In the last post on Whisky Gospel I’m reviewing a trio of Rums. Yes, not Whisky but instead it will focus on Rum.
You may take this as a statement on the whisky market status in 2019 and you may be right, not that it was all bad as we did have some good releases. But still, this sherried trio from Foursquare Rum Distillery is one of the best things I’ve tasted in 2019.
All 3 rums are Single Blended Rum (both Pot and Column still rums) that were distilled in 2004 and bottled in 2019, 100% matured in Barbados.
Firstly there’s Foursquare Empery which is part of Foursquare Exceptional Cask Series, thus it’s globally available (where it’s not out of stock yet). Part of the Pot Column distilled rum was matured for 10 years in ex-bourbon casks and then 4 years in ex-sherry casks.
Secondly there’s Foursquare Hereditas which is an exclusive bottling for The Whisky Exchange’s 20th Anniversary celebrations. Part of the rum was aged for 10 years in ex-bourbon and then 4 years in ex-sherry, while the rest was matured in ex-bourbon only.
And finally there’s Foursquare Patrimonio which is part of the distillery collaboration with Velier. Just like Hereditas, part of the rum was aged for 10 years in ex-bourbon and 4 years in ex-sherry, while the rest was matured in ex-bourbon only.
I was fortunate enough to taste all three of them in a single session of our great local Rum club and perform a head to head comparison.
Foursquare Empery (56%, £63.45/€77,50/$89.99)
Nose: Dried fruit, a tad dirty at first with some struck matches, cherry chocolate, wood spices, green fruits, banana, sugar, sourness of pineapple juice. After a few minutes a bit more ‘Foursquary’ with more fruitiess of subtle fermented fruit and esters. Later on some chocolate and leather. Continue reading
Nose: Bright and fruity, almost perfume-y, banana, fermented fruits, esters, Demerara sugar, pineapple and mango, sweet wood spices. After a few minutes it’s turning perfume-y with caramelized pears, peaches and some very ripe apricots. 
Nose: At first it’s very wine-y and very Armagnac/Cognac like with the smooth wood spice and grapes. Then sugar, orange and delicate citrus, white pepper and oak spice that lurks in the background. Slowly it’s more rum-y, fermented banana, some light funk and esters, followed by a delicate balance of white flowers and sweet grapes with rum. A very light and restrained rum nose (relatively to other rums tasted lately). 
Nose: Rich nose! Mahogany furniture, brown sugar, fermented banana, mint freshness, sweet olives, fresh sawed oak, the expected petrol and diesel, plums. After a few minutes it’s getting sweeter with sweet oak extracts, caramel, some burnt wood and eventually perfume-y – balanced and fun! With a few drops of water it’s lively with gentler oakiness. 
Nose: Sweet rich caramel, some wood glue and varnish, cream, butter and marzipan-y, pears and peaches are in there as well. After a few minutes it’s getting sugary, fruitier and less woody with more honey and inching forward official foursquare territory with sweet fruity perfume. 
Nose: Sweet brown sugar, quite hard to nose with that ABV but after letting it rest in the glass for a few minutes there’s also toasted wood, plastical sweetness. Have to add some water and then it’s magical: there’s finally complexity and depth (not on Mariana Trench level tho), far less plastic relaxed sweetness, lots of brown and demerara sugar, crushed blueberry and cranberries, perfumey edge.
Nose: Sweet wood and raisins, almost sherry like. Then there’s that Caroni dirtiness, tar, diesel oil fumes, salted fishes, black olives, brown sugar, toasted oak and sweet burnt plastic. 
Nose: Intense and sweet, ripe mango, canned fruit galore with apricot, peaches and all that tasty sugared juice. Cookies dough, vanilla and white flowers petals. After a few minutes in the glass (maybe even 10-15 minutes) there’s honey with some oak bitterness in the background. with water (mandatory with such high ABV): fruitier, more mango, apricot and peaches, even a bit more floral. 
Whisky Gospel 