Old Ceremony – Chairman’s Reserve Vintage

I already reviewed some Chairman’s Reserve Rums on the blog. Therefore, I was quite happy to get the chance to review the vintage version, too. Additionally, the rum seemed perfect for a banana laced Old-Fashioned variation.

Chairman’s Reserve from Saint Lucia uses molasses from the Dominican Republic since the last sugar mill on St. Lucia closed a long time ago. The yeast for the aged rums comes from a strain found on the small sugarcane field next to the distillery. All in all, fermentation takes 36 hours in eight open concrete fermentation tanks. For the vintage edition three different type of stills are used: The pot stills John Dore 2 and Vendôme as well as Saint Lucia Distillers’s Coffey Still. The master blender Deny Duplessis ages the rum for eleven years in separate ex-bourbon casks. In the end, the rums are blended and spent a few more months in a barrel before being bottled at 46 % ABV.

Complex molasses based rum notes

The Chairman’s Reserve Vintage Rum starts with typical molasses based rum notes. However, it is more complex as your average aged rum. For me the spices in the taste showcase this complexity best. You can find a lot of cloves and nutmeg, but also some red fruit notes and even hints of walnuts.

A banana Old-Fashioned

I got the idea to make a banana oleo saccharum from fellow Drinkstagrammer Hungry Thirsty Bored. However, it took me ages to find the time to write about it. As mentioned above, the Chairman’s Reserve Vintage seemed just perfect for a drink using it. To further enhance the banana notes, I also added some banana liqueur. Round that off with some homemade black tea and some chocolate bitters and you have your slightly enhanced Old-Fashioned.

*Make a bittering agent using Swedish herbs and unaged spirit – brew a really strong black tea – infuse Christmas spices in rum – mix bittering agent, tea and spice infusion to your liking

**Source fresh, organic bananas (no mould at the tip) – using a peeler remove the skin of the banana – vacuum-pack with 75 g of cane sugar – use when sugar is liquified

Besides the familiar Rum Old-Fashioned note of spirit and bitters, you will find a clear banana note in the “Old Ceremony”. However, it has a very natural quality to it and does not overwhelm the drink. Furthermore, the banana oleo saccharum gives the drink a very nice mouthfeel. In the end, the bitters bring the finishing touches to the mix and round off the drinking experience.

*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. The rum was provided by Ferrand Spirits Germany.