Second day of advent calendar is day of skunk, more precisely Hooded Skunk Rum. Not very old brand Skunk Rum comes from Denmark, the same as this calendar. But there is connection, while calendar is made by 1423 company and Joshua Singh, this rum is made by his brother Bintu Singh and his company A Clean Spirit. Aim of this company as addition to making rum is ecology and suistanable production of everything from resources to packaging. This company now has three rum brands – Ron Sostenible, Terra Verde and SKUNK.
Skunk brand is inspired by Jamaica and their high ester style of rums. Base of this brand is called just Skunk Rum, experimental rum with different fermentation and destilation in each batch. Then there are two other white Skunks, with finished recipe – Striped Skunk and Spotted Skunk. Fourth into Skunk family is Hooded Skunk, first aged expression. Hooded Skund will also have different batches, each time using different Skunk for aging. At first, all of Skunk rums were distilled in Denmark from paraguyan organis molasses. First and second batch of Hooded Skunk were fermented for 2 and half week and aged after distillation for 3 months in heavy toasted virgin american white oak casks. Those have voltage of 61,2 a 61,5 %, I have here bottle of batch 1 61,2% Skunk.
This small sample is different from it, it is Batch PY-02 with 58 %. This batch is no longer distilled in Denmark, but directly in Paraguay. There is was also aged in the same kind of casks as first batches, in virgin white oak cask. It will be interesting to look at differences between those two batches with different country of distillation. And probably also with different climate for aging.
Smell of this rum starts with caramel and fruits, there is also big bunch of vanilla. It is followed by other soft and sweet spices, simple caramel changes to caramel candies. Fruits start little with banana, which si immidiately pushed away by powerful pineapple. There is hint of juiciness, its like pineapple juice. Nose of this rum is full and kind of strong, the first batch was even stronger. It also was more caramely and citrusy. This paraguayan batch is on the other hand more fruity and delicate.
Taste is really full, with lots of tropical fruit, again mostly pineapple. But there are also some gentle oranges. Rum here is sweet and juicy, quite strong but also stays soft. After some time, I got warmy spices and also pineapple is starting to be litle spicy. On the other side, in background there is little bit of citrusses, reminding me of lemony lemonade. Danish batch was a lot more citrusy, with grepfruits, also it was more spicy. Batch from Paraguay is softer and sweeter, more fruity.
Finish is started by caramel candies, or maybe by chocolate candies with caramel filling. Vanilla tones are back, with some more of sweet spices. New here is sweety woodiness. Finish is warm and juicy, fresh. After the chocolate I got sweet prickliness, its spiky pineapple. And little bit of dark chocolate. Danish batch has stronger finish, more citrusy and straightforward. This batch is more flavorful, more attractive.
Well, I really like this rum, its awesome. It is softer and sweeter than Batch 1, it has more of the tropical fruits and less of citruses. Its very pineapple strong. In the end is more drinkable, more easier to enjoy and probably even more “jamaican”. It is my opinion, that this version will be more popular with people and could be the ideal way to entering Skunk Rum world.
