Overview
Brand: Rumcast Reserve
Origin: Distillerie de Labourdonnais, Mapou, Mauritius (picked by The Rumcast)
Still: Column
Age: 5 years, 5 months
Finish: ex-English Whisky/Wine
ABV: 63%
The second release in the inaugural Rumcast Reserve portfolio, this Mauritian rum hits a number of different points than its sibling bottle. First, it departs the Caribbean for the Indian Ocean, uses sugarcane juice instead of molasses, and has a complex cask maturation.
Rumcast Reserve Mauritius MLM0 was initially distilled in 2015 at the Labourdonnais Distillery in Mapou, Mauritius, using a column still and fermented sugarcane juice. It spent no time aging at origin, instead resting in a steel drum until being shipped to the UK in 2017.
In 2019, the rum was transferred to an ex-English malt whisky cask that was used by the Cotswolds Distillery, itself having previously been used to mature red wine. After 5 years and 5 months of aging, the rum was bottled at a cask strength of 63% ABV.
The "MLM0" part of the expression's name is described on the Rumcast project page:
MLM0 is an internal Main Rum mark that stands for Main Rum - Labourdonnais - Mauritius - 0 years aged at origin.
Appearance
Gold, medium-low viscosity
Nose
Vanilla, fresh raspberries, toffee, maraschino cherries, peanut butter, old wood
Palate
Vanilla, toffee, maraschino cherries, chocolate ice cream, pencil shavings, flamed orange peel
Finish
Medium length, dry, malty; oak, cooked raspberries, vanilla, malted grains
Rating: 6/10
Summary
My primary reaction to sipping through this rum is "confusion". It's pretty hard to pin down just exactly what is going on with this thing, which in this case is a strength of the rum, to an extent.
There are a few broad-strokes groupings of notes I get from this: confectionary (vanilla, toffee, ice cream), fruity (raspberries, cherries, orange peel), and savory/earthen (peanut butter, wood, pencil shavings, grains). Each sip brings a little bit from each category, and it's always shifting. It's clear the cask had a big influence on this rum.
Mauritius MLM0 is a nice pick from the Rumcast guys, and is certainly unique among the IB scene, which can get bogged down with rum after rum from the usual suspects. It's less refined but perhaps more adventurous than the Guyana, leaning into its lack of maturity as a feature, not a bug.
I'm definitely happy for John and Will on the success of these releases, and can't wait to see what the future has in store for this project.