Bellevue 1998, 23 years, Guadeloupe edition No. 3
The French Caribbean archipelago of Guadeloupe is home to nine rum distilleries. The Bellevue distillery is Guadeloupe’s largest exporter, producing in excess of 900,000 litres of rum a year. Their rums are treasured by rum connoisseurs for the high quality and most flavorful and authentic taste.
Bellevue 1998 was bottled at cask strength at 53,9%. This 23-year-old rum spent 6 years in the tropics and in the ex-rum cask. Only 249 bottles of this exciting rum.
Guadeloupe 1998 edition no. 3
Region: Guadeloupe
Distillery: Bellevue
Age: 23
Distillation: 03-1998
Bottled: 04-2022
Cask no: 16
Cask type: Ex-Rum
Still type: Column
Maturation: 6 years in the tropics
ABV 53,9%
Vol. 700 ml
No bottles: 249
Tasting Notes:
“Six years in the tropics, the rest in Europe. I don't think this is a bad combo for organoleptical purposes, but it may be 'politically'. This is ex-refill rum cask (h.u.r.r.a.y.) Colour: deep gold. Nose: fully on Bellevue's Jamaican side. Olives, gherkins, tar, liquorice, gauze, grapefruit skins, kerosene… With water: metal polish, putty, carbolineum, ultra-ripe bananas. Mouth (neat): very extraordinarily medicinal (did I make my point?) Stupendous camphors, eucalyptus, tars and liquorice. Drop of brine, drop of lemon juice, perfecto. With water: don't add any water to these rums. In this very case, just a few drops of Vittel unleashed a hoard of strawberries. It's not that I'm against strawberries, but in my rum, no thanks. Having said that, this is common in peated whiskies too. Finish: long, with more citrus and earth. Comments: what I've learnt, fully empirically, is that rums are much harder to reduce correctly than whiskies. Basically, when in doubt, always forbear.”
SGP:652 - 90 points.
Source: whiskyfun.com
Nose: a pretty elegant mix of overripe pineapples, bananas and peaches, with funkier notes of gherkins and diesel. Some pleasant polished wood, cinnamon, liquorice and wax. Then also honeyed notes and olives in brine. There’s a lot going on, but overall it shows great roundness.
Mouth: quite dry, with plenty of citrus notes and leather, as well as briney notes, dried grasses and hints of tar. A lot of medicinal herbs too. Then salted caramel, hints of vanilla and roasted pineapples. Hints of iodine and camphor, pepper and orange peels. Still really good.
Finish: medium long, with more of these earthy herbs, drops of bitters and some tarry smoke.
Note: 89/100
Source: whiskynotes.be
Apple, cake, dark oranges, oil, herbs
