Open your eyes is a famous movie with a golden trio Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz but it is also what I am about to do you, reader of my reviews. There are great rums out in the world, a lot of hidden treasures but these bottles are very hard to come by because of the very limited releases. This time we are going to take a trip together to Germany to visit a bottle from the independent bottler Rum Artesanal. They are the talk of the town at the moment, because they are releasing something very unique, like Barbados Rockley Style 1986 just to mention one. It would be easy for me to do a review of one of the Barbados Rockley, but that’s not my game, I am going to dive into one of their more unknown bottles from Jamaica. It is a single cask rum from Clarendon distillery made on a pot still with an abv of 62,2% and 11 years in the barrel. The number of bottles is 289.

The history of Clarendon distillery dates all the way back to 1949 (or maybe 1939), it is not totally clear according to some of the material on this. This part of the distillery contains two huge double retort pot stills. The other part of the distillery contains the column stills and the fermentation tanks. What some people might not know that Clarendon is MonyMusk rum and is partly owned by Diageo one of the world largest spirit business. A lot of the rum produced at Clarendon Distillery goes into bottles with a certain captain on it.

Now back to what this review is all about smelling and tasting some rum. I slowly move the glass closer to my nose and like the Phil Collins song “In the air tonight” the air starts to get filled with acetone, vanilla and spices like nutmeg. The alcohol is quiet dominant even after a while. As I take the first sip of the rum caresses my tongue, I sense a steam train in the distance, because this is not a rum for the sweet and gentle. The first notes, that comes to my mind is lightly roasted almonds, black pepercorns and some tropical fruits also wants to join the party, the rum is creating in my mouth. As the rum reaches the back of my mouth and the final steps of the party are about to be taken, the feeling of wet wooden floor with a distinct sense of smoke and bitterness tingles my palate. The rum takes a bow and this is it for the time being, but I will for sure revisit this bottle somewhere down the line. If you ask me this is a rum that you should find for around 40-50 euro. It is a good buy, especially if you want to challenge your palate.