Holmes Cay Foursquare Distillery 11yo...

Holmes Cay Foursquare Distillery 11yo (56.0%): Last day of my vacation... It is a beautiful Sunday here in Playa Del Rey and I am about to taste another rum. The sample on my desk will be the 4th rum and 3rd Holmes Cay single cask in a row on the blog and this time it is a Foursquare...  It is a blend of column and pot still distilled rums aged first in Barbados for eight years and then in UK for 2 years in ex-Bourbon barrels before being transferred into two ex-Port casks for an additional year of finishing. Finally when bottled at cask strength in 2020 those two casks yielded 522 bottles in total. My sample is from the cask number 10.

Color: Light amber, polished copper color with a peachy hue and a ring of sizable teardrops morphing into thick and slow legs.

Nose: A little mute in the beginning... After letting it air for a couple minutes: Cranberry sauce, old metal lunch boxes and raspberry iced tea. Black cherry soda and rose petals. Adding a few drops water: Snapple fruit punch, sour cherry juice and fruit flavored room fresheners.

Palate: Artificial cherry flavoring like cherry flavored cough drops or cherry flavored chewing gums. Not a fan as now... That metallic note I got on the nose is also present on the palate: Empty Sigg bottles, copper pennies and cherry syrup. Adding water makes it easier to drink for sure but doesn't help necessarily to improve the palate. More artificial cherry extract and Hershey's strawberry syrup.

Finish: Medium with strawberry jam and sweet cranberry juice.

Overall: Unfortunately this one didn't quite work for me... Those metallic, jammy and syrupy notes shut me off right in the beginning and I really couldn't find my way back in. Luckily I have three more Holmes Cay samples waiting and I'll try to taste them within this week and post my notes. Thanks again to Southern California Whiskey Club and to Michael Ries for the sample.

Price: $120

81/100