Ten small bottles, ten different postcodes. Martinique, Peru, South Africa, Scotland, and a few places most rum drinkers have never poured from. The Rum Box Yellow Edition is the kind of box that lives in the cupboard all winter, with one bottle opened whenever the mood strikes.
Expert's Description
The Rum Box Yellow Edition Miniature Gift Set is a Rum and Spirit Drink Gift Set from the Danish spirits house 1423, holding 10 miniature bottles of 5 cl from 10 different countries, bottled together at 41%.
The box covers a lot of stylistic ground. Saint James VO from Martinique is made from fresh sugarcane juice in the French agricole tradition, and it tastes nothing like the molasses-based rums around it. Ron Cartavio Solera 12 year old comes from Peru, Mocambo Ron Añejo 20 year old from Mexico and Caracas Club Salvaje from Venezuela. Further east you'll find Marama Origins from the Philippines and Naga Anggur from Indonesia. Whistler Ltd. comes from South Africa, and Constellation Alfa from Spain. Ninefold Dormont Spiced is made in Scotland, and the tenth bottle is Arcane Delicatissime.
The Spirit Drink label on the box isn't a mistake. Under EU rules, a rum can't have spices or flavourings added and still be called rum. That puts a spiced bottle like Ninefold Dormont Spiced in the Spirit Drink category, and so the whole box has to be labelled that way.
The box comes from 1423 in Odense. They don't distil themselves; they buy and pick spirits from producers around the world. It's the same approach as in their advent calendars, just in a smaller, more flexible format with 5 cl in every bottle. That leaves enough to taste each one twice, or to share with a friend.
Tasting Notes
Nose
Every bottle smells different. Saint James VO has the grassy, fresh-cut cane aroma that marks out agricole rum. The older Spanish-style rums like Mocambo and Cartavio lean towards caramel, vanilla and dried fruit, while Ninefold Dormont Spiced is clearly spice-driven from the first sniff.
Palate
Sweetness runs through most of the ten, though never in the same way. It's soft and rounded in the solera-aged rums, drier and woodier in the older ones. The spiced Scottish bottle stands apart from the rest.
Finish
It varies a lot. Short and fresh after the agricole, longer and warmer where cask and age have had time to do their work.
Specifications
Name: The Rum Box Yellow Edition Miniature Gift Set Spirit Drink 10x5 cl 41%
Bottler: 1423
Region/Country: Denmark
Type: Rum and Spirit Drink Gift Set
ABV: 41%
Size: 50 CL (10 x 5 cl)
Edition: Yellow Edition
EAN No.: 5712718010916
Serving suggestion: Best enjoyed neat at room temperature in a tulip-shaped glass, ideally two or three side by side so the differences stand out.
Flavour Profile
Versatile · Sweet · Spiced · Fruity · Oak-driven
Did You Know?
The Whistler in this box has nothing to do with the Irish whiskey of the same name. It's a rum distillery in South Africa, a country whose rum you rarely come across on European shelves.
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