Annually, Barbados-based rum distillery Mount Homosexual releases a brand new expression in its Grasp Blender Assortment. These rums are often meant to point out off some experimental course of that deviates from the distillery’s model, typically that includes some manufacturing technique like Coffey nonetheless distillation or attention-grabbing cask finishes like Andean oak, madeira, or PX. However for this 12 months’s batch, Mount Homosexual did one thing completely different by spotlighting cognac casks—a key ingredient utilized in its different rums, however one which has by no means earlier than been in a position to shine by itself.
Bridging the Hole
For grasp blender Trudiann Branker, this expression has been a very long time coming. When she turned grasp blender in 2019 following the departure of longtime blender Allen Smith, certainly one of Branker’s first duties was to remodel the recipe for Mount Homosexual’s basic XO expression. She adjusted just a few issues, together with including some older liquid to the mix, however probably the most broadly famous change was the inclusion of cognac casks alongside the standard bourbon and American whiskey barrels. It was a considerably controversial transfer on the time, with rum devotees preferring the unique mix over the rechristened XO Triple Cask, however Branker stood by the choice.
The reformulated XO mix gave Branker the concept to showcase cognac casks on their very own, and that idea materialized as Grasp Blender Assortment No. 8. The newcomer was aged for 4 years in Limousin French oak casks that beforehand held Rémy Martin cognac. (Each manufacturers are owned by French multinational Rémy Cointreau.) Mount Homosexual distills each column and pot nonetheless rums, and likes to mix the 2 for a few of its aged releases. However No. 8 consists solely of column-distilled rums, particularly chosen by Branker for his or her typically fruitier profile.
Batch No. 8 is the most important launch but from Mount Homosexual’s Grasp Blender Assortment, yielding 6,276 bottles. The rum is presently out there at choose retailers worldwide, with a recommended retail worth of $210.
Tasting Notes: French Oak Shines By way of
No. 8 smells pretty candy at first, beginning with vanilla and rancio which is harking back to a well-aged brandy. Over time, nice aromas of orange peel, cinnamon, oaky spice, and chocolate chips take over. The palate is mostly candy however spicy, filled with brown sugar, dried fruits, caramel, and rum raisin ice cream; all undercut by pronounced oaky spice and tannins. Overripe bananas, darkish chocolate, raisins, and vanilla make an look on the end that progressively veers into the spicier finish of the pool with cinnamon powder, nutmeg, and wooden spice.
One may count on a cognac cask-aged rum to be dominated by funky fruit flavors, however that isn’t the case right here. No. 8 is surprisingly oaky and spicy, drawing in flavors from the wooden itself fairly than the cognac. That may typically occur with cognac casks—most of that are constructed from the commonly spicy and tannic Limousin French oak—however on this case, a giant a part of it comes right down to the situation of the casks Mount Homosexual used for this expression. Branker notes that when the cognac casks arrived in Barbados from France, they had been pretty dry with out a lot cognac left inside. That may seem to be a trivial element, nevertheless it made a world of distinction within the rum’s taste profile.
When specializing in a specific spirit or wine barrels, most distillers favor to work with freshly dumped “moist” casks, which are sometimes unrinsed and typically have a good quantity of leftover liquid inside. The concept is that extra of the unique contents’ flavors will probably be trapped within the barrel, making it extra possible for them to be imparted onto the brand new liquid because it ages. Drier casks are inclined to work within the reverse approach, pushing the barrel’s wooden into the highlight whereas permitting the prior contents to play extra of a background function. Based mostly on the French oak-forward profile and accompanying rancio flavors we discovered whereas tasting it, that’s precisely what occurred with this launch.
