Chairman's Reserve 1931 Rum

1931 is the jewel in the crown — Rum Ratings' phrase — and it was built from fourteen different rums. St. Lucia Distillers, the island's only distillery, released it in 2011 to mark eighty years since Denis Barnard founded the operation in the Roseau valley, and it's a tribute to the rum philosophy his son Laurie made famous with Chairman's Reserve: a blend of pot- and column-distilled rums drawn from all four of the distillery's stills — the Coffey column, the John Dore and Vendome pots — mostly molasses-based but with a small proportion of agricole-style rum from estate-grown cane, aged separately in ex-bourbon barrels and ex-port pipes for six to fifteen years, and bottled at 46% ABV. Paste called it wonderful and was very impressed. Rum Ratings' drinkers found sweet, peppery vanilla with a hint of citrus sourness, a long finish of honey and cut grass that makes you want another sip, and the earthy woodiness of a good agricole — one drove 1,300 miles round trip for two bottles. Expect a rich nose of dried fruit, cigar tobacco, honey, and port-cask red fruit, opening into a dense, layered palate where pot-still funk, grilled tropical fruit, candied nuts, and baking spice trade places, the cane-juice component adding a green lift, finishing very long and elegant. Honest note: around $100, and worth it — Legacy delivers much of this at a fraction of the price. In a glass, neat, slowly. The gift box carries the full notes.

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