOK.
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@Thunderbird @lukasdrinkinghabits
Have you guys tried this one yet and have any thoughts to share?
I just cracked my bottle. I have a slight suspicion that there may be a mistake with the callout of the still. If it were given to me blind, I would have thought it was another dark R marque that we all know and love⊠Perhaps Main Diamond REV.
- This bottle tastes nothing like other dark Savalle marques I have had thus far (01 SWR, the dark 03 vintages, potentially 2000, and potentially Sep 08). This bottle has much more of the musky honey, oil, and dough notes that I associate with dark Versailles. One difference; this 2012 has milder grapefruit note than the 04 MDXC and 06 REV.
- To further bolster my suspicions, 1994 REV carries the broker marque MER (Main Enmore REV) but that might just be a confusing coincidence.
- One last thing, and donât put too much stock into this, there is a non colored Versailles 11/2012 vintage that also exists. We have seen other examples where colored and non colored versailles have been released in the same month/year vintage: 1988 MEA/MEC and 2004 MDX/MDXC
Counterpoint to my argument:
- I have no reason to doubt the information of the bottler. I am mostly throwing the evidence together after an initial taste.
- The Savalle still is capable of making many marques and we do not yet have a clear delineation and examples of every marque. MDR is probably just another option in the Savalle catalogue.
- It seems like the flavor might be heavily driven by the coloring and perhaps that is the only reason it tastes similar to dark Versailles.
- This is only my first pour from this bottle. The characteristics might change and I might have a different opinion in the next session.
- There is also a 11/2012 Enmore batch. In other words, there can be multiple still outputs from a single month-year combination (though this is rare in the grand scheme of IB Guyana rums thus far).
If this is truly Savalle, then once again I am happy and excited with the potential DDL has with this still.
This time I only had 04 MDXC, 06 REV, and 08 maybe-Savalle side by side. I will taste again against more well known Savalle vintages and report back later. I hope to hear all of your thoughts.
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Hey mr crisp,
So far I have not yet come to a tasting (sample jam)!
I have now about 14 samples and bottles from Guyana stand there! But in the next few days, I hope to be able to start!
Then I will report immediately,
Greetings Michael
PS:
Your Tasting-Result is very interesting and aroused my curiosity about it
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Yet one more mark, Nobilis #24 is âUDSâ.
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The new Last Cask Series by El Dorado comes up with a ânewâ yet discontinued still, which hasnât been used for the known marks, yet? Iâm not sure if I do understand it properly, but it says to contain rum produced by a Tri-Canada Redistillation Still.
@cocktailwonk writes at his Blog:
Behind the Diamond Coffey stills is less well-known still known as the Tri-Canada. Itâs much more modern column still, installed around 1980 using parts from John Dore and Tri-Canada Industries. These days itâs primarily used to make neutral alcohol for spirit drinks, although newer stills have essentially taken over the Tri-Canadaâs role.
Source: https://cocktailwonk.com/2020/02/demerara-distillers-part-two.html
Do we know if Rum from this still was bottled before?
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I wanted to ask before: what is the source for KFM being uncolored? Itâs kind of a weird statement considering the average darkness of the KFM bottles.
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Youâre right. There is diverging information about this.
There is the 1991 KFM which is co ored. And here is the 2002 KFM Batch which is uncolored and a pretty regular Versailles Style.
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