Foursquare 2005 12-Year

color is beautiful
nose is powerful
palate is rich, sweet, complex
Finish medium

Foursquare 2005 Review
Number VI in the ECS series 2005 with 59% and a quantity of 12,000. A blend of pot and traditional column distillation. The rum is tropical matured in bourbon barrels for 12 years. The release was published in October 2017.

Smell: Very aromatic smell of caramel sweetness, dried fruits and herbs. Clearly one of the better bottlings. The flavors are beautifully balanced. There are also barrel aromas, tannins and vanilla.
Bourbon flavors are also easily noticeable. A nice, if not a very complex smell.

Taste: The rum starts with tannins, wood varnish and caramel sweetness. It is slightly bitter at the beginning, which gets better after several sips. I still notice dried fruit before it gets dry in the middle. The barrel aromas emerge, with oak and vanilla. There is a nice caramel sweetness over everything.
The finish is long and spicy with barrel aromas, vanilla and dried fruits.

Aftertaste: caramel sweetness, oak, herbs and dried fruits. The mouth feel remains dry.

This is a very good ECS release, unfortunately it is not as complex as e.g. the Sassafras but still pretty good. The somewhat stronger aromas such as leather are missing. The tannins are quite present, but the balance is still pretty good.

Overall rating: 88 points

Sweetness: 2/5
Fruit: 3.5 / 5
Spie: 3/5
Complexity: 3.5 / 5
Value (89 €): 4/5

very lovely barrels character. Dry but very good, I like it

2005 is a great rum 12 years in an ex bourbon cask at 59% released in 2017. I prefer this to Sagacity and premise.

First time trying this rum. Rich color, body and very smooth

Too strong for me but nice finish. I still expected way more from this one

Feels tight somehow. Has a good balance of sweetness and oak, and it has enough body to handle the high ABV well. Clearly an intense rum, but also not spectacular enough to warrant the hype I've read about

I have to disagree and agree with joola69...indeed this rum is a bit whisky like. So whiskylovers wil love it. Nose is great woody. Taste lasts for ages and is a bit dry (Also because of cask strenght). I rate this rum quite high but think it deserves it.

8.25/10. Would buy a bottle if I had the chance. I would put it right behind '07 12 year.

Beautiful hints of coconut and banana, spicy white pepper, ginger, and nutmeg. Has a balanced sweetness with medium legs. Great sipper but its too hot fot me. I needed to water it down with ice. If you dont like bourbon, this isnt for you. Most foursquare rums have a distinctive bourbon influence.