Bottle Details:
Distillery: TDL
Bottler: The Whisky Jury (TWJ)
Vintage: 2003
Bottled: 2022
Stated Age: 19 years old
Casktype: Refill barrel
Casknumber: 4
Number of bottles: 250
Strength: 62.7 % Vol.
Maturation: Aged for 15 years in Trinidad + 4 years continental
TDL (Trinidad) 2003 Rum, The Whisky Jury
Nose: starts seemingly easy and rounded, with a big dose of maple syrup, ripe bananas and hints of caramel. Then after five minutes it gets increasingly juicy, with beautiful hints of red vineyard peaches, mangoes and pink grapefruits. Hints of lychee, floral honey and cane sugar juice as well.
Mouth: a similar tropical fruitiness, with bergamot, mango and (tinned) peaches again. This time some oak spice is added. A salty touch and maybe a hint of petrol, but this is certainly not as funky and estery as Caroni. Later also hints of liquorice, aniseed and clove.
Finish: long, half sweet, half spicy, on caramel and drops of medicinal potions, as well as flashes of maracuya.
Less industrial than Caroni, but pretty great nonetheless. Good complexity, lovely tropical fruits and high drinkability. As Caroni became too expensive, TDL now deserves our attention. Excellent selection. Score: 90/100
Trinidad Distillers Limited, a.k.a. Angostura. We've tried some superb ones already, others having been more 'pop music'. I know what I'm trying to say. Colour: amber. Nose: absolutely ravishing, with both tarry/olivey/petroly notes and many ripe or even rotting tropical fruits, including bananas of all sizes and colours. Even those wee blue ones! The combo works stunningly. With water: we're getting into mangos and passion fruits. Next step is paradise. Mouth (neat): glorious. Spruce resin, pink grapefruits, all-vitamins fruit juice, tar, clove, peppermint, liquorice, parsley, borage, oxalis, propolis… That propolis part would then grow bigger and bigger, leading to some heavier liquorice and pine resin. No problems. With water: loses points now because of the heavy, drying resins, but it's true that we were very high. Oh come on… Finish: long, with more resins yet, bitters, propolis indeed, mint drops, PulMoll pastilles... Right, I believe that's a French thing. Comments: holy Suzy, there sure isn't/wasn't only Caroni; on the other hand I'm not sure I've ever encountered such an 'Angostura'.