2000 Jamaica Rum (Renegade Rum Co.)

[Arctic Wolf]

Its a muggy warm Thursday night. Just right for a new Rum experience.

My chosen spirit after much deliberation is from Renegade Rum Company. The 2000 Jamaica Rum from the Hampton distillery. I believe this Rum was aged for 8 years in an American Oak bourbon cask. Then it was enhanced for a period of less than a year in French Oak infused by Barac sweet wine. The bottle actually says Chateau Climens Casks. (I'll be honest here and say I have no idea what Renegade means by Oak infused by wine. Perhaps these are first rum wine barrels?)

I'll say right off that I love the decanters Renegade uses for their Rums. IMO the nicest I have ever seen.

I'm taking the cork off now. A puff of smoke, very light just ecaped from the bottle. Nice. The smell of the cork reminds me of Kittling Ridge Icewine Brandy. Very different from what I was expecting. The bottle seems to have a hundred smells trying to get out at once. The main aroma is of sweet green grape. This smells like brandy. I also get wiffs of bourbon and of rum, but the brandy and sweet wine smell dominates. Altogether the aroma is very unexpected, and to be honest it keeps changing. I even get hints of mild licorice in the air.

Pouring into the glass I notice as it pours that the sweet white wine aroma is really taking over. I would have to say that this is the most complex nose I have ever smelled in a rum. It is almost as if I was inhaling the aroma from aged Speyside Scotch. I cannot decide if I like this or not. The rum notes are very weak.

Now I am tasting this for the first time. Definite bourbon overtones in my mouth. The taste is an odd mixture of Icewine brandy and boubon. In that order of dominance. Again I get only the faintest rum flavour, and only if I let the drink sit in my mouth. I would say we get 40% Icewine, 30% Brandy, 15% bourbon 5% Rum and 10 % of subtle flavours I can only describe as sour fruit (green apple?) and candy.

The finish is slightly oily leaving mostly the Icewine and sour fruit flavour in my throat.

Renegade claims you should drink this straight, but to me the mixture is not 'clean' enough to drink straight. The flavours are battling with the grapey wine flavour winning. Their is no harmony or elegance. (I suspect that a longer aging in the Oak barrel may help the flavours find their harmony, but I also suspect the Ice wine taste would overwhelm even more.)

So I'll try to mix. Coke is disasterous. Wine and coke..yuck. Better result with 7 up but still too sweet and grapey. Finally I settle on Ginger Ale 50-50. But I guess Renegade is right. This should be drank straight. (The mini mojito I tried was terrible too.)

So straight it is....But here's the rub. I just don't dig the lack of balance in the flavour profile. I like Ice wine Brandy, but this concoction, has those bourbon overtones and so little rumminess that the experience is less than satisfying. I want more Rum and less wine.

I guess the moral for me is that I am going to avoid Wine enhanced Rums. But then again this was just my first tasting, perhaps the experience will prove better over time. We mustn't judge these 'first' tasting that I do too much. Mood and weather really affect the palate.

[Rum Runner]

Originally Posted by Arctic Wolf

I believe this Rum was aged for 8 years in an American Oak bourbon cask. Then it was enhanced for a period of less than a year in French Oak infused by Barac sweet wine. The bottle actually says Chateau Climens Casks. (I'll be honest here and say I have no idea what Renegade means by Oak infused by wine. Perhaps these are first rum wine barrels?)

I believe that Renegade means they are using barrels that once held Chateau Climens wine for the "finish" ageing. It's a high quality sweet white wine made in the Bordeaux area of France.

Nice review on your part of what sounds like a very "individual" rum.

[Arctic Wolf]

Hi Rumrunner

I kinda figured that is what they meant too, but it seems an odd way to phrase it. "Finished in Oak infused with Barac Wine" instead of "Finished in a Chateau Climens Cask which had previously held Barac Wine". Its like the guys at Renegade (Bruichladdich) are trying to imply a more aggressive treatment of the cask.


As for the review, I prefer to view this as a first impression. A proper review may be given after I have tried this a few more times. I tried however to be very specific as to what the rum smelled and tasted like. This way others could decide for themselves whether they might like to try it. Palates are very "individual', which is I think what you were driving at.

As a side note I hope these little essays I write up when I open a new Rum are not boring everyone. I quite enjoy having a place to write down my impressions.

[Edward Hamilton]

Thanks for your comments on this and other rums. My answer to those who are bored it use your mouse and click to another forum, post or page.

[Rum Runner]

Originally Posted by Arctic Wolf

As a side note I hope these little essays I write up when I open a new Rum are not boring everyone. I quite enjoy having a place to write down my impressions.

And I for one quite enjoy your written expressions.

I kinda figured that is what they meant too, but it seems an odd way to phrase it. "Finished in Oak infused with Barac Wine" instead of "Finished in a Chateau Climens Cask which had previously held Barac Wine". Its like the guys at Renegade (Bruichladdich) are trying to imply a more aggressive treatment of the cask.

I like what the guys at Renegade are doing. It fits the Scottish fanaticism which I find well...fascinating. This does not mean they are all hits. One sidebar is that the Renegade guys have made a typo on the label if you have it right. Chateau Climens comes from Barsac...Not Barac. One would hope their fanaticism would apply to their label also, No?

As for the review, I prefer to view this as a first impression. A proper review may be given after I have tried this a few more times. I tried however to be very specific as to what the rum smelled and tasted like. This way others could decide for themselves whether they might like to try it. Palates are very "individual', which is I think what you were driving at.

I consider it a given that our palates are individual. I referred to this particular rum as "individual" (not your evaluation). Meaning that it may not be an offering that may fit the norm of most aged rums born in the Caribbean. I think your tasting notes bore this out perfectly.

Again, A nice review by you.

[Arctic Wolf]

Originally Posted by Rum Runner

And I for one quite enjoy your written expressions.



I like what the guys at Renegade are doing. It fits the Scottish fanaticism which I find well...fascinating. This does mean they are all hits. One sidebar is that the Renegade guys have made a typo on the label if you have it right. Chateau Climens comes from Barsac...Not Barac. One would hope their fanaticism would apply to their label also, No?

The Label does not have a typo, but the sell sheet that came with the bottle does. I'll cut the guys at Bruichladdich (Renegade Rum Co.) some slack as the sell sheet most probably came from the importer, or might have even been produced at the liquor store where I bought the Rum.

I did check the Renegade Website which directed me to the Murray McDavid website, (which incidentally is part of the Bruichladdich website), and the phrase "French Oak infused with sweet Barsac wine" is used to describe the finish. So I guess we can still place our trust in Scottish Fanaticism.

[rumdog007]

I have the older Murray McDavid release of the Jamaican (tall bottle in the canister) and the first Renegade release of the Jamaican. Both share their origins at the Hampden distillery. The MMcD 1993 is a port finish and the Renegade is a 1992 Chateau La Tour cask finish. Both are, to my taste, gems. But, I agree with Arctic Wolf's take in that they both (in each their own way) push the rum essence to the background a great deal. Both are quite different from each other and both are sweet/fruity.

BTW, Count Silvio did a great job with his reviews of all the first release:

http://www.refinedvices.com/Renegade-Rum-Company

[forrest]

i cant wait . . i get to taste the Renegades this weekend

[rumdog007]

Originally Posted by forrest

i cant wait . . i get to taste the Renegades this weekend

Hey, I'll be there, too!

[forrest]

Well i tried it...
i loved it. Huge and pungent with a lingering finish that herbaceous, vegetal, vibrantly spicy and 'BIG' fun.

i tried it again (a total of four times) and each time i enjoyed it. One the super tasters in the wine department (a champagne and port specialist) tasted it and said "amazing 'wow-factor' so glad i tasted it, but i don't know if i would like to drink it. . . " i know exactly what he meant-- huge, challenging, full and adventurous-- awesome, but a bit exhausting. --Excellent in contemplatively small doses!