We have never spent much time on the Caroni, and even less on the Velier bottlings. And for good reason... with an incalculable number of bottlings, it is not easy to find your way around, and much easier - and quicker - to get lost. Worse than that, it is becoming increasingly difficult today to obtain old vintages (like Demerara), with a 500% increase in the starting price in barely 5 years... Yet this is one of the rare occasions that we have been given to taste so many vintages of this very characteristic style with notes of hydrocarbons and, what is more, entirely aged on site.

The recent release of the Caroni 17 year old is an opportunity to revisit the previous blends (12 and 15 years old). Affordable rums in terms of price, and released in enough copies to be able to taste them without breaking the bank (respectively €60, €80 and €100 on average, all the same). The degree will also highlight the petroliferous characteristics of these unique rums .

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Caroni 12 years / 50°

"100% Trinidad Rum", and for good reason, the rums that make up this blend have aged 12 years in the tropics, all distilled in 2000 and aged in barrels until January 12, 2012. 60% of the angels' share further...

A fatty rum, light amber and very bright; the legs are enormous and stand like bars on the glass.
On the nose, it is warm and rather elegant. However, this is not what we generally expect from these rums with garage or gas station scents. So there are notes of hydrocarbons, certainly, but delicately vanilla, even chocolatey. There is quite a bit of exoticism here, cardamom and liquorice, in a beautiful balance and a certain aromatic finesse. Add to that toasted notes, even smoky (oak), cinnamon, and an animal touch of dried meat; some wild herbs and refreshing mint. With rest, the oily and rubbery side comes out.

On the palate it is oily without being too greasy, powerful but balanced. The woody, tannic, always grilled/smoked notes seem very well mastered, warmly spicy and finely vanilla. We find dried and exotic fruits (banana), and a very pleasant hint of menthol. It is warm and fresh at the same time. The finish is long and always fresh, heady, liquorice, and the kinship with gas stations comes back like a hazy memory, and hidden by the smoke of Gitanes. And always this menthol side of the most beautiful effect which magnificently breaks the finish of the mouth.

Want to taste the Caroni style? This bottling will surely allow you to go further, or not. Note: 85

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Caroni 15 years / 52°

This time, aged 10 years in Trinidad and 5 years in Guyana, where Luca Gargano has his rum stored, determined to let the tropical angels sip his rum (the real ones, not the continental ones).

Fat, amber and slightly coppery, the rum reveals oversized legs.
On the nose, it is more alcoholic, and less elegant than the 12 year old; the fruits are exotic and mature, slightly spicy and faded (banana, mango, dried apricots), and chocolatey. The phenolic side and the petrol notes appear, as if slightly smoky, very fine, and the nuts (walnuts) are grilled. Certainly more complex and mature than the 12 year old, but less exuberant.

In the mouth, it is fat and sticky, and very pleasant, easy to enter; there are exotic fruits passed (banana, pineapple, mango), resolutely exotic and even candied, as if melted with notes of sweet and warmly spicy asphalt. The impression of soft and sweet resin in the mouth, almost honeyed. It goes down very well, rather easily, and it is resolutely fruity.

The finish is long, smoky and tarry, but always with this gourmet exoticism (banana) and opulent, spicy as it should be.

While the 12 year old emphasizes notes of asphalt, this one is more exotic and fruity. More mature and complex, the mouth is fatter, even honeyed and sweet. Still a top-flight Caroni. Score: 83

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Caroni 17 years / 55°

Made from 1998 vintage rum, 80% loss, distilled in February 98 and left to age until September 22, 2015.

The dress is this time coppery and still as sparkling, fat and with nonchalant tears.
On the nose, it is even a little more complex and mature, condensed, concentrated. We dive into an empyreumatic nose with notes of roasted cocoa beans, smoked oak, but also black olive, old classy leather, candied apricot, even roasted by a few liters of turpentine. This rum gives off a smell that obsesses you and that makes you stubborn, and the journey can begin: we go from a rural landscape, from the garage on the corner to the neighbor's orchard (apple, pear), to the hot and humid islands with paths dotted with orange trees. Is it the 17 years or the 55°, no idea, but the maturity of this rum is exhilarating, and damn interesting, in addition to being pleasant. And the more time passes, the more we enjoy it.

The palate is ample and concentrated, and responds ideally to the nose, full of exoticism and delicacy, in a smoky and very classy ensemble, calm and mature. The 55° goes unnoticed, drowned in a honeyed and warm atmosphere, a rum to chew for a long time to appreciate all the subtleties. We find sometimes the fruits of the orchard, sometimes those of the islands, in a well-oiled and fusional duo, tinged with tobacco leaf and cinnamon, leather and sun. The finish is extra long for a rum always very well balanced, on these more or less warm fruits (apricot, plum, prune), smoky and finely wooded. Length and finesse, it's all there.

What a beautiful balance, what a beautiful concentration. We would drink liters of it if it weren't for this damn moderation, and this common sense that pushes us to be serious. We come back to it easily, and always with as much pleasure. Note: 88

Great idea to release successive blends, which allows you to see the evolution of a Caroni with a few more years (of tropical aging), and with a degree that increases slightly with age. We remain on very interesting prices if we compare to rums not quite the same age and aged in our latitudes. To drink and buy before it is too late. And while waiting for a possible 20 years??

To help you (and me) find your way around, regarding the notes:

90 and + : exceptional and unique rum, it is the best of the best
between 85 and 89 : highly recommended rum, with that little something that makes the difference
between 80 and 84 : recommendable rum
75-79 POINTS : above average
70-74 POINTS : in the low average
less than 70 : not very good

Review courtesy of DuRhum.com.

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