Forres Park / Fernandes distillers

Rums around the world Trinidad & Tobago
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Has anybody of you guys ever heard about this rum/distillery before?

It’s supposed to be a small local distillery in Trinidad, they mainly made a cheap overproof “puncheon rum”.

At salon du Rhum, the guys from Nobilis had a small cask sample from an aged cask that they somehow got lucky with and had the chance to purchase the cask.

According to them, nobody has bottled an aged version of the Forres Park before. Except for the distillery itself maybe? (See picture below). They also sell (sold?) the unaged version in bulk to tobacco companies to flavor tobacco.

https://www.google.be/search?q=forres+park+distillery+rum+trinidad&source=lmns&bih=671&biw=414&client=safari&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwif9cmdwf6BAxWpg_0HHZPWAHsQ0pQJKAB6BAgAEAc

I’ve also found this picture of maybe an aged distillery expression, but no further information so far.

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Found this as well:

https://thelonecaner.com/fernandes-distilleries-the-company/

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So do I understand correct: Fernandes is a brand/company that produced in the Forres Park distillery?

Well, there are some Fernandes bottlings out there.
Two that recently came out and came to my mind was RX13864 and RX11905, also have decent Ratings. The other one i saw in shops from time to time is RX3473.

Tastewise those Rums were a lot smoother and sweeter than comparable TDLs, but i didnt take any specific notes or ratings when trying the Samaroli.

As you can tell those are 1999 and early 2000s vintages. In the app i can also see some 2009’s.

So dont know what Nobilis means by “aged version of a Forres Park”, as those bottlings above are certainly aged and might come from that distillery (if i understood the connection correctly). Nonetheless its a unique cask that they got.

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The story was that they bought the cask from a sort of split or dispute between two Danish tabacco companies and that the cask was kinda forgotten about.

But he made the connection with the Puncheon rum, so I assumed that it was originally that rum in the cask. It’s only now with researching a bit and the article from Lance that I’m discovering some extra information.

Found this offer from on a Belgian website as well:

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I have the aged puncheon open if you want a sample

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There is a short paragraph in Matt’s book.

Started 1920
Became big in 1930s
In 1970s 85% of Trinidad’s Rum was produced by Fernandes
1973 it was sold to Angostura and Bacardi.
Angostura has several offerings referencing old Fernandes expressions

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I am curious about the taste. Can you describe it?

I found the Nobilis sample quite nice: fruity but more accessible compared to the heavy TDL’s (and Caroni).

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Thanks, I have yet to check it myself. It seems lately that my books are collecting more dust in stead of my brain collecting information from them :sweat_smile: There’s not that much free time with the combination of work and family life…

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