Foursquare Dominus

Historic Barbados Foursquare Rum Distillery has released three rums to the United States market during 2018. We reviewed Premise earlier this year and now I present to you the seventh expression in the Exceptional Cask Series: Dominus. This rum is created from fermented molasses using a pot still and a traditional twin column still. The rum was then aged for three years in used Bourbon barrels and then transferred to ex-Cognac casks and aged for an additional 7 years. The rum was then blended to 56% abv and bottled for distribution.

  
Appearance
In the bottle and glass the rum holds a chestnut color with subtle ruby highlights. Agitating the liquid creates a medium band that slowly forms legs and beads up on the glass. The label on the bottle provides the basic details of the rum sharing the definition of Dominus to be “Master of the House”.

Nose
The aroma of the rum delivers a lovely bouquet of fragrant vanilla bean, muscadine grape, caramel, mocha, banana flambé, and dried apricots.

Palate
The initial sip is a swirl of tropical fruits and spices held together by caramelized vanilla. Additional sips have the vanilla, spices and lightly charred oak notes form the foundation as the fruit notes form the mid and high notes. The fruit notes manifest in the form of cooked bananas, plums, dried apricot, and raisins with just a hint of dried orange peel and lemon zest for good measure, while spice notes of cinnamon, allspice and cacao drift in and out of the profile. As the rum begins to fade, the oak notes along with a brandyesque flavor linger in a long finish.

Review
As the finish of the rum is still lingering on my palate I found that I enjoyed the complexity of the flavor profile. For me this rum is clearly a sipper though I am sure I know a few bartenders who could work some real magic with it in a cocktail. For me, Foursquare rums have evolved to the point where they are in a class of their own compared to other rums from the island of Barbados, if not the rum world.

It will be interesting to see how the other companies in Barbados and beyond rise up and compete with Richard Seale’s creations. Such competition is great for us, the rum consumers; because at the end of the day competition stimulates creativity and helps elevate the entire rum category. When I started my rum journey Foursquare produced a small line of rums and now has the expansive Doorly’s line, R.L. Seale, Foursquare Spiced, Old Brigand, and Exceptional Casks Series that covers the entire spectrum for folks who enjoy their products. All I can say is I am very curious to experience their next creation. Cheers!

---