Overview
Brand: Roaming Road
Origin: Beenleigh Rum Distillery, Eagleby, Queensland, Australia
Still: Pot
Age: 16 years
Finish: ex-Bourbon
ABV: 65.4%
This week, we'll be working through a series of samples from Roaming Road, an American independent bottler that debuted last year with a slate of cask strength rums.
Founder Mike Gilmore previously made a name for himself while curating single cask picks at Country Lane Liquor in Pinedale, WY. With Roaming Road (RR), he aims to bring the same level of quality to a broader customer base; rum seems to be his primary focus, but RR has expanded to include brandies (cognac, armagnac) and other grain spirits (rye, bourbon, Irish whisky) into their portfolio.
First up is Roaming Road Australia 16 year, hailing from our friends at Beenleigh in Eagleby, Queensland. Produced from a base of molasses using their pot still in 2008, this rum spent 16 years aging in total– the breakdown of origin and European aging is unclear. It was bottled at a strength of 64.5% ABV.
These samples were part of a bottle split between a couple fellow rum enthusiasts last year, and I'm happy to finally getting around to try them.
Appearance
Orange, low viscosity
Nose
Honeysuckle, orange marmalade, vanilla bean, apricot, nutmeg
Palate
Orange marmalade, honeysuckle, apricot, vanilla, nutmeg, ethanol
Finish
Medium-long, medicinal, hot; honeysuckle, orange marmalade, cough syrup, nutmeg
Rating: 6/10
Summary
This Beenleigh rum from Roaming Road is solid, but based on this sample, a bit more rough around the edges than other expressions I've tried from the Queensland producer.
Honeysuckle, marmalade, and apricot come through on the nose, but it's a bit subdued, with vanilla bean and nutmeg sneaking in after some searching. The palate is comparatively hot, with ethanol rounding out the prevailing marmalade, honeysuckle, and apricot notes. It's not totally lost, but a tad rough and unrefined compared to other, similarly-aged expressions I've had before. The medium-long finish is slightly medicinal and hot, with more of the same notes joined by cough syrup.
This has all the hallmarks of Beenleigh rum, but suffers a bit from the uncontrolled ethanol, in my opinion. If you haven't had a chance to try an independently-bottled Australian rum, this would certainly be worth picking up; otherwise, you may be able to skip this particular bottling.