Jim Murray: "Until I tasted this (Cask 18067 Limousin), when asked I would say that the world’s very finest and most complex rums were produced in Guyana, Jamaica, Venezuela and Fiji. Having experienced this, I can now add, indubitably, Taiwan… "
Renaissance Rum Single Cask Bas-Armagnac 18035 (95.5)
n23.5 estery passionfruit…!!! I have been here before. Here there is less cocoa than I remember in its predecessor but slightly more orangey-ester…though the cocoa doesn’t disappear altogether. There are more bready-black peppers, too;
t24 could almost swoon with the beauty of this delivery. Not as sweet as18067 but extra cocoa-rich vanillas have seen to that off the cask. The spices also have a little more to say, the rumbling fruits ensure balance. The oils are semi-insane, making for a wonderfully shew experience;
f24 the esters ensure length and complexity. The fruits fragment while a little honey fills in the gaps. Butterscotch and mocha do a magnificent job of keeping the complexity coming…(and I have just tasted a little 18067 a noted something very similar happens there, too). Delicate fruit notes hang on with the pitta-patter spices to the very end…which is a long time coming…;
b24 well, there is nothing wrong with my memory! Before I even looked to see the make-up of this rum, just a quick nose and taste had me leaping off my feet and searching for Renaissance Cask 18067…it’s twin sister. And once I had the pair together, so they were…and so, too, the accompanying details confirmed. It proves that the excellence of 18067 wasn’t a one-off and that Renaissance have found a unique style they can long amaze the rum world in. What glorious rum! 58.6%
Whisky Bible 作者Jim Murray
Renaissance Rum 2018 Limousine Single Cask 18067 總分：95.5分
Renaissance Rum 2018 Limousine Single Cask 18067 (95.5)
n23 not often a first from a glass gets me flinging back from the glass in surprise, but it has been managed here: this was something I didn’t expect. There is a clear, sharp passionfruit liqueur touch to this: one of those ultra-expensive passionfruit wrapped in high value cocoa, brittle affairs which first stings then kisses the nose. But, better still, once over that particular shock, the distillery character rolls in, wave upon wave of high-class rum of the traditional pot still variety, at times light and ethereal, at others slightly rubbery and heady. Delicate in esters, seemingly, there are more there than initially meets the nose, certainly once the passionfruit is under control…;
t24.5 it took me a while to understand what was going on here. But once my brain got onto the rum’s unique wavelength, I realised this has some truly stunning properties. The layering is truly astonishing: one flavour-wave after another lapping against the tongue and roof of mouth, each sending a. slightly altered, but always delicious message. The sugars melt into honey, the spices make their mark from the start but refuse to dominate, though never letting go. The chocolate and vanilla at the midpoint sits so incredibly beautifully with the massaging oils. That nascent heather honey is caught by the oils and held in place, while the esters grow and grow – and contribute far more here than on the nose while the percussion if the tannins begins to alter the beat;
f24 it is hard to know where the late middle ends and the finish starts, so wondrously harmonised is this rum. Again, the esters and overall oils have just the right pull to ensure while they do their own job, they bring in the vanillas and butterscotch and, ultimately, mocha, to give the tannins their own carefully integrated show;
b24 after 30 years of professionally tasting whiskies and rums, it is rare to find an aroma which is distinctively different to anything I had encountered before. But the good people of Renaissance have managed it. Indeed, they have gone further: they have begun a rum with a startling fruity entry…but them carried on so the whole is one of a fine rum, not a liqueur. Over the decades I have tasted from many thousands of casks of rum. Have I ever found one so complex and perfectly balanced after just two years? I’m pretty certain I haven’t. A 2020s classic rum that will be long admired and discussed….and finally remembered with revered affection. Until I tasted this, when asked I would say that the world’s very finest and most complex rums were produced in Guyana, Jamaica, Venezuela and Fiji. Having experienced this, I can now add, indubitably, Taiwan… 69.1%
2013年榮獲世界最佳伺酒師Paolo Basso
Renaissance Distillery Single Rum Cask 15116 : 93/100
Renaissance Distillery Single Rum Cask 18058 Mizunara: 91/100
Renaissance Distillery Single Rum Cask 14312 heavy dunder: 90/100
2007年榮獲世界最佳侍酒師Andreas Larsson
生於斯德哥爾摩的Andreas Larsson在16歲時進入廚藝學校，在當了幾年主廚後便深深地被葡萄酒的世界所吸引。於是他花了無數的時間四處旅遊並品嘗數千種的葡萄酒。
在得到瑞典、斯堪地那維亞半島及歐洲最佳侍酒師的稱號後，他在2007年時贏得世界最佳侍酒師的殊榮。今日，Larsson在一間位於瑞典Växjö的PM &Vänner餐廳裡掌管超過25000瓶、來自世界上3300不同個地區的葡萄酒。同時也環遊世界並擔任品酒師，講師和顧問。
Andreas Larsson從年輕時就深深相信，唯有盲飲才是真理，不管是葡萄酒或烈酒。這樣才能完全專注在個人的感受，並且不受任何標籤、產地或其他人的評論影響。在他2007年成為世界最佳侍酒師時，也將榮譽歸功於此。直至今日，他所有的品飲記錄也都是以盲飲進行，因此保證是完全客觀及值得信賴。
三款文藝復興蘭姆酒品酒筆記
Cask 14312 heavy dunder
Cask 15116
Cask 18058 Mizunara
Renaissance Single Cask 2014 Cask 14312 Heavy Dunder : 92/100
Medium deep amber colour. Pure nose of caramel, molasses, dried fruit, grilled pineapple and crushed nuts. Intense palate, warm but fairly balanced considering 64 % alcohol, an abundance sweet flavours of dried fig and prune with vanilla and plenty of spice yet a nice dry bite on the finish. Long and lingering aftertaste with plenty of character and personality. 92/100
Renaissance Single Cask 2015 Cask 15116 pur sugarcane juice: 94/100
Light amber colour. Classic aromas of brown sugar, toffee, liquorice, dried fruit and coconut. Balanced palate despite 59 % alcohol, viscous and rounded with sweet and spicy fruit flavours, coconut, toffee, sweet plum and a long and warming finish with five spice flavours. Distinct and personal style. 94/100
Renaissance Single Cask 2018 Cask 18058 Mizunara Alligator : 94/100
Light amber colour. Finely toasted notes, sweet toffee, brown sugar, dates and figs with coconut and cinnamon. Warm and intense with a viscous texture, well-integrated alcohol at 63 %. Fruity and generous flavours paired with caramel and toast derived notes, plenty of five spice flavours lingering on the finish. Long and smooth aftertaste. 94/100
Brand: Renaissance 2018 Limousin Single Cask #18067, 69.1%
Nose: Scarily strong, though you would necessarily guess than from the nose which manages to be fragrant and slightly meaty at the same time. Rum on the savoury edge with a cedary, cypress element. Fleshy fruits then start to emerge along with a za’atar like herbal element, then runny caramel and whiffs of dunder. With water, the meatier side grows alongside vellum, toasted oak and spice.
Palate: Polished both in style and also flavour – wood polish/oak. It needs water so don’t kill your palate by trying to drink it neat. Sophisticated, with the French oak notes taking you towards agricole, then the dunder heads you towards Jamaica. The weight and tamarind like richness is balanced by a light astringency, while at the back there’s a hint of soft smokiness.
Finish: Dunder. Long.
Conclusion: A remarkable rum from a remarkable distillery. All the details on production are on the back label [see pic].
Rating: ★★★★(★)
Brand: Renaissance 2018 Mizunara Alligator Finish, Single Cask #18058, 63.5%
Nose: This is more rounded and on the dried black fruit (prune, hascap) side, cooked peach, coconut, a hint of solvent-like funk, and roasting coffee bean. Generous and rounded. Thick, sweet and layered. With water, there’s tamarind paste, dried apricot, and an amazing espresso quality. I don’t drink coffee. Pour me one of these instead.
Palate: Massive, bittersweet. The tip of the tongue is all scented, spicy, clove. Then comes a mix of ripe black and tropical fruits, with added roasted spices, and toasted coconut. There’s real power, but also elegance. With a little water there’s extra chewiness, dried flowers, molasses/dunder. elegant and rich superb balance just not afraid
Finish: Long and fruited, with a touch of clean acidity. Balanced, complex, and two years old.
Conclusion: Rum in noble rot casks? Why not then finish in mizunara? Why not have direct fire on the pots and use dunder as well? Remember how Kavalan blew people’s minds? Renaissance will do the same for rum.
Renaissance Distillery 2018 4 YO Taiwan Rum (Noble Rot) – Review
This is the fifth and final review in the short series (of six – I have tried one before) where we look at some rums released by the Taiwan based Renaissance Distillery, which were on display in a 2023 TWE Rumshow masterclass dedicated to the company. It should be noted that the company has issued scores of full proof single cask releases already, so at best this scratches the surface.
For all its rather off-putting connotations to those who don’t know the term, noble rot is a controlled fungus infestation of grapes that go on to produce a particularly fine and concentrated sweet wine. Perhaps it is no surprise then, that a wine lover like Olivier Caen, one of the founders of the Taiwan-based Renaissance Distillery, sourced barrels of this kind of wine in which to age some of his rum. I sometimes think it’s his intention to try them every possible kind of cask in existence, but one can’t quibble with the results, because in many cases what comes out the other end is really kind of great.
By now we have come to know a fair bit about the production techniques of the small distillery just by perusing the labels, and this one is no different. The cane is their own, planted by the distillery, sent to a nearby factory to be crushed and turned into molasses which is then fermented with any one of a number of different yeast strains (a French West Indian one in this case, and for just shy of four weeks). There is the double distillation in the Charentais pot still (the second pass is on the lees) and then the distillate is set to age in a first fill noble rot barrel that has been “shaved, toasted and charred”. Four years later and et voilà, we have this rum, bottled to showcase ever percentage point of its 64% strength.
With that kind of potential – local sugar cane molasses, long fermentation, double pot still distillation, first fill charred barrel – one would expect no shortage of aromas and flavours jostling and shoving to get out the gate and strut their stuff, and indeed that’s what we get. The nose, for example, is delectable – it’s crisp, very clear, and reminds me of a dry Riesling, with notes of red grapefruit, grapes and some tart, sharp ripe fruits – apples, cider, red currants and some laid back light florals. There’s a slight creaminess in the background, like yoghurt; and salt butter spread over hot croissants fresh from the oven. Nice.
The strength does the rum no harm and the four years of ageing has tamped down the excess reasonably well. So it doesn’t hurt or display too much sharpness. It tastes slightly creamy, like salt caramel ice cream minus some sugar; a touch salty, and all the crisp fruits remain available to be enjoyed – apples, grapes, pears, apricots, peaches and even some ginnips and lychees. One can perhaps detect traces of coconut shavings and spices like vanilla and cinnamon, even mauby bark, which is nice, but it’s just a bit, here and gone quickly. Finish is long and epic, as is to be expected, clean and clear, quite spicy, mostly fruits and florals and even a touch of honey.
Overall then, not terribly different from others we’ve tasted, but every bit as good as most and better than some. This is a short review because I want to get to the summation of my observations and there’s nothing much more to add to the company bio or this rum you don’t already know. I should, however, close with the note that for me this was one of the best of the six, and I’d buy it if it ever turned up in my market. We don’t get so many unique and tasty rums at this strength from obscure markets as it is, so we need to treasure the ones we find.
飲酒過量有害健康，未滿十八歲禁止飲酒
