Overview
Brand: Colours of Rum
Origin: Long Pond Distillers Ltd., Clark's Town, Trelawny, Jamaica
Still: Pot
Age: 21 years
Finish: ex-Rum
ABV: 56.4%
Colours of Rum is a newer independent bottler that is based out of Poland and managed by the firm Wealth Solutions– not a financial planning business as the name may imply. As stated on their website, Wealth Solutions was "established in 2007 with a mission to provide luxury goods for demanding customers"; their portfolio includes fine wine, cognac, watches, and as we'll dive into today, rum.
This brand features typically long-aged rum from Barbados, Guyana, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Fiji, and Trinidad, with other origins reportedly coming soon. Many of the releases I've seen (that have relevant details available) are largely continentally-aged, with others a mix of tropical and continental aging.
Colours of Rum Long Pond 2001 (Ed. 8) was originally distilled via pot still at Long Pond in Clark's Town, Jamaica in March of 2001; according to RumX, this was produced to the spec of the LPS marque, which has an ester range of 400-500 g/hLAA. After distillation, this rum was shipped to Europe (presumably Main Rum Co. in Liverpool, UK) where it aged for 21 years in an ex-Rum cask, until bottling in October 2022 at a strength of 56.4% ABV.
Thanks to fellow Aficionados Discord server member Jordan for providing me with this sample.
Appearance
Pale gold, medium viscosity
Nose
Rotting pineapple, orange zest, vanilla, light barbecued ribs smoke, caramel
Palate
Rotting green grapes, vanilla, overripe kiwi, banana split, overripe pineapple, oak
Finish
Medium length, light, fruity, funky; rotting mango, pineapple, overripe banana, barbecue smoke, oak
Rating: 6/10
Summary
Colours of Rum Long Pond 2001 has some highlights– namely the funky tropical fruits, sweet dessert notes, and drinkability, but fails to really capture what I love about Long Pond.
Long Pond 2001's nose expresses some tropical notes, as well as a "meatiness" often described in my peers' reviews of Long Pond, but in all, is very tame for Long Pond. The similarly subdued palate brings a little more "oomph" with a sour fruit-forward overture not unlike Port Mourant expressions. This and the finish have a good bit of cask influence, indicative of this expression's extended continental aging.
Not a bad rum, but aging out of the tropics for such a long time really rounds the profile out to one that doesn't quite offer the powerful funk and character that I get from recent (tropically-aged) ITP or STCE expressions. Fun to try a Jamaican rum at this age, but perhaps this particular aging regimen isn't quite to my taste.