276°
Posted 20 hours ago

Mezan Jamaican Barrique XO Rum, 70 cl

£14.995£29.99Clearance
ZTS2023's avatar
Shared by
ZTS2023
Joined in 2023
82
63

About this deal

In the Caribbean, known as much for its idyllic beaches as for its deep-rooted rum traditions, a spectrum of aromas and styles has evolved, unique to each island and each distillery. Mezan's selection, meticulously curated by the cellar master, brings forward this rich diversity, offering rums that represent the purest expression of the Caribbean's rum-making heritage. At least that is what the first sip gives you. It’s worth persisting beyond one glass with this rum. It’s almost as if your palate needs to open up to it. The second glass is so much better. You get more of the notes that were in the nose. Despite being quite high in esters and some “funk” it has a beautiful balance which younger Jamaican rums do not have. It’s similar in many ways to Hampden Gold for example yet it also shares some of the qualities of more aged Appleton Estate rums. The finish is still pretty short but as a Jamaican sipper its not bad at the price. As Managing Director of the self styled “untouched rum” Neil Mathieson has set the bar high in terms of expectation. This rum has been matured in ex-bourbon barrels, aside from the last year where the rum was moved into an PX Sherry cask for the “finish” or secondary maturation. It was distilled in 2007 and bottled in 2019 and is noted as being aged 12 years. It was aged in Europe for 9 of these years. All this information is provided on the bottles rear label. As you can see.

What was the thinking behind bottling at the 40-43% mark when so many Indie bottlers go for cask strength?With the XO and vintage bottlings my preference is to offer people a product that they can drink straight. After thirty years of tasting professionally I personally never drink anything at cask strength so perhaps this has coloured my choice. This is not to say that we will not produce at other strengths but it will depend greatly on the liquid. One other point is that with no ‘enrichment’, the natural flavour is quite prominent, we continue to try to make this one of the major points in our selections.

So I was quite surprised to find that my wife had decided to buy me a bottle of this Mezan Diamond Distillery Guyana 2007 PX Cask Finish. To be honest she’s really been pulling out some great stuff over the past couple of years. The type of rums I consider buying but opt for something slightly different. Then wish I had bought them a few weeks later, when they sell out! The Jamaican rums in this blend come from at least two very well respected distilleries. Monymusk and Hampden Estate. Both companies do well in the domestic market but their reach outside of Jamaica is mainly through bulk rum sales to be used in blends. Both currently have rums available in the UK. Hampden Gold and Rum Fire from Hampden Estate and Monymusk have a Gold Rum on offer. Neither can match the reach or popularity of Appleton Estate. Jamaican rum is produced in such a traditional and well-regulated manner, not too mention the wonderful tropical climate that these producers would have to be doing something truly awful to be producing a bad rum. Well, I think I’ve given all the information I have on this particular bottling and I’m getting a bit thirsty. So lets see how this went down……… First up as you can see from the photo above this Mezan is a lot clearer in the glass than the bottle. It is almost straw like in colour and once again Mezan assure us on the label that it has not been coloured or sweetened in anyway. Apart from wishing to put out unadultered rum what were the main visions for Mezan as a company when you first started out? Over the years has anything changed?I cannot remember the last Mezan rum I reviewed. I’ve reviewed 6 so far. 2 actually from Guyana. In terms of my experience with Mezan Rum, it has been mixed. I really enjoyed their Panama expressions and the continuous release the Mezan Jamaica XO. Others bottlings not so keen.

Asda Great Deal

Free UK shipping. 15 day free returns.
Community Updates
*So you can easily identify outgoing links on our site, we've marked them with an "*" symbol. Links on our site are monetised, but this never affects which deals get posted. Find more info in our FAQs and About Us page.
New Comment