Foursquare Patrimonio Single Blended Rum Review And Tasting Notes
The Foursquare Patrimonio Single Blended Rum is a beautiful distillate, an incredible concentration of dark and fleshy aromas, a furious symphony that ranges from spicy to oxidized, with a brackish crescendo of infinite beauty.
It is a complex and layered rum, full of references, flickering, decadent, and opulent, but always full, vigorous, and enveloping. Despite the powerful gradation, 58 degrees, the drink is extraordinary, never heavy, always dynamic and compulsive, driven by a citrus-based candied fruit that makes you want to bite the bottle. The softness is so enveloping that it smooths out all this alcoholic arrogance and tames it, bringing it back to a more understandable dimension.
How it is produced
The play between shadow and light is the fulcrum of this noble distillate, produced in pure Barbados style, with a blend of spirits created with pot still and column still. We could talk for hours about this philosophy of balance typical of the Foursquare distillery and the island of Barbados. After all, let’s not forget that the British landed on these coasts in the second half of the 1600s and have shaped the local production since the first day.
And the single malt style production philosophy traces the genesis of this rum, which does not want to be pyrotechnic, but instead aims at perfect balance, depth, and measured elegance.
Molasses ferment for a long time to develop very sharp, almost green aromas and flavors and increase the aromatic charge. Then the molasses are distilled in pot stills, giving more full-bodied and complex rums and in column stills. The distillates are divided, and a double refinement is carried out. The first ages for 14 years in American barrels, while the second rests for 10 years in ex-bourbon barrels but then takes a 4-year holiday in ex-sherry barrels.
If the ex-Bourbon pushes on the fruit, vanilla, and cherry, the ex-Sherry barrels help develop mature and decadent tones, full of nut and almond flavors, and add unique herbal and medicinal scents.
The aging takes place on-site and is totally “tropical,” with an angel share of 6% per year.
Richard Seale is a genius who has understood that wood is one of the main ingredients in spirits. If you’ve never tasted his rums, they are philological works that you should know to understand the true face of Barbadian rum. The research focuses not on purity but on an idea and a personal aesthetic ideal that embodies the style of the island.
It is no coincidence that the Foursquare distillery is renowned for these excellent bottlings and products under 100 euros, including pearls such as Indelible or Sagacity. And what makes these rums unique are the particular refinements, the last years of maturation in Zinfandel and Port wine or Madeira barrels. A path that also the Scottish distillery Bruichladdich has taken, making finishing in Sauternes or Barolo.
Organoleptic characteristics
The nose is pungent and nutty and offers a melancholy yet haunting beauty. The fruit is warm, ripe, and full of red fruit in jelly and jelly with these orange splashes in the background. Nuts and dried flowers sink into a sea of honey and plums. Spices are the frame, but with grace. The ethereal medicinal tones insinuate themselves in this greedy fruit, mottling and making the aromatic picture precious in the finish cocoa and delicious Madeira echoes. Overall it is spectacular, full of facets and just the right intensity.
On the palate, it is warm and peppery, but the taste is articulated all around this explosion of ripe fruit and hazelnuts, with the pepper hammering and amplifying the grandeur of the sip.
The structure is robust, vibrant, but well polished by the wood. The concentration is tremendous, and the evolved flavors of chocolate mix with salt and an almost iodized appeal.
Price
When it came out on the market, with a limited edition of 6000 bottles, it cost 190 euros and was worth it all. Indeed it was an excellent investment, especially now that it is nowhere to be found and the seller can do the price without problems. You can spend up to 300-340 if you find it: in 5 years it will be worth double.