I already made some reviews of Chairman’s Reserve rums. Last years calendar contained their Legacy blended rum, not so far ago I finished full review on The Forgotten Casks. By this day, thanks to this year calendar, I will complete the basic trio of this brand thanks to this Chairman’s Reserve Original rum.
This rum brand comes from island of Saint Lucia, from quite modern distillery called St. Lucia Distillers. There is mostly mollases used for rum making, some rums are also distilled from local sugar cane juice. There are both column stills and copper pot stills for distillation. Distillery is known for more rum brands – there are sweet Marigot Bay elixirs, overproof rums Denros, bar classic Bounty rums and finally two higher level brands – Admiral Rodney and Chairman’s Reserve.
Chairman’s Reserve offer starts with two basic blends, Original and Legacy, and premium blend The Forgotten Casks. But there are also white rums and spiced rums there, or limited 1931 rum, single vintage rums and single cask Master’s Selection rums.
The Chairman’s Reserve Original is the original blend of this brand, its still the same as when was firstly blended and introduced on 1999 as high quality rum in tradicional local style. It is blend of distillated from Coffey column still and copper pot still, which are aged in ex-bourbon casks. After that they are blended, married and aged little bit together for 6 months in oak vats. Average age of this Original blend is 5 years and is dilluted to 40 % ABV.
Nose is soft and pleasant, I can smell spices and citruses. Mostly oranges, but also strong spiciness. In some time there comes slight woodiness with hint of smoke, like freshly burned wood. Thanks to citruses I got freshness here, but generally the nose isnt overall strong.
Taste is little bit sweet and little bit dry, it is sufficiently full. Also it is somewhat juicy but is not as much soft. There is lots of spices, with some sweet woodiness and hints of honey. In time, the woodiness is really dominant, somewhere behind wood and spices there are some bits of fruits hiding. And also some citrus zest.
Finish is quite light, maybe little sweeter and juicier. The most dominant are tones of sweet woodiness with some light spices. After that, there are citruses and hints of walnuts.
This rum is overall basic rum. It has its advantages, like is really quite cheap and boughtable. Taste is nice, very pleasant and rum is very drinkable. But it lacks some complexity and stronger flavors. For more experienced drinkers this rum could be kind of boring. So, this is maybe average but pleasant nice rum.
