Doorly's 14-Year

I finally managed to fetch myself this nice little treasure! Cost me a bit more (98 euros total pricing), but now that i am savoring the thing, it was actually well-worth it! The box is craftily designed and highly original. Color of the liquid is magnificent and eye-catching. The smell is deep, clean and subtle, not strong, but very pleasing nonetheless, refined and sophisticated. The texture feels extremely smooth, velvety, without harshness, despite the high alcohol percentage. It goes down merrily, simply feels great to drink! Warms your throat inside out and while exhaling, a unique feeling of euphoria overcomes you, momentarily dominating your senses! The lingering aftertaste is outstanding and remains for quite some time post your sip, filling your mouth with an unparalleled, blissful sensation! This is a real winner and absolutely fabulous! Highly recommended! Special thanks are in order, to the people who insisted for me to buy this one first, before the other rums in my list!!!

The bottle is very attractive, the saturated colors of the parrot motif invoke the atmosphere of tropical nature, Caribbean, warm weather and bright sun. The shape of the bottle is old-school, squat, curvy, topped with artificial cork embedded in plastic (no problem for me, there is not enough genuine cork for all the booze in the world).

The aroma originally is very muted, distant, dominated by a focused sweet note - candied apples, marmalade, canned pumpkin, after adding a bit of water (the rum is bottled at 48 percent), the aroma slowly unfolds with more acrid, acidic notes of soft wood.

On the palate, the entry is surprisingly, but delicately sweet (knowing Mr. Seale's production and attitude towards additives, I expect an austere, bone dry experience), but now, sweetness continues to develop along the toffee, milky, caramel lines towards a slightly bitter, woody finish, but much less bitter than one would expect after full 14 years of tropical aging. You will find no traces of those "teabags left in too long" ultra bitter tones of low quality rums, these are no tired casks with just bitter tannins left after years and years of abuse, but obviously an expertly selected vessels that imparted rather delicious gifts during their contact with the distillate.

The finish is warming, long, delicate, only slightly astringent and bitter, but almost feminine and soft in intensity.

Overall, this rum is a rather pleasant surprise, and after clicking between 9 and 10, back and forth, yes, I am giving it 10 finally - I usually give 10 only to rums that brings something original to the table, which IMO is not the case here, but this rum is exceptionally well-made, and I have to respect that.

Jolly well done!

the best i ve tried so far, in a rum the aroma/taste i appreciate the most is fruitiness and this one have it at maximum, more than mount gay (their rums where my preferred, no more), nose some alcohol burn (of course, it s warming at 48% ABV) but after this some vanilla and tons of tropical fruits, in the mouth tropical fruits are so present, yes, some wood and spices attenuate the (natural) sweetness and give some complexity, but fruits are so predominant ...
if we look the price is also good for this stuff, it costed like a dictador 20 (that is ok but not at that level if we look taste and ABV) or half than a millionario XO (sugar bomb very over rated)
this one at the end of the touristic season (end october/start november) i ll buy a bottle for each of my waiters to celebrate another good season !
when i hear people speaking of bajan rums being the best, i confirm that they really are the cream of the cream of rum (and this one is a true bajan with a pedigree), people who like sweetened rum please don t drink this just to rate it bad !
PS checked again and the price was so good because i ve got a discount, exactly 25% (the VAT tax in Croatia), but it s still ok for that level of quality ....

In the last year, I’ve been chasing Foursquare ECS bottles because to me they define what rum should be. Crisp, additive free and higher ABV than your more run of the mill offerings.

However, the ECS chase can be frustrating and expensive.

Doorly’s 14 ticks all the boxes. Pure, crisp and delicious and most importantly, available as a standard offering from Foursquare.

Compared to the ECS offerings, the doorly’s is a standard offering with aging only in oak casks. That being said, the rum is flavorful and spicy. The oak is strong but not overly so and the burn after a sip let’s you know it was there.

Brown sugar, honey and spice describe this rum well with some dried fruit overtones.

Overall, an excellent offering from Foursquare and one that will be on my shelf from now on!

Zajímavý chuťově i vůní. Nevím jak jej přesně charakterizovat, chutná mi docela dost, ale přece jen XO 40% je pro mne jemnější a chutnější. Snad se to obrátí a tento mi bude chutnat více.

A blend of pot and column still that was aged in ex-Bourbon barrels for 14 years in Barbados.

Smell: Like all the better 14 year old bottlings, the rum starts with a deep caramel sweetness and lots of dried fruits, grape seeds. The wood from the bourbon barrel with light notes of vanilla is noticeable.
Some earthy barrel aromas and peppery notes are deeper in the glass. There are still hazelnuts with a few orange zests and very subtle leather aromas.
A very good smell that lacks some heavy flavors to be more complex. It is not one of the best Foursquares, but one of the better ones.

Taste: Caramel sweetness with dried fruits and light wood starts on the palate. Vanilla from the bourbon barrel is very present. Then the spiciness increases and the rum develops more woody and with more orange zest. Slight bitterness comes from the tannins and the taste of grape seeds. It becomes drier and woody in the finish, also slightly spicy. The wood becomes so bright that it almost reminds me of cardboard.

Aftertaste: orange zest, white oak, dry fruits, tannins, vanilla

A nice rum from the standard range. It is in the upper midfield and unfortunately does not come close to the best ECS bottlings. The barrel strength is well chosen and gives it a certain balance. It is very suitable for beginners who want to develop further.

Overall rating: 87 points

Sweetness: 2.5 / 5
Fruits: 3/5
Seasoning: 2/5
Complexity: 3/5
PL (65 €): 4/5

Doorly's 12 year is one of my favourite rums and i was hoping this would be as good or even better. I was not disappointed! This actually tastes even slightly better than the 12 year and still has a wonderful finish that seems to last throughout. Overall this is a fantastic rum and i look forward to buying a bottle.

Couldn't get a bottle of Sovereignty or Isonomy, so decided to give this a whirl.
Immediately struck by how different to the 12 this is. Smell brings a rich complexity that I don't find in the younger brother. There's also something subtly marmalade like in there too.
Taste has all that, with discrete layers to it too. Its pretty sweet like the 12, but whereas the 12 is brown sugar all the way, this is nuanced and complex as well as rich, with a bit of spice, a pretty subtle burn and a long rich finish.

It doesn't have quite the highs of an ECS, and the lower proof is noticeable, but it's a really satisfying rum all the same. At £62 a bottle it's going to be a now and again purchase, but for all those occasions I can't get a new ECS release, I don't think I'm going to be disappointed.

My fourth sampling of Doorly’s rum tonight, this time with Doorly’s 14 year old rum. I kept this one for the end so that I could compare it to the previous three. Well it was beyond my expectations. This rum is naturally sweet and so smooth. While the ABV is not as high as the Foursquare ESC series it is, in my humble opinion of the same quality. So good. Now I have to get my hands on the 14 & 8 year rums.

This is a good rum, no doubt, but perhaps not as fantastic value as fx. their 8 or 12 year. The character is a tad "darker" and more wood influenced than the younger brothers. Pricewise we are nearing some of the foursquare exceptional cask releases and again this fall's a bit short compared to most of those releases.
The nose is really great with caramel, vanilla, varnish, pepper and oak. Perhaps a bit of ripe plum and sweet tobacco peaks out as well.
The taste starts with a very subtle caramel, rolling into oak, tobacco, hints of vanilla, baking spices and moderately spicy black pepper. The finish is fairly long with oak, shy caramel and hints of spicy tingles.
As said it's really a good rum overall, but if I compare it to some of the other foursquare bottles, i'm missing just a bit of something.