It’s been out for a while now, and I’ve been spending a lot of time with this rum, so it’s really got to the point where I need to put out the Foursquare Empery review…..

What is it? Bajan Single Blended rum (molasses based, produced at one distillery and blended from both traditional twin-column still and pot still rums), from the Foursquare distillery in St Philip, Barbados. This rum is one of the Exceptional Cask Selection rums for 2019 and is ECS Mark 9. The rum contained within the blend, is as always, distilled and blended when new and prior to being matured in the casks, speaking of which, we’ve got a mixture of casks on offer here and it works the same way as some of the previous releases from the ECS series; whereby there are 2 batches of rum matured separately and then blended at the end: first there is the ex-bourbon cask rum which is where the rum has been filled into ex-bourbon casks and matured for 14 years. We then have the “finished” or “double matured” rum which was filled into ex-bourbon casks and matured for 10 years before being re-racked into ex-sherry casks for a period of 4 years. The 2 separate and mature rums are then blended together to produce the final rum, with a total age of 14 years old. So it’s a blend of a blend, if you will. All of the maturation, as you’d expect, is done tropically, so you’re easily looking at the equivalent of around 30 years worth of European ageing in terms of maturation impact on the spirit.

Not chill filtered, not coloured and bottled at 56% abv.

Sugar? Nope.

Nose: Oh yes, sherry matured rum, no doubt. Immediately lots of Corinth raisins, black plums, blackberry, dark cherry and roasted fig. Very fruity indeed. Then we get the oak, some dried coconut, dark chocolate and some black peppercorns. The more you nose this things get meaty with some baked big flat mushrooms, really old worn leather, dry leaves and dusty soil. Faint hint of liquorice and a touch of creosote to balance the sweet notes and the faintest hint of sulphur (spent matches) – normally that’d piss me off in a sherried spirit but it’s only very faint and, to be fair, I am quite sensitive to the smell (apparently it’s some genetic thing; some people smell it, some don’t)…….you may not even notice it. It is in there though, just not enough to throw things off.

Palate: Good heavy mouthfeel. Sweet at first, very fruity with the raisins and dried black forest fruits, then BAM! Gets spicy and dry; ginger in dark chocolate, lots of black pepper, gripping oak, over done French roast coffee beans, raw walnuts and raw liquorice root, even some red chillies in the heat. It’s still carrying fruit though as it goes on with some bitter oranges and a little black grape, but the palate is a lot less fruitier than the nose, certainly.

Finish: Very, very long. Oaky and dry. Lots of tobacco, black coffee, dark chocolate, roasted walnuts and strong black breakfast tea. A little raisin at the end, cherry and the meaty fig, but there isn’t really much in the way of sweetness here either, it’s bone dry and just nicely bitter. Reminds me a lot of the old Glendronach 15 year old Scotch, back before they re-branded it and it contained very old (and incredibly well sherried) whisky in the bottle – and believe me, that’s saying something. It totally feels like a love-child between old Glendronach 15 year old and Foursquare 2005 Cask Strength.

Thoughts? Stunner. One of my favourite Foursquare Exceptional Cask Selection rums, right up there with the Criterion. This is fruitier on the nose and I do like a little more of a savoury note in my rum, generally speaking, but it is very, very good indeed. Embarrassingly so for other distilleries out there. Richard Seale is taking the piss now, stunning rum after stunning rum. I’m pretty sure he could do a fish cask matured rum or something and it’d still be bloody amazing.

£64.

Sold.

This is worth every penny and then some. Simply one of the top rums of 2019.