TBRC Diamond Diamond Distillery (Savalle Still) SVL 2004

Lovely rum grabbed for an absolute steal of £50! Full of chocolate and dark fruit. This one is complex and rich but quite challenging… tastes much better at the end of a tasting, rather than the start. I wonder how the price can be so low for such quality. Put it in a black bottle and I’m sure people will pay triple 😉

Well, that was good. I haven't had alcohol for a month, so now I'm feeling all the flavors more intensely. Good woody Guyana, lots of dried fruit, coffee (which lingers on the finish), chocolate. Aroma of chocolate and coffee with some nuts. It's very hilarious and I wouldn't be afraid to have a bottle.

Heavy honest Guyana on the nose and in the taste. Dried fruit, maybe dates, caramel. Nicely dense woody and balanced. This really came through. None of it stands out too much, but at the same time it's not boring. It just needs a longer finish.

Al naso parte con caramello bruno, frutti rossi, frutta secca, pelle e tanto cioccolato fondente. Tutto questo ben legato da una finissima speziatura. Il cioccolato fondente poi, con caffè lo ritroviamo molto forte anche in bocca, dove però diventa meno spigoloso e si ammorbidisce grazie all' arrivo di melassa, caramello e pepe. Infine, nel finale il cioccolato fondente è meno presente e lascia spazio al caffè, la cui acidità è smorzata dal legnoso della botte e dallo zucchero bruciato. Davvero molto interessante

This SVL mark continues to cause question marks in my taste memory. Joshua (1423) said male it's not a DDL Mark, but what style does it represent? The nose is light and pleasing. Coffee, chocolate, roasted caramel. Raisins, a hint of tobacco. A dark, but almost Spanish style. In the mouth it is very sweet for an unsweetened rum. Chocolate pudding with caramel sauce, also a good portion of red marmalade. Still a very smooth and rather light rum. Nevertheless, the impression is not super flat or boring. An easy sipper that is perhaps a little too easy. Overall, surprisingly little wood or bitterness and the tannins it brings. The finish is short and unspectacular, but also without any off notes.

Direct comparison of the two TBRC Diamond Savalle SVL bottlings of batches #2 (19 yo / rx18179 and #4 / 18760) Both are nice and dark in color but not too malty due to the coloration. The nose of batch #2 is nice and dark but a bit reserved (but gets better after a while and coconut is added) and great fruity notes in batch #4. On the palate, nice dried fruit in batch #4 and a bit more bitter, malty but also drier in batch #2. Both are good, but my preference clearly goes to batch #4

I don't find much else on the nose apart from light caramel. On the palate, I then have mainly burnt caramel, along with a slight spiciness, you can feel the alcohol a little. Even after breathing for a while, not much more happens here. With a little water, it opens up slightly and becomes more accessible, but not really more complex. The finish is short to medium-long. Not a bad rum, but somehow also somewhat irrelevant. You're not really missing anything here.

Direct comparison with batch #4 from TBRC. This Diamond (Batch #2) is somewhat weaker and darker overall than Batch #4. Coffee and spice aromas predominate. The alcohol is well integrated. However, I clearly prefer Batch #4, which is somewhat stronger and fruitier