A few months ago, Neisson released the world's first organic and AOC rum in a reduced and brut de colonne version (we'll come back to that). At the same time, the Carbet distillery offered its new vintage Single Cask: a rum from 2007, aged in 350-liter Cognac barrels (60% put in barrels until 2014) then transferred to 190-liter Bourbon barrels before being bottled this year. On the occasion of the anniversary of La Maison du Whisky, two versions will be released, dressed by Tatanka: a first offered at 58.9°, and a second at 59° selected in partnership with Velier. A third version will be released by the end of the year and directly in Martinique.

If, at first glance, one might wonder about the point of bottling two unique barrels from the same vintage, tasting will show us the ingenuity of the approach, because it is clear that the result is very different from one barrel to another..

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Neisson 2007 LMDW / 58,9°

A unique cask (#3) selected by LMDW and bottled at natural strength after 9 years of aging. Never before had Neisson bottled a rum at such a high strength.

The color is amber and tends towards copper, it is solemn and brilliant and visually imposing: oily, the tears even seem not to want to be forgotten.

On the nose, the concentration is beyond doubt, and this 2007 is a Neisson faithful to its image, with as usual an ode to cane; it is only with Neisson that we find this presence so well, including (and especially) with their old ones.

This vintage is darker than usual, more melancholic, but elegant with a woodiness that is still well controlled and refined; we find heady and roasted notes, empyreumatic even in a plump and overflowing fruit, with a quivering apricot compote. Add almond, clove and cinnamon, vanilla and always this majestic cane… The rest brings delicious notes of toasted coconut, light but gourmet. An elegant nose that knows how to combine worked woodiness, pronounced virility (spices) and invigorating maturity (cane), while keeping a part of gourmandise (apricot tart, pastry note) and a nascent animality.

On the palate, the attack is smooth and powerful, biting and vibrant; the degree speaks in a melted mixture combining candied fruits (apricot), a harsher woodiness, notes of bitter cocoa, liquorice stick and a cane that has become fibrous; The spices arrive, peppery, hot and pressing (even spicy) which prolong a concentrated and straight mouth, but always with elegance and control. The finish is very long, very persistent and athletic, on a spicy and vanilla woodiness, evoking notes of tobacco and chocolate.

Swiss watchmaking, with the impression that Neisson can take us anywhere and at any time, with a mastery that is always so insolent. A more melancholic rum than usual. Note: 87

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Neisson 2007 LMDW-Velier / 59°

A version this time selected jointly by Vélier and La Maison du Whisky, still from a single cask (#1) and offered at 59°. Everything comes together to have the same result, and yet…

While the dress appears similar, the nose is very different from the first, more powerful, more toasted and even rather ashy, with a more animal side of dried meat, melted and spicy leather, and with an even more luxuriant woodiness. It is impressive to feel such a difference with only 0.1° more…

A nose that puts more emphasis on the barrel and its essence, with a more glowing, more robust and wilder woodiness, more primitive than usual. Don't expect to travel under a sunny landscape with this vintage, the scene is more like a gladiator fight than a beach game and will certainly smell more of sweat than hot sand. There is, besides that, a very refreshing effect to this nose, as if the origin of the wood drew its essence much further north and under a snowy landscape, with a good big conifer whose bark has been burned to warm sore hands by a fireplace (copyright L'Ethanol ). The apricot has given way to orange (and citrus fruits in general) which mixes wonderfully well with a little chocolatey air, and the gourmandise now takes its place, always under the cover of a woodiness loaded with nostalgia, and fireplace ash; a hazier rum that knows how to revive memories with a refreshing candor. The rest evokes a little more these ashes and a dried meat.

The attack is smooth and a bit less powerful than the previous rum (less alcoholic), but seems even more concentrated, more accurate, more exotic and less woody and bitter; fresher too (menthol, eucalyptus) and licorice with always a batch of lively and peppery spices (Espelette pepper). The rum increases in power and intensity, develops until revealing its carnal side of dried meat, all in power and in a hyper melted and smooth, even creamy whole. The finish is once again very long and powerful, intimidating even, ending on a melted and chocolatey woodiness, and on a very pleasant freshness and always with a good memory of the cane.

Another 2007, more animal, intimidating but damn interesting, and fresh! The nose and mouth of this one with the finish of the first, is it possible? A decidedly different Neisson, more animal, but even more balanced in the end. Score: 91

Two same vintages will never have seemed so different , or is it complementarity? Rarely will the degree have been so high, and it is inevitably felt in the mouth, where the Velier version can be described as monstrous. Monstrously good but powerful, reserved for the initiated and the sharpened palates.

We always have this impression of having rums sculpted with Neisson, goldsmithing, or even Swiss watchmaking where each tiny piece has its importance and participates in the general movement of a whole with surgical precision. And like any goldsmith's work, you have to take your time so as not to lose any detail; look for finesse, as much in the most radiant notes as in the melancholy of darker notes, but so brilliant, deep down.

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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