Velier Caroni 100% Trinidad Rum 21 1996 21yr 57,2%

"Epic Velier Caroni Tasting 2023: Top Caroni and an excellent representative of the great '96 vintage. Balanced, complex, Caroni-typical notes, dark fruit and beautiful sweetness. An ideal entry-level rum into the high-quality world of tropically aged Caronis with a price-performance ratio that is no longer quite so easy to finance, but still relatively good for Caroni. Excellent."

"Grandiose Velier Caroni. 1996 produced outstanding Caronis. This blend from different batches is able to marry everything that makes Caroni so special. Typical dirty notes paired with a good deal of complexity."

"A 1996 Caroni that doesn't deny its vintage, tar and tropical fruit in equal measure. A smell of marzipan gives this rum a pastry-like quality. You can still find it in a few stores, but at inflated prices, as if it were about to go up in price, which is possible given the quality of this beverage. More mellow than Navy Rum 100th and Kill Devil 1998 65.5%, but even more complex and deep in flavor. Delicious! Tasted again and the fruit and sweetness took precedence over the tar. A real delight! Clearly an undervalued rum. The end of the bottle is delicious."

"Very nice combination of Caroni notes, fruits, smoke and brunt notes as well as a mint and a certain sweetness. Very well made aged Caroni blend - very accessible and enjoyable."

"Do I really need to say anything else about this classic? 😉 At most that it is so harmonious and downright smooth that I "only" give it 90 points; with a little more steam and engine shed dirt, the rum would have scored even higher. Update 2023-12-20: Online blind tasting 20.12.2023 with 6 very different, but for this very reason quite excellent rums, none of which I would particularly like to emphasize in retrospect, each tasted good in its own way and brought its character to the flight, which is why no points were awarded. A great tasting with friends, in which each of us contributed a blind sample. Order RX17286 RX726 RX9954 RX3604 RX39 RX12384 RX39 you don't have every day as a blind sample in the glass, exquisite!"

"Weiterhin der Benchmark Caroni für mich. Ein Rum wie ein Gedicht. Genau der richtige Mix zwischen Frucht und Dreck. Der Preis ist zwar schlimm gestiegen, aber tatsächlich bekommt man diese Flaschen noch. Wer weiß wie lang noch."

"Nouvelle tentative après quelques années, je reprends un sample pour le réessayer. Le nez me plaît, moins de goudron et de menthol que dans mon souvenir, plus d'équilibre avec des arômes boisés mais également fruités. Bref le nez est très agréable. En bouche ça reste quand même assez amer, moins plaisir qu'au nez. Un peubde gourmandise mais les arômes de menthol et de caoutchouc sont également bien présents et encore une fois ils ne me font pas vraiment rêver. verdict final : c'est bien, beaucoup plus à mon gout que d'autres caroni bien plus cotés (le 94 guyana stock pour ne pas le nommer). Je remonte donc ma note précédente, mais ça restera un bon rhum Hors coup de coeur pour moi. Au prix de sortie c'était un bon rapport qualité prix."

"Delicious, balanced and very accessible. Great combination of dirty, fruity and sweet. Update: Tasted again in direct comparison with "The Last", i.e. the best round against the Eichstab 21 Caroni. Yes, the Last is a round better on the nose and palate."

"Despite being part of the "Classic" range of Caroni from Velier, we have here an impressive 1996 vintage which is just as good as other releases."

"Hat alles was einer guter Caroni meiner Meinung nach braucht. Die typisch dreckigen Noten, aber auch fruchtig, nussig, etwas Holz. Alles gut ausbalanciert mit leicht röstigen Abgang. Schöne Abfüllung."

"Caroni, it usually makes you salivate. But this is a great rum. Beautiful nose consisting of wood, leather and vanilla. Then vanilla oak, leather and liquorice on the palate. Simply delicious. Thanks Oliver for the sample."