Mount Gay Rum goes vertical with the launch of its newly minted Single Estate Series.
Created by Master Blender Trudiann Branker at the Mount Gay distillery in St Lucy, Barbados, this terroir-driven rum was distilled with molasses produced from cane grown at its Mount Gay Estate, a 324-acre farm purchased in 2015. But rum hunters, be warned: this release is extremely limited, with only 1,200 bottles available worldwide. If you can score a bottle, the MSRP is $400 for A 700 ml.
“This release has been a huge adventure for the whole team. We learned to farm and mill sugar cane. We created Barbadian molasses that, for the first time, was not a byproduct of making sugar; it was the product focus. The Single Estate Series rum speaks to this quality of molasses and of Barbados rum making.”
— Trudiann Branker, Mount Gay Master Blender
What’s In The Bottle?
The Single Estate Series 23_01 combines rums distilled from the 2016 and 2017 sugar cane harvests at the Mount Gay Estate. From there, Molasses is cooked in a copper pot still, and distillate is matured in ex-bourbon casks before being blended by Branker and bottled non-chill filtered at 110 proof.
How Does It Taste?
Company tasting notes promise “a truly complex blend, it has light golden hues, and the nose is full of pear, plum, fresh cut flowers, dried fruits, nutmeg, and lemon. The palate brings pineapple, sea salt, leather, ripe yellow banana, and star anise. This rum opens up over time, offering complexity and layers of flavor.”
John McCarthy is a spirit, travel, and lifestyle journalist, managing editor, and author of The Modern Gentleman and Whiskey Rebels: The Dreamers, Visionaries & Badasses Who Are Revolutionizing American Whiskey. McCarthy is also editor of Barleycorn Drinks and Director of Judging of the John Barleycorn Awards.
