Velier Caroni 100% Trinidad Rum 21

"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. One of my favorites."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"It does not always have to be the full Caroni dirt sling. Perfectly balanced and harmonious Caroni. The price-performance winner of the outstanding Velier Caronis."

"The price-performance ratio killer! For me, one of the best tropical Caronis in terms of price-performance ratio. It has everything an outstanding Caroni needs."

"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!"

"Eine ikonische Flasche. Runde, warme kräftige Nase. Fruchtig (Mango) und würzig. Es bedarf einer Weile Atmen im Glas, um die typischen Caroni-Noten zum Vorschein zu bringen. Eine animalische Note kompensiert die zurückhaltende dreckige Werkstatt. Im Mund würzig, leicht süßlich. Nunmehr ein erwachsener Caroni. 🤩🤩🤩 Es folgt ein schöner Abgang, der ruhig länger sein könnte. Perfekt ausgewogene Caroni-Magie. Sehr gut trinkbar. Kaum ein Rum bringt die Kraft tropischer Reifung so betörend zur Geltung. Und dann dieser wunderbare Geruch aus dem Glas in der Früh… 😀"

"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."

"After a few years, I took another sample and tried it again. I like the nose, less tar and menthol than I remember, more balance with woody but also fruity aromas. In short, the nose is very pleasant. On the palate, however, it remains rather bitter, less pleasurable than on the nose. A little greedy, but the menthol and rubber aromas are also very present, and once again they don't really make me dream. Final verdict: it's good, much more so for my taste than other, much higher-rated caroni (the 94 guyana stock, not to mention it). I'm therefore raising my previous rating, but this will remain a good rum Hors coup de coeur for me. At the release price, it was good value for money."

"Brilliant Caroni. Harmoniously complex, beautiful sweetness, fruit, leather, rubber, tar, cinnamon. Right from A to Z. I like it better every time I drink it, especially because it easily competes with other bottlings. Absolutely top."

"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."

"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."

"9:On the nose, the first impression we get are tropical fruits like banana, minty, medicinal notes with solvents and charred wood with caramel, burnt sugar, leather and spice like vanilla, as the molasses is vegetal with flowery notes. On aeration, bourbon yellow fruits, coconut join the game, industrial notes with rubber, more woody nuts, mocha, the mint is now menthol.Very complex, but balanced. 9,3:On the palate, the attack is delicious with currants, red fruits, creamy with vanilla and charred wood notes like caramel, nuts, milk chocolate, leather.Of course, there are tar and rubber, but not pervasive, just pairing. Yellow fruits with juicy peach and sweet honey extremely round up our first impression.They are joined with flowery, minty and citrus notes with an orange, very tasty.After some resting, the wood is even more creamy with smoky, charred wood and notes like toffee, a hint of marzipan, mocha, molasses with licorice, perhaps some umami. 9:The finish is long and tasty, just a bit bitter with tar, rubber, the wood is roasted with nuts, leather, there is still creamy vanilla and the fruits are dried.The molasses brings some tobacco. Edit:23.3.25, a step higher from 12, 15, 17y."