Barbados x5: Foursquare Equidem & Binny's Pick, RL Seale's 12, WIRD 2000 (RA), St. Nicholas Abbey 8

I wanted to do at least one more big classic Caribbean rum flight this year, and here it is: Barbados, bottles from every distillery except Mount Gay. The highlight for me is the first offering I've ever tasted from newcomer distillery St. Nicholas Abbey, a special bottling for the Barbados Rum Event. Joining that is a Rum Artesanal WIRD with a funny misprint on the box, a sister cask to that "Rockley" bottling I reviewed awhile back (   • Chamber Still Battle: Leopold Bros. Three ...   ). And then there's a trio of Foursquares to round things off: the widely available RLS12, the phenomenally well-reviewed Equidem, and also a pick for Binny's that I grabbed off an End-Of-Bin shelf. Let's go! R.L. Seale's 12 Year Old Finest Barbados Rum (distilled at Foursquare Rum Distillery, Four Roads; blend of pot- and column-distilled molasses, bottled circa 2023; 46% ABV), 83/100 WIRD ("WRID") 2000 24 Year Old Barbados Rum, Cask No. 207 (West Indies Rum Distillery, Bridgetown, bottled by Rum Artesanal; column distilled, aged 06/2000 through 10/2024, 208 500ml bottles; 46.9% ABV), 88+/100 Foursquare 12 Year Old Single Blended Barbados Rum, Private Cask Selection for Binny's (Four Roads; blend of pot- and column-distilled molasses, aged in ex-bourbon casks, bottled circa 2023; 62% ABV), 88+/100 St. Nicholas Abbey 8 Year Old "BRE Exclusive" Single Cask Barbados Rum, bottled for the Barbados Rum Event (Moore Hill; blend of pot- and column-distilled molasses, bottled circa 2023; 60% ABV), 87+❤️/100 Foursquare "Equidem" 14-Year-Old Single Blended Rum (Exceptional Cask Selection Mark Mark XXVII; blend of pot- and column-distilled molasses, aged 5 years in ex-bourbon and 9 years in ex-black muscat casks, bottled 9/2024; 61% ABV), 91/100 The Seale 12 is a perfectly serviceable high-column Foursquare and I think I can recommend it as such, even if I think it isn't actually any better than basic Doorly's (cf    • Barbados Versus Jamaica at $30: Appleton 8...   ). The Binny's pick is way better, and basically nails the tobacco-and-desserts profile of the standard ECS releases (even if it isn't quite as good). And then the Equidem is that same profile except drizzled in various IHOP fruit syrups, only that's not the exciting part - no, what kicks this up into greatness is a finish that I'm still tasting even as I write this. And the others? Well, the WRID is extremely interesting, an aromatic-but-earthy fusion of rum and Northern Highlands single malt that improves with water. And the St. Nicholas Abbey, even if it only just comes in 4th, might be the effort I most remember: this is a beautiful, delicate, slightly green example of the classic pepsi-and-banana profile that is Bajan rum, and I absolutely adore it even if I can't score it up with the best of the flight. Keep an eye on these folks. Extra special thanks to my Different Spirits on Patreon (  / differentspirits  ) - Gerard-Paul Aman Eric Amig Anthony Darcy Bean Chris Bobby Jamie Brown Kingsbury bushcraft William Christopher Clematis Rob D Liam Davitt Joe Devine Samuel Dose eon Ingmar nine Steve Frazee Ian Gendler Solomon Grundy John Halliday Alex Hurd Trevor Jarrait Jonathan Lestingi Kyaru Ariel Mserious Craig Nielsen Jason Newquist No Thanks Chris Rhodes Randy Rice Lael Rios RumSquirrel Gordon W Zach W Mean Will