Whisky flavoured rum...

[TheWM]

As some of you are aware, I've been off the grid for a while - taking an extended holiday with the family in Mauritius and hunting for a motorhome, Whilst I was out there, I stumbled across, what I consider to be some of the best rum I have ever tasted, from a little known distillery called Medine which has been operating since 1926 and who are now owned by United Spirits.

Rum you say? Have I gone mad, why would I be interested in rum? Well, you might not be, but this rum shares many characteristics and qualities I associate with whisky and this derives from, mainly, the inspired idea to age rum in casks previously used to hold whisky, bourbon and cognac. The name of the Rum is Penny Blue, and for any stamp collectors out there will know, this is the rarest stamp in the world, which originated from Mauritius. Penny Blue is a small batch vatted rum that has a natural colour and is unchill-filtered. It carries the XO label, indicating that it is extra old.

Whilst I was there, I was fortunate to meet Jean-Francois Koenig, the general manager and distiller for Medine, who I'm glad to say gave me a behind the scenes tour and was kind enough to answer some questions and (perhaps more importantly), offer a tasting session.

Mauritius has long standing history for growing sugar cane (at one point a considerable amount of Tate & Lyle's sugar came from Mauritius) and has also made rum for an equally long time. Although, for quite some time Mauritius had legally banned the ageing of rum in wood for the fear of chemicals forming and this has led to most rum being sold as clear rum which, trust me, is very rough and ready and not something I have ever enjoyed. This all changed in 1995 when this restriction was removed and the process of ageing in wood could restart.

This came at the time when Jean Francois was completing his bio-engineering degree and wanted to put some of what he'd learnt into practice and the rest they say, is history. Jean-Francois teamed up with the well renowned Berry Bros of London, and their master blender Doug McIvor (of Glenrothes fame) to create this masterpiece and my notes and photos from the session are below:

What inspired the idea of ageing in a mix of casks?

When the restriction was lifted in 1995, we wanted to experiment and try something new as rum has traditionally been aged in casks in the past. We didn't initially set out to blend the casks, we just got some different casks which happened to be a mixture of cognac, bourbon and whisky casks. After some ageing, we sampled them - in their own they were nice, but we experimented blending them and we found the results were much better - a better depth of flavours. We knew this was the way forwards.

What casks are used - can you trace these back to the original distilleries?

All of our casks come from a cooperage in Scotland which refurbishes casks for reuse, we do not know exactly where the casks originate from. Although it is safe to say that the casks are a mixture of American oak (bourbon) and French oak (cognac) which both have different flavour profiles - the whisky casks I'm aware, come from distilleries in Speyside.

Do you have any issues with any of the casks - sulphur has been known to be an issue in the whisky world, any issues here?

We are aware of the sulphur issues, although this is limited to casks that have previously held sherry, which we have experimented with although have discontinued for this reason. We have found all the casks we have used aside from this to be of good quality.

What kind of quality control do you have; do you aim for consistency over taste?

Taste is paramount, always. Each batch is slightly different from the other, we are just about to roll off batch 4 and each batch have their unique characteristics, we would rather have a product that tastes fantastic in its own right, rather than try to recreate the taste for each preceding batches.

The ageing process, what ages of matured rum do you use?

The minimum ages are 5/6 years old and go up to 11 years generally.

And the angel's share, what do you lose to evaporation?

We expect to lose up to 7% a year, which whilst is quite a lot, allows for the maturation process to undertake in a relatively quicker time.

Would you consider bringing to the market any single casks?

We have actually identified some "exceptional casks', the oldest of which dates back to 1999 and have around 200 bottles worth of a 2006 vintage. We will be aiming to launch some of these bottles onto the market - watch this space!

So - ABV, is this something that you play around with - are you considering releasing cask strength releases?

Straight from the cask it comes out at 60%; however, Mauritian law dictates that we can only bottle up to 55% max. We are thinking about releasing a higher strength release for the premium market, although all of our batches to date vary from 42-44%.

Talk me through the process, what makes your rum different?

All of our cane comes from our estate here in Medine. We take the cane and convert it to raw juice. Whilst many other producers use to the juice, we rather use the molasses to ferment which is more concentrated and gives a richer flavour. All of the equipment we have you can trace back to 1926, whilst we have restored the main active parts, the nuts and bolts are still the same. We use a continuous column distillation process, we have three columns in total. Similar to whisky, we only want to take the "heart' which we condense and then place into casks. We have around 30 workers on site, all of whom are crucial to our ways of working. All bottling and labelling is done by hand, which whilst quite labour intensive is how we've produced rum for years.

What kind of volumes do you produce for Penny Blue?

Medine's main staple is Pink Pigeon rum (Pink Pigeon is a Mauritian bird, another nod to the island's heritage). We produce around about 50,000 bottles a year. Penny Blue is made in far smaller quantities, 5,000 - 10,000 bottles per year at the most. We get Doug to come over for a week when we are blending our casks and produce our different batches.

What restrictions do you have to the amount of Penny Blue you produce?

Generally speaking, time and the amount of casks we have! We're waiting for a while to see how sales pan out before considering up scaling any further.

How has Penny Blue being received?

Very well. Batch 2 won Gold Medal 2015 in the world rum awards and Batch 4 has won the Spirits Business Gold award for 2015. We're pleased with the results, Penny Blue is being described as a "rum for whisky drinkers', which we completely agree with.

Plans for the future? Anything on the horizon, different spirits perhaps?

No, we want to stick to our heritage and knowledge, which we value greatly - we know what we're doing with rum. We'd like to increase brand awareness as Penny Blue is a relatively new addition to the market.

My tasting notes are below (batch 3 - Mauritian release only):

Nose:

Sweetness immediately hits your nose - brilliant way to start (especially for any sherried whisky fans). Has a touch of pineapple and oakiness, with citrus notes coming through, think blood oranges.

Palate:

Again, some delightful sweetness, a touch of toffee and vanilla. Smooth and velvety, caresses taste buds very gently with the thickness of spirit . More sharp citrus notes coming through, slightly peppery.

Finish:

A lingering spiciness which compliments the citrus even more so, gives way to a slight acidic note. Slightly dry finish, makes you want to go in for more.

Whilst batch 3 is an awesome release - you are unlikely to be able to get a bottle (unless you're in Mauritius); however, I was lucky enough to have a quick sample of batches 2 & 4.

Whilst they share similar characteristics, batch 2 was fantastic (available in the UK). Batch 2 was less citrus in its nature and had more fruitiness and a sweeter finish (think stewed plums and crème caramel). Very balanced and the finish was long and moreish.

Batch 4 had similarities to 2, perhaps less sweet; however, I would want to have Batch 2 & 4 side by side for an in depth test and see which comes out as a winner (I suspect 2, although release will be later this year).

I'd like to thank Jean-Francois for his hospitality, you can find Batch 2 (and Pink Pigeon) on sale in the UK direct from Berry Bros.

[opelfruit]

Very nice and interesting piece.


......incidentally, I've taken the plunge into rum a few weeks back with some quite cracking bottles and I must say I'm very impressed with the general quality and bang for buck. I'll be building out my rum stocks over the coming months no doubt!
_________________
"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough."

[sorren]

The wm..
Fantastic story, my mouth was watering.. And I've never been a rum drinker, maybe I should follow the trend and try some, I might even look out for the above.. It's always good when people can take time out to show you round, well written 👍

[TheWM]

The quality and flavour profile of this took my breath away (literally). I'm not a rum drinker but I too have been quite amazed at some of the stuff out there that is going unnoticed by the majority of people - given the wide reach the spirit market has around the world. I too am stocking up on some rare and unusual numbers soon.

[opelfruit]

....penny blue xo now added to my list of future purchases

Rum it up.
_________________
"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough."

[sorren]

I wonder if there will be a rum bubble 😀

[TheWM]

[Quaich1]

Excellent retrospective on rum The WM. I've not a lot of experience with this spirit but do remember enjoying some while in the French West Indies many years ago. I believe it was called Ma Doudou Rum
_________________
"Always carry a large flagon of whisky in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake."
W.C. Fields (1880-1946)