What is it? Single Blended Rum (molasses based, both pot and column still at a single distillery) from Foursquare in Barbados. This is Exceptional Cask Selection Mark 12 in the line-up of frankly ridiculously good rums from Foursquare and named Nobiliary, and I’m going to review the shit out of it – spoiler alert, it’s really, really good.

With non vintage ECS releases that have fancy names, you usually expect some type of cask play (Port, Madeira, Sherry, whatever) and the vintage releases tend to be ex-bourbon cask matured, so I was a little surprised when this was released to see that it has a fancy schmancy name and it’s ex-bourbon matured. My first reaction was that it was a little odd, given we had a 2008 vintage of the same type of cask, but I trust Richard Seale and any doubt lasted about a picosecond before I hit the “order” button. So what do we have in the bottle? As with the normal ECS run, we have a blend of rums that have come off a column still and a pot still, blended together and then casked up into ex-bourbon casks (I believe these are a mixture of 1st, 2nd and 3rd fill casks). The rum is then aged, tropicaly in Barbados, for a minimum of 14 years before being released in December 2019.

Released in limited numbers of 12,000 bottles worldwide; 6,000 in Europe and 6,000 in the US.

Not chill filtered, not coloured and bottled at full cask strength of 62% abv.

I’m reviewing the Foursquare Nobiliary at around 55% abv (ish) as that’s the strength I’ve been drinking it at. 62% isn’t any good for getting the depth out of the rum, it’s too tight there.

Sugar? Nope.

Nose: Wow, this thing is incredible. Initially there is a lot of oak, but that does blow off after a bit. It’s actually fairly sweet at first with lovely toasted oak, toasted coconut, really rich vanilla pod, clove, nutmeg, and an rum infused caramel or butterscotch. Then we’ve got deep woody smells of varnished old bookcases, those red or green leather chairs with buttons in that you see in stately homes, walking into a cobblers with leather clue, grease and old shoes. There’s this fantastic perfumed note that I can’t put my finger on, it’s a little like sandalwood but not as heavy mixed with some type of cut flowers and it’s gorgeous. Under the heavier smells, and once you get used to them, there’s plenty of fruit on offer too; red apples, red plums, figs, sultanas, dried banana and pineapple.

Palate: Full mouth, perfect weight at 55% abv. Not hot at all, which is really surprising. I mean, sure there’s a little heat of course but it’s so easy drinking at high abv is scary. A strange notion of sweetness, but not sweet. There’s the idea of sweetness here, with caramel, vanilla and coconut but it’s dry sweetness. Oak, varnish, buttered toasted bagels, peanuts, pecans, and some bitter walnut. There’s that perfumed note that I can almost taste on my palate again, slight violet note maybe, and liquorice root. Fruits come in later on with orange, red apple, red grape, plums, figs and date. There’s a little lift and zing some tropical or citrus with a lime, pineapple and banana but it’s fleeting – it’s just enough to stop the heavy oak from being too heavy. Unlike the vintage releases, there isn’t really any savoury in this rum, if anything there’s a touch of grease, stamp glue and a tiny bit of brine but it’s only faint and noticeable just as you swallow. Throughout the whole palate there’s a mild ginger root, black pepper and sweet red chilli that just sits there behind everything else, you feel the prickle and spice of it but it never comes to the front of the taste.

Finish: Very long. Things are sweeter here; rum and raisin fudge, dark chocolate, candied ginger root, candied pineapple and banana. There’s cinnamon, nutmeg and raisin, almost like a teacake or toasted cinnamon bagel with salted butter on. Lovely coconut, vanilla pod, roasted cashews and a sweet pipe tobacco that sits lightly on your tongue. I’m sure that this finish would go on for longer if I let it, but this rum is too damn good so I’ve usually dived back in for another swig!

Thoughts? One of my rums of the year, without doubt. This is utterly incredible rum. The rum itself it fantastic and the way it’s been matured in the cask mix has complimented it perfectly – if you’ve ever been lucky enough, as I have, to drink Eagle Rare 17yo there are flickers of the epic bourbon maturation that show in here and the mixing of old rum and those bourbon notes are seriously harmonious.

Whilst I usually like my Foursquare ex-bourbon casks with some savoury notes in them, and this has very little, there is just something else in here – it’s that perfumed note I’ve not been able to peg down. The way the oak works with it and then flashes of fruit and the overall softness is brilliant – if I were to describe this rum in one word it would be “beautiful”. A tip for you; make sure that as you drink this and swallow, and let the finish do it’s thing, that you constantly nose it at the same time. It’s quite an experience having both senses hit at the same time.

What’s the damage? £60.95. Would I buy this again? I bloody well can’t! It’s all sold out……yes, but yes. Oh yes, I would….

You can’t get this from the big boys anymore but The Whisky Exchange are still selling samples of this (at the time of writing) here, if you want one:

Foursquare Nobiliary Sample