I guess the ‘expensive rum bug’ has bitten me too. After Michiel Wigman’s Precious Moments, which I still need to review, there’s this oldie. From an undisclosed distillery on/in Jamaica, to the Wu Dram Clan.

On their Facebook page there’s a list of sellers who had this bottle available and before it properly hit the shelves there, most of the listed shops had a ‘SOLD OUT’ after their name. I guess I won’t make myself a liar if I say Wu Dram Clan is popular. Passie voor Whisky was on that list, of course.

For bottle-sharing purposes I got myself a bottle too, so I could at least get a proper taste of it, without having to shell out for the full monty. At least, that is how it turned out. I pre-ordered the bottle before I knew whether or not there would be any takers. These releases are a now-or-never type of thing, after all.

Let’s dive in!

Sniff:
Quite estery, with a lot of oak on the nose. Some slight funkiness is present too, with hints of hessian and a ‘burnt sugar’ style of caramel. It’s quite intense with a lot of different scents. Some green banana, star fruit, dragon fruit. Sugarcane, grass, green bamboo, even.

Sip:
The palate is much more dry than I expected, with even a minty note behind all the chili heat. Even though it’s ‘only’ 50% it brings quite the punch. Different styles of wood, with oak and bamboo. A bit less fruity than on the nose, maybe. It has some sweetness, but it’s not a typically sweet rum. It’s too dry and too estery for that. Still some green banana and star fruit.

Swallow:
The finish brings a little bit more sweetness, and moves on from the very dry palate. It’s back to the estery stuff, but suddenly the long time in oak brings a touch of vanilla. That vanilla, combined with the estery flavors, brings some creamy pastry cream. A bit of banana split, without ever being overly sweet.

This is gorgeous. It’s miraculously not-sweet and the surprising dryness on the palate is something I really enjoy. The slight funky notes on the nose, with the wood on the palate and the overall fruitiness is absolutely great.

In short, I’m sorry for everyone who missed out. This is quite the bottle.

91/100

Wu Dram is forever!