Foursquare 2005 Port Cask Finish 9-Year

Smooth, with sweetness and lots of dried fruits. Complex

toller komplexer Rum , damals auch noch sehr günstig.

great complex rum, at that time also very affordable.

Number two of the Foursquare's Exceptional Cask Series (ECS). Nine year old bottling that was stored for 3 years in Bourbon Cask and then for another 6 years in Port Cask.
Unfortunately bottled in 40%, that was common back then, believe it or not.

Smell: The nose is a bit subtle, I notice a lot of dried fruit, mainly red fruits, cranberries, cherries, raisins, blackberries. Some gum, similar to sherry, follows. In the background there is some bourbon wood aroma with a little vanilla and a darker barrel aroma. A good smell for the 9 years, but unfortunately the dilution has taken away a lot of the intensity. The rum may got nicely balanced as a result.

Taste: Thin start with burnt sugar, vanilla and some dried fruits (raisins, plums, some red fruit). Of course, the dilution is noticeable, but the flavors are good. It becomes woodier in the mouth, barrel aromas follow and also some tannins with wood. It also becomes astringent in the mouth, tannins in combination with dried fruit are now strongly present on the palate. Now we have the red fruit here.
In the finish, the sharpness increases, it teases the palate slightly. The tannins come out a little more and the oak now dominates the taste. The barrel aromas and dried fruits are still on the palate.

A nice Foursquare for only 9 years, I don't know whether that is the dilution or whether it was already good in barrel strength. It was definitely intense and quite good in cask strength.
The dilution took away a lot from it, but it offers nice complexity for the 9 years.
I'm not sure if I'd rather have this one or a simpler detente with more abv. I would go for the Detente, rum means intensity of flavors for me.
If diluted to 40%, then maybe sweetened so that the intensity remains correspondingly high.

Overall rating: 85 points

Sweetness: 1.5 / 5
Fruit: 3/5
Seasoning: 2.5 / 5
PL (50€): 3/5 meanwhile not available >500€

Very Unique, I have around 40 different rums in my cabinet and this one is a dead give away. Blind taste test is a piece of cake. You can taste the whiskey on the nose and if finishes with a nice port essence. Not sweet but just a fun and enjoyable libation to make you say, " Wow, like that stuff is pertty darn good, Man". Enjoy it is money well spent. I don't know how you could drink this any way but neat... let me know if u find something.. no don't do it man, i like it just the way it is...

As it was the first ECS in the states, it was an immediate positive reaction to my palate. I prefer to not have them aged in wine/port barrels but this one works very well for me.

I guess this rum is something you like or not at all. I feel the taste is too much cask.

This is one of the oddest profiles on a rum I have ran across to date. While it is rather smooth it does have a strong cask influence from the port. Meaning just that really the port is the main note here. It does have some very nice spice going on behind the port, but this becomes rather muted by the cask influence. Overall not bad if you like port very nice in the mouth and going down. If you want a rum with a rare profile and different taste then this is a good bet. A gripe I had with the US bottle with the wax was that the bottles I bought leaked unopened when upturned. Drops came down the sides. Upon further inspection of the opened bottle there was glass missing at the top of the bottle creating space between the metal screw top. I did not see any glass chip in the bottle so I can only assume that it happened prior to bottling.

I convince my self that the fine port barrel really was there, in the back of my mouth, but I may just be drunk, I don't know for sure. :)

The port finish has a solid presence in the tasting. First stage of taste i found a bit "bitter grape-ey" followed by quite a strong middle flavor and a long very interesting lingering taste. I dont feel the port makes it overly sweet at all, especially since i donot like sweet rums. Very good sipper at 32 euros!

Smagt til romhattens romfestival 2019, den får en 7’er..