What is it? This is a pot still rum distilled at the “Monymusk Distillery” in Jamaica, so Pure Single Rum, distilled in March 2007 and then aged for 9 years (I assume in Europe) and bottled as a single cask by Hunter Laing for their Kill Devil rum range. One of 303 bottles from the cask.

Now I say “Monymusk Distillery” because that’s what it says on the bottle, however, there is no such distillery – hence the “quotes”. Monymusk as actually a rum brand not a distillery. The largest rum maker in Jamaica is Clarendon, producing around 40 million bottles (75cl) of rum every year, and is owned by 4 different interests: DDL of Guyana (those El Dorado peeps) Goddard Enterprises (who also own W.I.R.D in Barbados, amongst others), the Jamaican government and Diageo. The first 3 form a organisation known as NRJ (National Rums of Jamaica) and the 4th is the massive multi-national conglomerate.

Of all the rum produced by Clarendon, 90% of it goes to Diageo for their Captain Morgan blend sold in Europe (US Captain Morgan is mostly from St Croix in the Virgin Islands). Very little of the rum produced at Clarendon (less than 10%) is destined for the Monymusk brand.

Clarendon produce 2 types of pot still rum; light/low ester rum that undergoes a quick 24 hour fermentation in steel tanks and a heavy/high ester rum that is fermented for up to a month in wood tuns. The esterification is controlled by yeast strains and dunder is not used here. The lions share of rum from Clarendon comes via column still, but only pot still is used for Monymusk.

…..anyway, enough of that, on to the review:

Not coloured, not chill-filtered and bottled a 46% abv.

Sugar? Nope.

Nose: Delicious! A lower ester rum than I was expecting, well, compared to the likes of Hampden or Long Pond that is. Still a funky hogo with plenty of banana and some pineapple cubes, but just softer and less in your face. Some tarry ropes, brine’y sea spray, a little liquorice and maybe green olives in there too. Fresh fruit keeps it lively with ripe pears, lime zest and a little strawberry. There is quite a decadent, richness to the nose too with golden syrup, chewy toffee or maybe butterscotch and a light vanilla. Not one smell dominates, one minute you get fruits, the next you get sweet and go back again to savoury. Really lovely.

Palate: Full and oily, the legs running down the glass hardly move they are that thick. Great mouth feel and weight. Savoury start, olive brine, fennel, tar, and rubber bands. Some surprising wood spice with cloves, grated horseradish and black pepper – gets a little hot in the middle. There is some sweetness in here too with baked pears with a light toffee glaze, but it’s fleeting and hard to keep hold of. A little lift of lime juice as it moves to the finish.

Finish: Medium. Creamy here actually, I mean there is still some heat and pepper but it’s a weird creamy pepper, maybe like horseradish cream. More of the sweet notes come through with time than they do on the palate with golden syrup poured over porridge oats, honey on toast, pear compote and even the faintest hint of sweet pipe tobacco right at the end.

Thoughts? It’s quite a heavy rum but not huge in esters which produces a very noticeable Jamaican but is softer and richer. When I first opened this it was much sweeter tasting but after a third of a bottle it’s morphed and is starting to get more and more savoury.

This is a lovey rum for someone who wants to try a natural Jamaican pot still but may be put off by the massive ester stuff, it’s certainly not an easy rum by any means but would be a great stepping stone into the Jamaican style and it’s fairly approachable.

£45 this cost me, which is a fair bit for a European aged 9 year old rum, but I think it’s got a lot to give and a lot of flavour. One that I’d certainly buy again – if there were any left!