PLANTATION RUM GRANDE RÉSERVE TASTING NOTES
In the first part, we explored the flight path from Barbados to France. Today, we finally pop the cork. Just press the play button and you will hear it. The wonderful pop sound. Sound that will start our flight from Barbados over the ocean to France. But first you have to peel and the off the plastic aluminum seal. Now you can pull up the cork.
Can you feel the smell?
I don’t know about you but on the first I felt ocean breeze when I opened the bottle and poured into a glass.
Is it comes from the Barbados?
Definitely!
Since this rum has a French roots, I decided to pour it in my father’s crystal Cognac/ Armagnac balloon glass, what gives also a very special feeling to this tasting.
NOSE: Tropical Barbados Greetings
Salty sea breeze with some leather. Interesting for this color of rum. But also very fruity, some candied fruit and orange peel at the beginning, but as the glass stays a little bit on the air I find near leather and orange also some vanilla and banana notes.
PALATE: The French ‘Dosage’
Mm mm… sweet caramel molasses in combination with light woods aromas and candied fruit. Perfect!
Plantation Grande Réserve belongs to the “entry” rums but still it offers combinations of two worlds. Tropical notes from Barbados like pineapple in combination with “French” wood and leather notes from Cognac region making it a very sipping rum that surprises our palate. This first-class smoothness is partly due to the ‘dosage’—a traditional French technique where a small amount of sugar (around 16g/L) is added to harmonize the flavors. It’s the extra padding in your first-class seat.
FINISH: A First-Class Smoothness
A smooth landing. The finish is clean with a lingering touch of milk chocolate and charred oak from its time in France. Long after the glass is empty you can feel the presence of it. Light and sweet fruity notes of orange and coconut. For this price range a quite big surprise.
Tasting Plantation Grande Réserve Rum on the Rocks: Is Ice a Problem?
Now, as we always do, we will try our flight on the lower temperatures. How sweet aromas from Plantation interacts with ice.
NOSE
On the nose there is a lack of aroma when we compare it with the neat version, but still it offers some fresh fruit notes and somewhere there is smokiness in the glass.
PALATE
Unlike the lack of aromas on the nose, the flavors on the palate are persistent, and they reveal some hidden flavors like pepper at the end. Quite unexpected and it still keeps his “sipping“ adjective, even the dilution after some time dilutes also the flavors, so maybe after 10 minutes on ice it loses most of its aromas and notes.
FINISH
Same like in the neat version. Sweet, fruity and coconut, but with some spicy ending. Something between black pepper and chilly.
And for the end…
What should say at the end?
Big, big surprise in the both ways. I wasn’t expecting anything special when I decided to start with Plantation Grande Réserve. Actually I start year with it because I didn’t have any experience till now with Plantation rums, so I choose this one just to have a start before I start with “expensive” Pantation review. But for now I can say this was a very good and very quality start for Plantation rum and for this year.
Next Sunday we will go off from our course and we will make a short stop in Honduras.
CHEERS!
