Background
Half a decade ago in 2018, Habitation Velier released an unaged bottling of Long Pond’s STC♥E marque. This rum was pot distilled from molasses presumably just a few months before a disastrous fire at Long Pond Distillery on July 16, 2018. It has an ester count of 674 gr/hl AA and was bottled at 62.5%.
Tasting
On the nose, I get lemon peel, wood glue, pool water, fennel, sweet tarts, and crushed up rocks. It’s not as fruity as I might have expected, more green and glue forward.
The palate takes a hard left turn with pineapple, passionfruit, flowers, freeze dried strawberries, powdered lemonade, vanilla frosting, black licorice, bubblegum, banana Laffy Taffy, and just a touch of that wood glue from the nose. This is one of the few sprits I’ve tried where the nose and the palate are appreciably different from each other, but both work well in their own ways.
Verdict
I continue to be won over by these mid ester rums. Seldom do I get to taste what is approximately the same spirit in aged and unaged form, and even more seldom are both versions this good. In fact, I wouldn’t even say that the aged version is an improvement over the unaged, just a transformation. This bottling has sadly run its course, but with all the unaged Long Ponds being put out by IBs, it wouldn’t surprise me if we see another unaged STC♥E soon. Fingers crossed! (8/10)