Clément 1976 Très Vieux Rhum Agricole 44% vs Rhum Vieux du Pere Labat 1997 42%
Clément 1976 Très Vieux Rhum Agricole 44%
A deep and burnished rhum that is, though I hate to use the word, totally smooth without any of the salty or phenolic elements young agricole sometimes has. So, miles of polished oak, bags of aniseed and cinnamon, ginger cake and treacle. Maple syrup on pancakes, and a sublimated fibrous cane that was once something fresh but now closer to confectionery. All made interesting with hints of roots and fresh earth. Good rhum but it’s a tad simple and somewhat boring. 84 pts.
Rhum Vieux du Pere Labat 1997 42%
Miles apart. This is thick with cooking oil, kaolin and hay (no farmyard). Cleanly earthy and lightly phenolic. Roasting walnuts, synthetic rubber and paraffin. Very interesting and without a trace of those raw pressed fibrous cane notes. More on the palate where it’s coating and unctuous. Industrial lubricant-like oiliness. 86 pts.
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