Caroni 1997 (Sansibar)

This 15 years old Caroni rum is bottled with a Sansibar label. It’s essentially a restaurant on the Sylt island in the North Sea, but Sansibar is also a stylish brand used for a wine club, fashion products, gourmet food stuff and – since last year – also whisky and rum (in cooperation with The Whisky Agency). There’s even Sansibar sunblock and Sansibar currywurst sauce…

The description for this bottle of rum is “Breeze at the beach”.

Caroni 15 yo 1997 (46%, Sansibar 2012, single barrel rum, 179 btl.)

Nose: a nice mix of molasses and spices (cinnamon, pepper, mint). Overripe banana and a hint of engine oil and smoke. Grated coconut. Hints of patchouli and sandalwood. Typically tropical in a way, but at the same time less sweet and more complex than most other rums.

Mouth: quite dry and spicy: ginger, pepper. A lime / mint combination and faintly medicinal hints. Grows fairly earthy for a rum. Hints of smoke. Indeed also a coastal twist in the end, something reminding me of Fisherman’s Friend.

Finish: long, dry and slightly mentholated. Liquorice and soft tar.

A nicely dry and spicy after-dinner rum. Around € 70. By the way, similar casks have been bottled by The Whisky Agency & The Nectar and A.D. Rattray lately.