Transcontinental Rum Line 2014 Fiji 4-Year

In college, I used to think rum was just for mixing. As time went on and while living in Colombia, I started sampling rum neat or with an ice cube or two and discovered a whole other world.

About nine months ago, I discovered the Transcontinental rum line. While I'm not a fan of some of their rums (the 2013 Jamaica WP is a bit brutal and the Panama is nothing to write home about), I've fallen in love with the Fiji 2014.

It has a bouquet of floral and caramel...maybe a little vanilla. To the taste, rather oaky and a little vanilla, though I'm not great at pinpointing what I taste, unfortunately. Despite being a slightly higher proof, it's as smooth going down as an 80-proofer would be, and, perhaps the best part, is the beautiful, long-lasting finish.

All in all, a great sipping rum (don't mix it!) and a very different rum experience despite there seemingly being no additives. :)

Very tasty rum with a complex flavor and slow burn. We enjoy this rum neat and like to break it out on special occasions

This bottling of the French La Maison du Whisky (LMDW) is not for every rum drinker. This amazing high esther 100% pot still rum botteled at 48% vol is only aged 4 yours between Fiji and France but already offer a rich and opluent profile.

Nose very vegetal on the tropical fruits and solvent notes typical of pot still. In the mouth, this high hester rum shows great notes of leather and warm spices with a finish on the solvent.

Definitely my favourite pot still worth a try.

It's hard to get good, ester filled rum from Fiji and this is an excellent example. Oak is present but not dominating, glue, esters, maple, chocolate. Its a great blend between the sweeter notes and the Ester funk

Funky as hell. One of my new favorites for sure. Just wish it was a bit more affordable

Oily ! barnish, flowers on the nose, fresh grass, cedar wood and light caramel on the palate.
Great balance with a personality.
48% is the perfect spot.
Really well made. Congrats !

Nose: Apples, rubber, lime, bananas foster, sangria, caramel, gorgonzola, rhubarb
Palate: Apples, white oak, champagne, vanilla, bundt cake, butterscotch, very pleasant!
Aftertaste: bundt cake, burnt caramel, vanilla, cream, apples

So this is one of the most fascinating rums I have ever tried, bar none.

This is probably the most interesting mix of aromas I have ever gotten from a rum. A waft brings in apples, rubber, lime, bananas foster, sangria, caramel, gorgonzola, rhubarb, and something else I can't quite place. It also has a very strong alcohol note which makes sense given that it is bottled at 48% ABV. The strongest of the above notes on the nose is apples, rubber, and sangria.

On the palate it gets absolutely wild! Where do I even start? So mirroring the nose it starts with green apples before white oak briefly makes an appearance. The white oak then smoothly morphs into champagne before mellowing out further into vanilla, bundt cake, and butterscotch. This combination and change of flavors is extremely smooth and pleasant though accompanied by a very slight burn. The finish picks up where the palate leaves off and leaves you with a mouth of bundt cake, burnt caramel, and vanilla all with a very creamy taste and mouth sensation. After the putting the glass down a while your mouth tastes like green apples. What is perhaps most impressive is that this whole experience is produced with no sugars or additives. This is all from the esters, dunder, and aging.

In some respects it is slightly reminiscent of a young Jamaican high ester rum...but is far smoother and creamier with essences of bundt cake. Never thought I would ever type those words to describe a rum. This is definitely a keeper and a sipping experience.

*Edit* the more I drink this, the more I absolutely love it. This is the best funky rum I have ever had. The breadth and combination of flavors and aromas on this rum is simply stunning. This is awesome!

Nose: 9
Palate: 10
Aftertaste: 10
Smoothness: 10
Versatility: 9
Price: 9

Total: 9.5

El color no es nada prometedor, mas bien muy opaco, probablemente por el corto tiempo de añejamiento.
En nariz el barniz predomina como también el ahumado e incluso fruta caramelizada. En boca, el barniz es aún mas acentuado, al igual que el ahumado y la fruta malograda.
Me recuerda mucho a los rones jamaicanos no manipulados. Mucho ésteres, además es un por still, sabroso, aunque a muchos probablemente no les guste. Extraordinario!

This is my first high ester rum and it’s not like anything I’ve tried before. The funk is very strong, and it also exhibits subtle characteristics of traditional molasses rum, some oak, and some dryer sugar cane style. It was like a party in my mouth with popping complexity, but it went down heavily. Definitely only a sipper, just difficult to have a lot in one sitting, and doesn’t pair well with anything besides itself.

I ordered a glass of this at my local rum bar, never having had one from Fiji before. A little research shows that the source of this rum, South Pacific Distillery, is a big (the only?) distillery on the island, making beer, "ready to drink" alcopops, and a whole line of other spirits. So, snobbily, I would not have expected a quality rum.

Well... I haven't tried their other products, but if nothing else, Transcontinental must have found some fine casks and treated them right. (Their schtick seems to be taking something aged for a while at origin, then aging them in Europe for a while. Which is a whole other rabbit hole to discuss...)

High esters, low sweetness... get yourself a bottle of this Jamaican-like (one glass isn't enough) and take your time with it. My initial impressions were banana, cinammon, apricot, spice... I need to give this thing time in the right glass to see what it reveals, experiment with a little water... this is a good proof for the flavor, but the burn is a little challenging, and I feel certain I could dig up more complexities. Especially since there seem to be no additives getting in the way.

It'll take some experimentation to get there, but I think it'll be a pleasant trip.