Fine Drams Clarendon Fine Old Clarendon Rum (Aficionados) EMB

 RumX Awards 2023. Sweet and slightly spicy on the nose, with a vegetal, woody and fruity edge (pineapple, kiwi, apple). The palate is spicy with deep notes and a freshness reminiscent of menthol (blue candy). The finish is long and flavorful, balanced with citrus notes that finish this rum off very elegantly. A little parasitic acidity reduces the note a little. Tasted again, this time it seems a little better than the 26 ans.

 Very intense pleasure - but with a Clarendon with these key data, this was not to be expected otherwise. The taste shows fully ripe as well as fresh tropical fruits, mint, pepper, olive, barrel influences...the list of flavors to be found grows with every sip. Impressive, already one of the highlights of 2023!

 Great balance of fruitiness and (tropical) wood influence with some rubber and glue associations. Excellent aroma! Intense, complex and pleasantly bitter on the palate. Wow, this is really fun! Excellent Jamaican at a very fair issue price with a great form factor!

 One of the top bottlings of the 2023. For me, it's a touch ahead of the 1995 EMB from Fine Dram (another PLV cracker on release). Unfortunately it was quickly sold out. Here you'll find a typical EMB profile with mint, menthol, tropical fruits like peach... nice wood influence.

 Excellent. The old tropical clarendon which is of a very high level. The nose is top, nice balance between very ripe fruits, almond and a hint of rubber that tends to fade with aeration. On the palate, the 68° stings a bit and tends to make less room for the other aromas. I liked it better with a little bit of water. The profile is pretty much in line with the nose I think. We are here at a very high level, for a hundred euros for 35cl, the kind of bottling to take if you like these old tropical clarendons. Let's salute here the bottler because the format is a great idea and makes the product affordable and more available. Good for them.

 Tasting compared with Colours of Rum Clarendon N°2.This is more fruity in comparison and has more Jamaica funk, again I have the association with Long Pond. Palate: less bitter and more fruity, the high alcohol content is very well integrated. Overall very balanced, a little funkyness and glue is also present and is well rounded by the tannins.In the aftertaste it becomes a little bitter but the fruitiness is not lost. This rum is in direct comparison less bitter, fruitier and does not have as much alcoholic sharpness. The origin from Jamaica is more noticeable. I like excellent and a tad better than the Colours of Rum Clarendon N°2.For me, the best Clarendon from the 90s so far.

 Simply an EMB poem. 😍 I'll be honest: Blind it could have been currently for me also one of these great Chairman's Single Casks (St. Lucia) of last year - so I have to deal more with this rum. This will include that I absolutely times against the outstanding EMB of RA (RX7788) tasted. But already I can say: hot contender for my list of the best rums of 2023 (to which the breakthrough bottle size also contributes). 😋😋😋

 Absolutely blatant Clarendon! It's almost like leather polish, with almond cookies and sour kiwis...but I like the 95 much better in comparison. Denkoch really wicked stuff!!!

 Wow. What a bottling. Hot contender for bottling of the year. Tested against the RumSponge Clarendon 1997 and the Fine Drams is a bit wilder. Actually, both are equally good for me, but the price of the Fine Drams gives it an extra point. Absolute board. It's amazing that you can still buy it. Right off into May Tai with it.92/100

 Brutally delicious nose, incredibly fruity with proper wood and spice and a great florality. Wonderful to fall in love. On the palate ohhhh that makes a real mood. Beautifully oily it arrives on the palate ....sofort it fills the room with a fruit/gluten bomb .... Alcohol is not to deny but just still in the frame and Pusht additionally. After a while nice wood notes come in with a few bitters all very harmonious and balanced. Great Clarendon, I'm thrilled.

 A Clarendon released in a 35-centiliter format, rather original but very economical. Due to its strength, the olfactory profile is more closed, dark, empyreumatic, spicy and powerful than Clarendon Rum Sponge. However, after long aeration, it expresses its full potential through notes of menthol, incense, fruit (exotic and red) and almonds. The attack on the palate is striking, but more aromatic than expected. Fruit and honey notes are more pronounced than spices and roasted notes. There's a rubbery feel, with glue, varnish and tire notes, as well as a hint of herbs on the finish. Alcohol is present, but rather well integrated for the beast. The finish is long, beautifully fruity, slightly bitter, quite delicate with a hint of menthol and spice, leather, dark chocolate and woody notes crossed with varnish and glue on a rubbery background. It leaves a strangely more gourmand and rounded impression on the finish than Rum Sponge. A high-level bottling, powerful but well-structured, which fully reveals itself after an hour's aeration. There's certainly less quantity in the bottle, but the quality/price ratio is just excellent for such a juice.

 About this Clarendon has already been written abundantly... and most are right. This is already exceptionally good! This woody, spicy note hits me right in my rum heart! Of it very much like more

 the Sponge in direct comparison with the Fine Drams. Both mega intense and complex, with overripe fruit (overripe mango), rubber, floor wax, vanillle, old barrel...the FD goes a little more in the direction of sweet and sour mango chutney, the Sponge is a little rounder and sweeter (tropical fruit salad). The palate is both super intense as well, with rubber, bicycle inner tube, barrel, overripe tropical fruit, the finish is long with black tea and barrel / tannins. With its lower ABV, the Sponge seems a wwnig more approachable. Bottom line, though, I can't come up with a clear winner. Both top notch!

 I like to sip some of it again and again. Not too much, so that I can enjoy it for longer. A mega-delicious Clarendon. For my personal taste, it comes close to the rating of the Sponge bottling.

 #4166 A very nice and funny Clarendon with fruityness and some glue. Very well balanced and a must try if you have the chance.