Mezan Trinidad 2003 Vintage Rum 46%

Description

Mezan Trinidad 2003 Vintage Rum is part of the Mezan range of single distillery bottlings of rum. It is distilled by Trinidad Distillers Limited (TDL).

The idea behind the Mezan range of rums is to bring to the consumer the story of the diversity of rum amongst the Caribbean Islands – styles and methods of production, and therefore rums produced, vary widely. Mezan rums are also bottled as natural as possible. After the casks have been selected they are not chill-filtered, nor is there any colour, sugar or other flavourings added. It is marketed as “The Untouched Rum”.

Originally there were more than 50 rums producers in Trinidad, by 1950 that number had reduced to eight and today (after the closure of Caroni in 2003) there is only one Trinidad Distillers Limited, a wholly-owned company of Angostura Holdings (who also own Angostura Bitters). TDL was established in 1875 and is located in Port Of Spain. The distillery is a state of the art with seven column stills. TDL exclusively use sugarcane molasses as the source for their fermentation and cultivate their own yeast strain which adds a distinctive flavor note to the Rums.

The most recent bottlings of Mezan rum now provide much more information about the rum in the bottle, which is very good news. Mezan Trinidad 2003 Vintage Rum is a molasses based rum. The molasses is fermented for 48 hours using a daily propagated own recipe yeast which is then fermented in TDL’s stainless steel column stills.  The rum is then aged in ex American Bourbon barrels for 3 years of tropical ageing followed by 13 years ageing in Europe. The decision to use old Bourbon barrels is so that they do not exert too much influence over the final rum, thereby preserving the special identity and character of the rum. Likewise after the hot tropical ageing, the European ageing is gentler and cooler causing less oxidation and prevents an excessive concentration of esters.

Distilled in 2003, bottled at 16 years old in 2019 at 46% ABV.