1998 Compagnie des Indes Trinidad (Caroni) 22 Year Old Cask Strength Rum (700ml)

Carribbean rum doesn't come much rarer or more collectable than Caroni. Various companies have secured casks over the years and the last remaining stocks are slowly being released. This very old expression from French bottler, 'Compagnie des Indes' is a single barrel that yielded 287 bottles at natural strength. 57.5% Alc./Vol. Non chill filtered.

The Caroni Estate Distillery (est. 1918), closed in 2003 and is now sadly, demolished. It was built on the site of an old sugar factory and for a period supplied rums to the British Navy. At the time, there were some eight to ten other sugar factories operating, each producing different types (and qualities) of rums, bought up by merchants and sold to rum shops all over the island. Caroni gradually increased the quality of its distilling process, moving on from its original cast iron still to a wooden coffey still, until 1945 when they acquired a copper still which was followed by a single column in 1957 and then a four column Gerb Herman still in 1980. Rums from the estate gained a reputation for being particularly flavoursome.