Distilia Caroni The Golden Age of Piracy Edward Teach Blackbeard 1999

A rum tasted in a bar. Superb nose of mechanical workshop and fresh pineapple. You immediately feel transported to a motorcycle repair shop, with the sun beating down and the tires heating up. You can feel the alcohol on the palate, and then the aromas take over. A certain acidity makes the palate very fresh. Like an acidic but very tasty passion fruit. Vanilla and wood, thick fat. The finish is extremely long, with tropical fruit and machine shop. A fine representative of the '99 vintage. The marked acidity on the palate loses it a few points, but it's still an exceptional rum that makes you want to have more. The empty glass is splendid!

When tasting this Caroni, I immediately feel transported to the disused locomotive depot of an often visited Caribbean sugar factory, where the typical smell of various oily, tarry substances is in the air (the steam locomotives parked there were fired with heavy oils, the old wooden sleepers could still have been impregnated with tar creosote).Rums that remind me of beloved places, I like especially. So this one is definitely one of them. Big thanks to Distilia for the great sample at the 11th GRF in Berlin!

... Caroni is a distillery from Trinidad, producing at the time of its greatest glory rum, which was added at a ratio of 1:10 to the naval blend. It was too strong and strange to be pleasant on the tongue. In 2000, the distillery ceased production and closed. Only in 2010 did tasters appear who took a liking to the rum because of its special taste. And the interest grew. Caroni belongs to the category of "you need to try before you die" rums. I recommend it, Caroni is a truly unique rum.

1st SC caroni for me and I was not disappointed at all. The notes of tar, glue, oil are there but very well balanced and fruity notes appear with aeration. The finish is long and magical 😍

This is a very nice Caroni and I'd put it in the medium heavy to heavy category. Typical Caroni flavours complimented by some fruits and a mint touch. Love the roasted wood notes on the palate.

A rather good Caroni that is round and fruity in addition to the typical Caroni notes. I would have liked it to be a touch more dirty.

A really powerful and balanced drink! Tar, oil, glue but also fruity and rounded. I am really glad I won this very good sample in their online contest along with Bonney's and Jack's samples. Three timeless drinks!

Great Caroni from 1999! Rather fruity with lots of rubber. I like!

Beautiful complex Caroni with distinct dirty fruity notes and lots of power!

Nice nose, but finish is way too bitter and unbalanced to my taste. I had to dilute to about 48% to make it drinkable. Otherwise it was too hot, pungent and bitter. Apart from these downsides, it’s quite nice.

a stronger sample full of rubber, pepper and wood

And now for the third GAOP bottling for me directly after the Enmore 29y. Can the Caroni keep up? Let's see! On the nose I have oil, earth and rubber. Hidden behind that is a slight sweetness and green apple. Only now do I see that this one has 65.7%!!! Would have given it a maximum of 56%! Tarry and musty at the same time. On the tongue then bäääm! I don't think medicine that tastes of moss, tar, licorice and rubber has ever tasted so good! And no, the high alcohol content is imperceptible! Eucalyptus, green bell pepper and camomile make their presence felt. The whole thing is accompanied by hints of vanilla. The finish is as long as the Enmore. These two are so different, I can't decide on a winner tonight and I'm not going to!