What is it? Single Blended Rum (molasses based, both pot and column still at a single distillery) from Foursquare in Barbados. This is anther one of the Exceptional Cask Selection rums that Foursquare release, specifically the 11th bottling in the series. As we expect with Foursquare rums, this one is a blend of rums distilled on both pot stills and column stills with the blending done prior to maturation (as white rum). A proportion of the rum is aged in casks that previous held bourbon (ex-bourbon casks) and a proportion of the rum is aged in casks that previously held Madeira – both set of rums were aged for 12 years, tropically in Barbados, and the resulting rums were then blend together at a super secret ratio to produce the final rum for the bottling. The bottle says it was released in August 2019 but we got it in the UK in November of that year with around 9000 bottles making their way to Europe.

This is another one of the randomly named bottles that seem to make up the ECS series, not that the name has any relevance to the rum in the bottle in terms of my views on it, I just find the whole thing a bit daft now. Sagacity. If like me, you though this was a City called Saga then you were wrong and if you look at any of the other rum blogs it’s been pointed out many times, that this means “the quality of being sagacious” – that doesn’t really help, so I had to google “sagacious” too; apparently it means possessing sound judgement, I guess you could call “wisdom”. It’s getting to the point where it takes more blog space explaining what these names mean than the blurb about the actual makeup of the rum – don’t even get me started on Plenipotenziario!

Not coloured, not chill filtered and bottled at 48% abv.

Sugar? Nope.

Nose: Lots of lovely warm oak at first with soft vanilla, toasted coconut and furniture polish. Quite fruity but rich fruits, not your tropical variety, so we’re talking prunes, figs, blackberries, blackcurrants and black cherries. Then there’s a beautiful chocolate note that comes out, like a low cacao dark chocolate  such as Bournville which is quite rich but also creamy – this, mixed with all those dark fruits, gives an almost Black Forest gateau type smell. At the end there are some roasted walnuts and pecans coming from the Madeira too.

Palate: Full mouth feel, oily. Quite sweet at first with black cherry jam on toast, that chocolate from the nose and vanilla cream – yeah, we’re back to Black Forest gateau again, yum time! There’s a little heat here and a slight gingery biscuit note but it’s welcome after the initial sweet start. Once again, lovely warm oaky notes and dried coconut, some leather and a little earthy mushroom. Some spicy heat comes back towards the end with black pepper or more intense ginger as it finishes.

Finish: Medium. Still a bit spicy on the finish and a little tannic. Much drier here than on the palate and the chocolate is much darker too. Breakfast tea, a little damp wood or leafy note and raw walnuts. At one point a flash of orange pops up with some cinnamon but it doesn’t hang around to too long. Still the dark fruits, but not sweet, it’s hard to explain. If you could imagine the taste of something like black cherry and it’s flavour but without any of the sweetness with it. Not the longest finish in the world and it doesn’t add a massive amount extra to the whole, but it’s very moreish.

Thoughts? At the time of writing this review I’m really enjoying the rum but it’s taken a while to get here. I’ve done this review with the bottle open for about 3 months and at first I was struggling to really find anything different from other “cask type” Foursquare rums – it initially reminded me a lot of Doorly’s 12 year old which I’ve found a bit…….meh……..I was just getting lots of oak. Now though the Madeira is really coming out and bringing all its lovely rich flavours with it. The testament to this is that it took 3 months to get half way down the bottle and then 2 weeks to finish the rest of it off after that point!

It’s really easy to drink and a big step up from Doorly’s in terms of complexity levels. There’s good balance between the oak and the dark fruit but the burst of heat as you swallow does catch you out. I must admit, whilst very good rum indeed, it’s not my favourite ECS release – this is mainly because the others are so good and I judge each ECS release against the previous ones rather than other rums out there, I really shouldn’t do it but it’s human nature.

Ok, so we have to use the internet to find out what Foursquare rums now mean, so here’s one for you:

“Exceptional” – unusual; not typical.

When you are frequently putting out “Exceptional” rums, what are they exceptional against? You’re own rums? If you’re putting out more exceptional rums than “standard” rums then they are no longer the exception, they are now typical and usual and this is what the ECS releases have become; the Foursquare norm. They are not normal rums, they are Foursquare rums, which by definition makes them exceptional in the wider rum world, that’s for sure – but as far as releases from Foursquare go, no, no longer exceptional. We’re on ECS 11 with this, let’s do away with the silly names and the whole “Exceptional Cask” thing now and just start calling these Foursquare rums.

This set me back £48. Would I buy another? Too damn right. Yeah, so it’s not my favourite ECS rum, but for under 50 notes it’s still a banger.

You can pick this up from The Whisky Exchange here:

Foursquare Sagacity