A Trinidad Rum reparative edition — the 2021 one left a bitter taste in the mouth due to the unexpected loss in alcohol strength.

An island of sprinters, pirates, explorers, the Trinidad and Tobago archipelago has always played quiet witness to the history of the Caribbean and its sea. Such shyness is preserved again in the current edition. A silently authoritative rum, one easily resonating of whisky. A supporting beam imbued with chlorophyll and molasses enabling subsequent blossoming.

We recognise hints of undergrowth and that mediaeval scent reminiscent of Romanesque church naves, or the opening liturgical notes of an ancient book whose leaves become separated. These aromas then gracefully and light- heartedly veer towards vanilla.

Actually, this is stracciatella ice cream with innuendos of liquorice and dried fruits. Complex and complete, its modesty is perhaps more of an awareness that it is a great spirit.

In the mouth it explodes in clusters of juniper berries and an unexpected and exquisitely delicate sweetness, somewhere between butter and honey. A finale where the sweet notes round off and mellow out until they break free of every form.

Our hymn to freedom.

It is harder to maintain the balance of freedom than it is to endure the weight of tyranny.
Simon Bolivar