Tonight was an evening to celebrate one of the most exquisite collaborations between two amazing and passionate artists, Cyril Kongo and Gregory Vernant, culminating into the Kongo X Neisson Mizunara Project - a bottling of three distinct Mizunara cask-aged rhum agricoles, each carefully paired with an expression of vibrancy and colour by Cyril himself, which to me harks back to the roots of the Caribbean and Creole culture. To see Cyril and Gregory’s masterpiece in person was truly a sight to remember.

Pictured here is one of three jeroboams, a drop-by-drop as we know of Neisson, a blend of the three Mizunara casks bottled in a crystal carafe, each etched with Cyril’s signature, and encased in a cabinet adorned with his artistic expressions, something that has never been done before, and one that I believe will undoubtedly elevate the rum category to new heights.

The two masters sharing their passion of the exemplary Drop By Drop jeroboam encased in a cabinet adorned with Cyril Kongo’s graffiti art for the Kongo X Neisson Mizunara Project, of which one of the three will be auctioned tomorrow at the Ball in Monaco Glacier Edition, organised by the Singapore branch of Prince Albert Foundation. If you look close enough, you will notice too Cyril’s ode to Neisson, painting on the three mizunara cask numbers on the left of the cabinet.

The Kongo X Neisson Mizunara Project began as a collaboration between two men who have a profound love for the Caribbean, and for rhum. Its origins can be traced back to the time they first met in Singapore in 2017, when Cyril Kongo mischievously asked Gregory Vernant if Martinicans did rhum.

Seven years later, back to where it all began, the fruits of their labour were finally revealed for the first time to the world - featuring three different vintages, each distilled from pure sugarcane juice, then individually matured in ex-cognac or ex-bourbon casks, and finished in Mizunara casks for approximately two additional years. The result is an exceedingly rare release of only 33 bottles from each cask, and each doubling up as a centrepiece to Cyril’s hand-painted frame, that brings a sheer amount of vibrancy and panache to it all. No two pieces are the same, as Cyril had used the entirety of the wooden frames as one singular canvas, each with its own unique palette of colours, and a sight to behold if you ever have a chance to view it in its entirety.

And on to the rhums themselves:

Cask 284 | Distilled 30 Jul 13 | 49.2% abv

The nose was an elegant bouquet of nuttiness, melding in flavours of walnuts and hazelnuts, alongside lush tones of vanilla. It had a bout of grassiness too, which added an element of vibrancy to 284, and surprisingly a touch of savoury meats too.

The palate was profoundly complex, bringing about a mix of baking spices and rich, sweet vanilla. Being the oldest of the three casks, the 284 had a little more texture too, introducing a little tannins on the side of the palate, leading to a chewy and juicy texture, which paired nicely with the long finish of hazelnut pralines, milk chocolates, and ripe, red fruits.

Cask 282 | Distilled 9 Jul 2015 | 49.8% abv

The 282 was vastly different from before, a very fresh and uplifting rhum agricole, with an added emphasis on the grassiness as we have come to associate with the younger Neissons. But this shouldn’t come as a surprise given that the 282 is the youngest of the three. Its nose was profoundly sweet too, just as a crème brûlée with a right degree of caramelised sugar, and the slightest hint of cantaloupe.

Just as the nose was, its palate was akin to a fresh spring’s morning, soft, spirited, and youthful, a continuation of the nose as the grassy notes settle in, a little citrus zest and the sweetness of freshly cut sugarcane. The complexity was apparent too, as its boldness grew a little, culminating in a really long finish marked by fresh coconut milk and vanilla.

Cask 283 | Distilled 25 Nov 2014 | 48.9% abv

The 283 struck a fine balance between the previous two, starting off a little rounded, paired with a bevy of savoury notes such as coconut milk, lightly salted groundnuts, and even the slightest hint of rancio. But with a little time to breathe, it opens up immensely to the freshness of 282, grassy, and smattering of mint.

On the palate, the 283 was a rather different rhum altogether. The sweet sugarcane and grassiness were far more intense than before, with faint hints of florals, vanilla, and caramel too. It was perhaps a little less complex than I had imagined, but clearly the 283 leant closer towards Neisson’s more youthful characteristics.

I decided to add a little drop of water to the 283 because despite it having the lowest abv of the three, I got the sense that some of those ethanols were holding the esters back. And believe me that it worked wonders - lushness and treacly sweetness quickly developed, opening it up to a little more florals and a touch of herbs too.

This is perhaps one of my longest reviews of the lot, but I wouldn’t be doing Cyril or Gregory justice if I didn’t dig deep into the rhums. For me, the 284 was incredibly delicious, much richer, fruitier, while the grassiness played second fiddle in that bouquet of flavours. But what I thought really made it stand out was the fact that it held these tannins and oak from its ten years of tropical aging, and pulled from the cask at just about the perfect time, lending the rum a combination of texture and flavour that was profoundly complex. But from my conversations with others who had tasted the three, there was not a clear favourite within the room - each had its own fans and detractors, all for a myriad of reasons. And that is why they say there is always a rhum for everyone.