Monymusk 9YO 2012-2022 Rest & Be Thankful
Origin: Jamaica/Scotland (Rest & Be Thankful Rum Company) / 46% / Price: 60€
Jamaican rum is special because the Caribbean island has formed its own style of rum and has been at the forefront of the spirit category for centuries. Among the rum names that have made the country more famous is Monymusk. The interesting thing is that it tends to be picked up by independent bottlers like Rest & Be here, rather than with its own "original bottlings".
The Small Batch #1 here (09/21/2012 - 03/02/2022) is a batch of 24 Jamaican rum barrels from Monymusk (Clarendon) Distillery, limited to 6076 bottles worldwide. The rum was pot still distilled from sugar cane molasses and then aged in American oak barrels for over 9 years. The spirit received from the Clarendon Distillery the light marque MDR regarding the amount of ester in it.
Overall I really like the bottling, it’s not your completely typical Jamaican Rum with only crazy ester fruits notes, so if you’re only looking for that maybe you will be a little bit disappointed. This one really nicely balances the fruitier notes with light, green notes on the other side, ginger, lemongrass, something I really appreciate. This also means that it would be definitely wasted with its finer nuances on e.g. a Mai Tai, but a spirit focused Daiquiri, Ti Punch style drink or Rum OF could be really nice here, if you want to do more than just appreciate it neat.
Nose:
If you let him sit a bit in the nosing glass directly from the freshly opened bottle, the typical ester notes Jamaica is famous for are wonderfully present but also framed elegantly and not as aggressive as with other representatives of the category, great mango, guava and some passion fruit, pineapple rather dried, plus fresh lemongrass, ginger juice, light honey and tropical aromatic woods, later also almonds and subtle aniseed
Taste:
Lemongrass, ginger juice, vanilla, pineapple chips, mango chips, guava, subtle lime acid, tropical honey, anise, pistachio, camphor
Finish:
Camphor, pineapple chips, papaya, ginger, medium to long, raisins, toasted oak
The bottle was supplied by KIRSCH IMPORT, thanks!
