Background
For the final entry in my RomDeluxe White Rum School review trio, I’m tasting no. 2 in the series, NYE-WM. This is New Yarmouth’s second highest ester mark, which boasts a mind-bending ester count of 1300-1400 gr/hL AA. Like the rest of the rums in this series, it is unaged and bottled at 65%.
Tasting
On the nose, I get minerality and pickled fruits and vegetables. There’s lime peel, banana, mustard seed, fennel, and radish here, and they’re all swimming in a jar of pickle brine and pool water. The high-ester hallmarks of glue and acetone are present, but they aren’t quite as pungent as other rums I’ve tried in a similar ester range.
On the first sip, the palate offers more fresh fruit than the nose led on. The banana and lime peel return, newly accompanied by sweet and tart apple. Continued sipping then brings me back to the pickled vegetable and mineral notes which dominate the nose. The mouth feel is very creamy, a quality I associate with Wray & Nephew Overproof, another product from New Yarmouth.
Verdict
Really impressed with this. The WM is sour, fruity, and all the things high ester Jamaican rum should be. It isn’t quite as wild and unrestrained as the TECA, despite the fact that it has a higher ester count (on paper, that is). In terms of pure deliciousness, I’d say this about on par with the TECA, perhaps a hair behind. They’re both worth seeking out. (7/10)