South Pacific Rum Artesanal Fiji Rum FSDP 2001 22yr 59,3%

"Rather atypical representative from Fiji. Lots of spicy, herbal and planty associations on the nose. Dry and almost medicinal on the palate. Despite the 59.3%, it seems rather thin - I miss the power here. Quite a short finish. Interesting and very atypical."

"RumX Community Tasting Fiji 2001. A nose dominated by pine resin, but also vegetal, toasted, orange peel, menthol and candy-like notes. The candy comes back on the palate, with a sweet/pastry side. Vegetal/pine resin and cedar wood. The finish is long, with vegetal notes, pine resin and menthol. Very nice empty glass, fruity and woody. The aromas in this rum are a little surprising, but personally I like them because they remain dynamic and tasty."

"Edit: Thanks Jakob, I had the pleasure of tasting a wide range of the Fiji 2001 bottlings. Although I've had a few in my glass before, the result surprised me again, as my previous favorite ended up in last place. However, it has to be said that I didn't give most of them time to develop due to a time problem. So here is the result of the blind tasting, which differs from the scoring. Tested against RX14277. I think it has the more typical Fiji profile, but I find it too unbalanced and the alcohol not well integrated."

"RumX Fidji 2001 Cross Tasting: Definitely an outliner from the pack. This bottling again shows intense herbal notes which have seamingly appeared in some of the more recent RA bottlings. At the start this is a bit overwhelming to the base profile. With some time to breath this addition blends in more nicely and makes this more of a standout than an outlier in a negative sense. All in all this is interesting enough to make it to the middle of the tasted range - mind you the profile is somewhat skewed towards herbal notes. Cheers to Jabok!"

"Slightly unpleasant gin note with lots of herbs. Not quite my cup of tea."

"Fiji 2001 Community Tasting - big thanks to Jakob for organizing this blind tasting. A great vintage and a comparison not without surprise. For me, the two Artesanal rums, neither of which I drank to the end, brought up the rear. An unpleasant juniper off-note was particularly disturbing (very pronounced in the rx15398, slightly better but still disturbing in the rx7779). Then, for me, the Rum Cask rx479 brought up the rear (i.e. very good / with the right markers), but not as great as the others. Surprisingly, the Isla del Ron, which has had a small reference status in my heart ever since I tried it, ended up in next place for me. But it was overtaken in the blind test by the delicious Whisky Jury (rx13025) and then by the sensational. cave Guildive (rx1717). For me, the Cave Guildive is the winner of the classic Fiji 2002 profile and is really top. I only rated the Flag LMDW Antipodes (rx13440) higher ... this one is clearly woodier but also ultra-tasty. It was also clearly recognizable blind and made the photo finish millimeters behind the Plantation rx11133, which probably also stood out because it was so un-Fiji2001 and has a great glue-caramel Guyana nose. Verdict: Typical Fiji winners are the Cave Guildive on the fruity-honey-feelgood side and the Flag on the woody. the Plantation is the wildcard winner. The two RA bottlings are the two that remain far below the level of the other two."

"No idea why the thing smells and tastes so like grilled fennel, plus a very slight honey sweetness and incense and green apple note, as well as many herbs and slightly bitter. Not quite mine but not bad...Very atypical Fiji which unfortunately does not meet my taste and I can not really classify."

"An der Nase mit der zuletzt so häufig bei Artesanal anzutreffenden Kräuter-Wacholdernote als Begleiter des klassischen Fiji-Profils. Am Gaumen bleibt für die archetypischen Aromen etwas mehr Platz, auch wenn die kräutrige Tonalität unbestreitbar vorhanden bleibt; erwähnenswert ist zudem die karamellige Note im Abgang, die den übrigen mir bekannten 2001er Fijis nahezu gänzlich fehlt. Ein Release, das einerseits Spalten muss, andererseits aber auch Gefahr läuft, etwas über Gebühr abgestraft zu werden, weil es die durchschnittlichen Erwartungen an Fiji 2001 nur teilweise erfüllt. Meines Erachtens eine spannende Ergänzung des Feldes, die zwar nicht zur unmittelbaren Spitzenklasse zählt, aber qualitativ dennoch auf tollem Niveau unterwegs ist."

"RumX Fiji Crosstasting April 2024 Platz 6/8 Aussergewöhnlicher Fiji 2001, welcher durch seine herbalen Noten deutlich hervorsticht. Beim Blindtasting kontrovers diskutiert. Mir hat er gefallen. Nase speziell mit etwas Harz."

"In der Nase eher in die Richtung eines 09er Jahrgangs. Im Mund nicht leid, tatsächlich recht kräutrig aber ich habe auch Dörrobst. Relativ trocken. Der Abgang finde ich recht dreckig und irgendwie spannend. Der Jahrgang weckt natürlich Erwartungen, welche der Rum nicht zu bedienen weiss. Ich finde ihn aber dennoch ansprechend und trinkbar."

"After the new RA 2001 Fiji was so torn, I wanted to know more, and let him compete against the RA Fiji 2001 from 2021 (RX 7779) and my Fiji 2001 reference, the IdR (RX 9382). After the first impression of root vegetables (celery?) has faded somewhat on the new RA, notes towards toffee also come through, though they are joined by a somewhat strange note reminiscent of linoleum flooring (hospital hallway). What is most noticeable about the new RA compared to the other two 2001s though, it has zero funky notes. But this balance would be important to compensate for the root vegetable/linoleum. The IdR is clearly the most funky, and plays off that wonderfully. It's also in a completely different league again from the old RA. Even if the new RA is not a completely atypical Fiji, it can not really inspire me."

"Blind I would never have guessed here on Fidji! Too atypical are the flavors here. He is so more on the herbal spicy side.We definitely will not be friends"

"RumX Community Cross-Tasting „Fiji 2001“ (by Jakob): Ha! Der ist interessant! Im Online-Tasting kam er nicht bei allen an, aber ich mag ihn. Er sticht komplett aus der Reihe, durch die Kräuter-Noten, die sich von Nase über Gaumnen bis zum Abgang durchziehen. Wacholder und Fenchel."

"Uff, Nadelholz Gin war doch eigentlich was anderes oder?"

"Crosstasting mit Jakob und einigen Forummitgliedern am 25.4.2024. Platz 6. Die Überraschung des Abends ! Gin meets Rum. Den hatte ich Schonmal alleine verkostet, mit 7,8 Punkten, Im cross tasting stach er positiv heraus weil er einfach anders war/ist. Die erhöhte Punktzahl hat er sich verdient. Ich brauch ne Flasche…"