Today is a very, very exciting day here, we just got in 8 super exciting new single releases!

 

Blackadder

Let's start with the Blackadder Raw Cask releases. Those of you familiar with Blackadder from the world of Scotch may be familiar with their M.O., but for those who aren't, Blackadder is five things: single cask, cask strength, not chill filtered, no added color and no added sugar. Raw cask means they aren't even doing macro filtration to remove the flakes of cask char that fall off of the barrel and into the spirit. Unadulterated.

Blackadder Dominican 10 year... $199.99/700ml bottle

• 60.1% abv, unnamed distillery 
• 6 of 268 bottles available

**And please note, this is product is from Dominica, NOT the Dominican Republic. Two different countries!

Blackadder Australian 13 year...$199.99/700ml 

• 65.5% abv, Beenleigh Distillery 
• 6 of 278 bottles available

Renegade

A brand new producer just hit, focused entirely on terroir-driven agricole rums from Grenada. I encourage you to read their whole story on their website, but in an effort to be somewhat concise, I'll give you the bullet points:

Mark Reynier of Bruichladdich and Waterford Irish turns his attention to rum. Always cane juice, no molasses. Batches highlighting single varietals of sugarcane. Pot still for intensity and integrity of flavor. Terroir is emphasized, so even the same type of cane from different plots on the island will be made into different batches and clearly labeled. Traceability is central, so each bottle has a code you can enter on the website to see all the technical details on the batch, cane type, land on which it was grown. These four rums we have from them today are all their white rums, which they call pre-cask.

I know I promised concision, but here I go...

As an idea of the sort of information you can get with their traceability codes, I can see the date the cane was planted, the date of harvest, the exact length of fermentation (3 days in the case of the Lower Crater Lake South bottling), and a map of where on the plot Lower Crater Lake South is compared to the other terroir plots. Too much more to mention. If you want to nerd out, these are your people and your rums.

Renegade Hope [Boulders]...$59.99/700ml

On the island’s south-eastern flank, sheltered from the Atlantic Trade Winds by a narrow mangrove belt, stands this distinctive terroir. Bright, iron-red clay & pyroclastic boulders & rich, alluvial soil & its cool, high water table ensures a humid microclimate with lush cane in the driest season. For this rum we harvested the oldest of our varieties, Cain, from Mamo Field, which stands on the terroir known as Boulders.

6 bottles available

Renegade Lake Antoine [Lower Crater Lake South]...$59.99/700ml

At Lake Antoine, intriguing terroirs wrap around the steep, seaward-facing slopes of a volcanic crater lake, where cane grows on granular Woburn clay loam – sparse & dry at the summit, deep & rich at the foot – fully exposed to the desiccating salt-laden Atlantic trade Winds. For this rum we harvested the sucrose-rich variety we call Purple Tallboy from Ball Pasture Field, which stands on the terroir known as Lower Crater Lake South.

6 bottles available

Renegade Lake Antoine [Upper Crater Lake South]...$59.99/700ml

At Lake Antoine, intriguing terroirs wrap around the steep, seaward-facing slopes of a volcanic crater lake, where cane grows on granular Woburn clay loam – sparse & dry at the summit, deep & rich at the foot – fully exposed to the desiccating salt-laden Atlantic trade Winds. For this rum we harvested the sucrose-rich variety we call Purple Tallboy from More Field, which stands on the terroir known as Upper Crater Lake South.

6 bottles available

Renegade Nursery [Upper La Calome]...$59.99/700ml

The genesis of our pioneering project to propagate entirely clean & healthy heritage cane varieties began at our nursery farm. Nestled in La Calome Valley, with its almost terraced valley floor, it is made up of Hartman & Woburn clay loam soils & a profusion of volcanic boulders. For this rum we harvested the sucrose-rich variety we call Yellow Lady from big pumps field, which stands on the terroir known as Upper La Calome.

6 bottles available

Rest & Be Thankful

From another new brand, this one an independent bottler, I have two very exciting offerings from the Jamaican Monymusk estate [Clarendon distillery]. You may know that our previous Monymusk cask from Blackadder was one of my personal favorite rums ever, so I'm almost drooling over here. One single cask, one small vatted batch. They don't explicitly say no added sugar, but "Our small batch and single cask bottlings are always free of additives and colourings and are un-chill filtered to deliver the true identity of the matured spirit." leads me to believe that to be the case. Starting with the single cask, it was distilled and casked in 2000 and bottled in early 2022, so more than 21 years old. Split maturation, some tropical in Jamaica and some continental in Scotland. 456.6gr/hlAA of volatile substances, 80.9gr/hlAA of esters specifically. It's an MBK marque (light pot still, avg 70-80 esters) and bottled at cask strength.
The vatted is 24 casks, filled in late 2012 and blended and bottled in early 2022, clocking in a little over 9 years in barrel. Split maturation again, continental and tropical. They don't list the ester and volatiles content on this one, but the marque is MDR, which is another light pot still marque, but one with a standard ester content between 145-150gr/hlAA esters, so expect it to be significantly funkier/punchier in that regard.

Rest & Be Thankful Monymusk 2000 Single Cask...$269.99/700ml 

• 61.7% abv
• 6 of 164 bottles available

Rest & Be Thankful Monymusk 2012...$79.99/700ml

• Batch #01 
• 46% abv
• 6 of 6076 bottles available