Some bottles are finished when the calendar says so. Others get to wait. Foursquare 2013 is one that waited — ten years longer than anyone expected, in the Barbados heat, where more than half of what went into the cask has long since evaporated up through the wood and out into the tropical air.
Expert's Description
Foursquare 2013 12 Year is a Barbados Pure Single Rum, distilled 100% in a pot still and bottled at 60%. The story starts in 2015, when Habitation Velier and Foursquare's distiller Richard Seale released the very first Foursquare Pure Single Rum onto the market — just two years old at the time. This bottle is the same project, ten tropical years later. Instead of dumping the casks in 2015, they were left to keep resting, and the result is a rum that has lost more than 60% of its volume to the angels along the way. It is a radically different story from the young 2015 release — more wood, more time, more concentration.
The rum was distilled on Foursquare's double retort pot still, built by Green Engineering and Forsyths, and has spent its entire life in 370-litre ex-cognac casks in Barbados' tropical climate. That is the same philosophy that makes Habitation Velier one of the most respected names in rum: no sugar, no colouring, no dilution. Just time, wood, and an island climate that works faster than any European warehouse ever could.
Tasting Notes
Nose
The aroma is complex and a little wild at the edges — ripe tropical fruit mingles with spice and a touch of something medicinal, almost camphor-like. Underneath sits a deep, woody scent from the cognac casks, along with a faint lactic freshness that keeps the whole thing from turning heavy.
Palate
On the palate it is intense and spicy, with traces of flowers and a warm, woody core. The cognac casks have given it a slightly tart edge that plays against the fruit.
Finish
Long and woody, where the medicinal and spicy notes linger, and that same lactic freshness reappears right at the very end.
Specifications
Name: Foursquare 2013 12 Year
Distillery: Foursquare Distillery
Bottler: Habitation Velier
Region/Country: Barbados
Type: Barbados Pure Single Rum
Age: 12 Years
ABV: 60%
Size: 70 CL
Cask Type: Ex-Cognac Casks (370 Litre)
Natural Colour: Yes
Distillation Method: 100% Pot Still
Distilled: 2013
Bottled: 2026
EAN No.: 3700597368749
Distillery: Foursquare Distillery
Bottler: Habitation Velier
Flavour Profile
Fruity · Spicy · Floral · Medicinal · Woody
Investment Potential
High. The casks behind this bottle are the same ones behind the legendary first Foursquare Pure Single Rum from 2015 — now ten years older, with a loss of over 60% to the angels. It is a historic restart of one of rum's most talked-about collaborations, and the quantity is inevitably small.
Did You Know?
The term Pure Single Rum is not an official classification at all. It was coined by Luca Gargano of Velier together with Richard Seale, specifically to describe rums like this one: distilled on a single pot still, at a single distillery, with nothing added.
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