Overview
Brand: St. Nicholas Abbey
Origin: St. Nicholas Abbey, Cherry Tree Hill, Saint Peter, Barbados
Still: Pot
Age: 5 years
Finish: ex-Bourbon & ex-Rum
ABV: 60%
For a significant review milestone, I decided a while ago to use a special rum for this occasion. It's not a 10/10 (spoiler alert), but it's special because of the memories it's tied to.
First, a primer on what exactly St. Nicholas Abbey is; and no, we are not talking about monks or nuns distilling rum (they're more into herbal French liqueurs). St. Nicholas Abbey (SNA) is a 17th century estate on the northern side of the island, in the parish of St. Peter, and likely got its current name during the ownership of the Charles Cave and Sarah Cumberbatch, who combined the contemporary name "Nicholas Plantation" with St. Nicholas Parish (where Sarah's family lived in England) and Bath Abbey, where Charles and Sarah married.
Throughout its history, SNA has been owned by multiple families and individuals, and has been in the charge of Larry and Anna Warren since 2006.
The estate is sprawling, beautiful, and preserves centuries of Bajan and Caribbean history. It includes the Great House, a Jacobean mansion built in 1658, and one of the last of its style outside of England; sugar cane fields; a functional railway that ferries visitors to different landmarks; a café; and, of course, the distillery.
I had the pleasure of visiting the estate with my then-girlfriend, now-fiancée, Helen, when we were in Barbados on an anniversary trip in 2022. It was an adventure and lengthy drive to get there from the southwest coast, but totally worth it. We enjoyed touring the great house, courtyards, and distillery, before taking a ride on the train and getting lunch. As a really nice bonus, you get a complimentary bottle engraving if you buy their rum; we bought a bottle and used the engraving to commemorate our visit to this magnificent island.
St. Nicholas Abbey offers a number of rums for purchase, typically including 80 proof and overproof versions; today we're looking at their youngest aged expression: St. Nicholas Abbey Cask Strength 5 year. This was produced using estate-grown and processed sugarcane, in the form of sugarcane syrup, using Annabelle, the estate's hybrid copper still. Then, the rum is placed in casks that previously held bourbon and older SNA rums, for a span of 5 years, before bottling at 60% ABV. My bottle came from single cask #268.
Appearance
Orange-gold, medium viscosity
Nose
Butterscotch, vanilla, golden raisins, ethanol, anise seed
Palate
Butterscotch, mixed peppercorns, vanilla, lightly-toasted sugarcane, golden raisins, muscovado sugar
Finish
Long, hot, sweet; butterscotch, oak, sugarcane, maple syrup
Rating: 7/10
Summary
This is an excellent single cask/cask strength rum that St. Nicholas Abbey has put out. It's got a ton of great notes that you don't typically find in other sugarcane-based rums, and puts a unique spin on the classic Bajan profile.
Butterscotch is the star of the show here, prominently displayed on the nose, palate, and finish. Vanilla and golden raisins also pop up here and there, reaching from a slightly alcoholic nose through the sweet and peppery palate, to the hot and oaky finish. Some toasted sugarcane notes join the palate, which features rough, untamed grassy notes married with vanilla and lightly sweet brown sugar that other (molasses-based) Bajan rums are known to provide.
This is a special bottle that marks an equally special trip, distillery, and travel mate with which I got to experience all this. If you're in Barbados for any length of time, I highly suggest taking the time to visit St. Nicholas Abbey, tour the grounds, and support the estate by buying some of their rum and other merchandise.