Yet another rum from The Duchess, which is a series from Best of Wines in Bussum, The Netherlands. They’ve been bottling some whisky, but lately it is mostly rum that’s coming from their stables.

In this case there are two new releases of which I am now reviewing the first one. The second is pending drinking and will be written about shortly. For these two releases they are using a new label, after the flowers they’re now releasing a series of hummingbirds. I know there’s more coming out shortly of which I had a wee sip at the Hielander Whisky Festival last February.

Anyway, Foursquare. It still reminds me of some app that was popular a decade ago for tagging locations (if I’m not mistaken). I never used it but for a year or so it was a thing on Twitter.

Anyway, an 18 year old, which is nice in itself. From a bourbon barrel, which I also like. At cask strength, but not too ridiculously strong. All good there. Let’s see what this brings us.

Sniff:
Heavy, and sugary rum. Fairly straight forward on the nose. A bit of leather, copper polish, custard and baked cheesecake. There’s a fruitiness as well, blueberries.

Sip:
The palate is pretty sharp, but not overly so. Sweetness, oak, blueberry cheesecake, but also some feinty notes like copper polish, and leather.

Swallow:
The finish is more ‘generic’ I think. More sugary sweetness, some vanilla and oak. The palate is nicely continued.

Generic might sound negative, but in this case it’s just to indicate that it’s more typically rum-like, with more focus on the sugary / syrupy parts, and slightly less so on, in this case, the blueberry cheesecake.

Talking about that blueberry cheesecake. I keep getting it, initially I though I was going crazy. However, according to myself, I am not. And I love it. It’s a very unique thing that I’ve not gotten before.

88/100

Foursquare 18, 2001-2019, Bourbon Barrel #18, 56.9%, The Duchess. Available for € 99 at Best of Wines

Sample kindly provided by Best of Wines! Much obliged!