I recently ran across a review of Appleton Estate's 21 Year by "Lance" over at Liquorature. Recently we've been on the upswing of our here again/gone again rum affair. In his review Lance's key point was that "I’m not entirely enamoured of the prevalence of the sharper oak tannins, which held, to me, a somewhat unhealthy dominance over the other, subtler flavours that never quite got their chance in the sun: I sensed they were there, but the defense was too strong."
My posted response:
Moi:"Good reviewers tend to agree, if not in degree, at least in concept. And we agree with you. Although the basis of The Rum Project is to focus on world class rums available for about $30 USD, give or take, and that are available to the common drinker, this is not to say we avoid all super-premiums (and at $140 this is one).
Although we never did a formal review, we were very well acquainted with Appleton’s exquisite, 12yo “Extra” – a rum that has gained widespread acclaim and respect. But it was at a well known rum tasting in South Florida that we meandred up to the Appleton table and had a chance at the 21. Although we wouldn’t have scored it quite as low as you have, we definitely preferred the Extra (which both F. Paul Pacult and Dave Broom would heartily agree).
Regarding the 21, Pacult made an interesting observation, namely that he found that despite its age, that the 21 was NOT as overly woody as other rums of that generation. Most interesting was his description of the 21 as “stately… in an old guard style”.
Now I don’t know about you, but I found that an intriguing concept. He refers to this rum’s “stateliness and poise”. He may have a point. Just like there is a notable difference between young rums (say 5 years and under) and those in the sweet spot of aging (say 6 to 12 years), there is a similar difference with long aged spirits of all kinds, not lease rum.
It seems that brown spirits exceeding 20 years, if well managed, start to exhibit similar characteristics of great (and hard to identify) complexity, integration, mouthfeel – all of it really – and here’s the point. They can and often do become “stately”. Those of us ordinary financial mortals may never come to know or appreciate this, as these rare products sell for what for most is a small fortune – say $200 to $1000 (I’m including the finest bourbons and single malts as well).
These very old spirits tend to exhibit rancio – which to ordinary drinkers of much younger spirits may be perceived as unexpected and offputting, while to the well heeled afficianado is one of the features for which they gladly pay."
Bottom Line
1. Long aged brown spirits of all kinds seem to grow together in terms of aroma and taste, et al.
2. Many do, in fact, become "over-oaked", but this term is rather thrown around especially by newer reviewers who lack enough experience with these many and very, very expensive offerings. You can believe the distillers are not going to pass out $500 or $1000 dollar freebies, and none of these small time websmasters - including me - are going to shell out for as many as it would take to really understand them.
3. Of particular note are the sensations of "rancio", and the tendency to be reported as "cognac-like", both misunderstood by the common reviewer and reported in negative fashion, but which the experienced and top reviewers find intriguing and exceptional.
It's really a lack of familiarity with what really constitute a whole different class of rare, valuable and hard to obtain spirits.
