Berry Bros. & Rudd is Britain's oldest wine and spirits merchant, founded in London in 1698. In the world of rum they are known for bottling rums from various distilleries under its own label. In this case a 46% rum from Fiji. It’s my first from this country, so after this tasting I won’t be a Fijian virgin anymore. I have to thank Robert for this momentous occasion as he sent me a sample from the wild west of Canada.
The rum is produced at South Pacific Distillers. They use both pot and column stills. Their distilling equipment was acquired from Wilson’s Dunedin Distillery in New Zealand. This whisky distillery closed in 1997.
Nosing
It’s got some nice light funk to it, followed by petrol and rubber. A Trinidadian and a Jamaican had a baby together? Quite medicinal and briny. There’s a hint of marzipan and overripe fruit….mostly banana. It has a note I find fairly unpleasant but I can’t figure out exactly what it is. Blame it on my virgin Fijian nose.
Tasting
Quite light in colour and flavour, they aren’t jumping out at me. Rubber comes back, combined with iodine and licorice. Medium long sweet n spicy finish where the licorice comes through strongly.
Deceit-O-Meter
Nothing deceiving about this one. Clear label and age statement. Doesn't seem to have any additives.
Level: Zero to low
Conclusion
It’s an interesting experience. Reminds me a bit of a watered down Caroni. I’ve had a few of those and never liked them. This one adds some medicinal notes, which I typically like. St Lucia Distillers is particularly good at producing those in a very nice way. In this rum they aren’t as good and the overall feeling I get is that there isn’t a lot of balance.
I like funk, rubber and medicinal notes, but for some reason they don’t combine as well in this rum.
Score: 65
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