Review: St-Roc Foundation Rum    83.5/100
a review by Chip Dykstra
Posted June 19, 2023

The Distillerie de Québec was founded several years ago by Christophe Légasse and David Lévesque, who are committed towards creating fine spirits with a regional (Quebec) taste. Theirs is one of many new micro-distilleries which have begun to proliferate the landscape of the North American Distilling industry. They have created a small portfolio of spirits that has began to penetrate the Canadian market which include Cap Diamant Vodka, Trait-Carré Dry and Aged Gins, and the subject of this review, Rhum St-Roc Foundation.

The Spirits of Le Distillerie de Quebec  and Spirits

According to distillery co-founder Christophe Légasse:

For us, it’s all about being authentic and finding your “voice” when creating a spirit, not copying another successful product or trying the catch the latest fad. We like to say having a distillery is akin to running a marathon, not a 100-m sprint, patience is key.

The Quebec Distillery produces all of its spirits in small batches. This is evident when one examines their bottles which all have their batch number hand written on the backs of the labels and some like the St-Roc Foundation Rum also have the bottle number shown.

St-Roc Foundation is a British style amber rum produced from organic cane sugar as well as molasses. The rum is twice distilled and then aged in ex-bourbon barrels in the aging cellars of La Distillerie de Québec. The final rum is a blend of one to three year old aged rums with no sugar or colouring added. According to the distillery, this rum is meant to be a tribute to Quebec City’s St-Roc Distillery which was founded in the 18th century, which marked the birth of the distilling industry in Canada.

St-Roc Foundation Rum is bottled at 42% alcohol by volume and my sample bottle is Bottle n35 from Batch  007.

In The Bottle  3.5/5

I have shown a picture I snapped of the St-Roc Foundation Rum to the left. I always like these squat bottles when they are used for rum. Somehow it just seems like a more authentic bottle for a spirit which is known to be found in the Captain’s room on a sailing ship. (The squat shape is much more stable than a tall bottle would be.)

I do have to talk about the label though. Although you might think that the label is hard to see and read because I am a horrible photographer. The truth is that when the bottle is seen in person, it is not much better. The light gold fonts do not show up well against the pale green label, and that white grid in the background confuses things more. Even the side labels which are printed in small white fonts are hard to read. You might think that I am being too picky with respect to the presentation; but I believe a label has to have bright clear lettering that is easy to read.  In a retail setting, this label is far to easy to pass over.

In The Glass  8.5/10

The rum shows me a pale straw colour in the glass with initial notes of grassy hay fields, vanilla, almond and light butterscotch. Somewhere in that grassy hay field there must be flowers as their is also a light indication of florals and pollen. Pears and fresh straw are somewhere in that mix as well. There is just a touch of rough and tumble in the breezes with indications of resin, and a funky note which must be a feature of the small still distillation. I give the glass a few minutes to reveal more  and am rewarded with a touch of oak spice and menthol.

This is the nose of a nice amber rum, one that is slightly more complex than we might expect given its age.

In The Mouth  50.5/60

The rum has a little more body than I was expecting. I suspect the micro-still has produced this lightly oily texture and that faint flavour in the background which reminds me of Jamaican pot distilled rum. In the foreground are rum-like flavours of butterscotch and almond with just a touch of vanilla. There is a winding grassiness which carries lightly spicy flavours of ginger and orange peel. Again this is a little more complex than your average amber rum, and it is just a touch of heated alcohol that keeps my score from going higher.

St-Roc Foundation Rum is sort of on that border where you want to sip with ice, but in the end you feel more inclined to mix a cocktail. The Distillerie de Quebec recommends Pineapple Fizzes and Mojitos. I do not disagree. A Daiquiri which I made was quite nice as well. I went in a new direction and mixed myself a modified version of the Celebration Cocktail (see recipe below).

In The Throat 12.5/15

That little bit of extra body that I mentioned gives the rum a lengthened finish as compared with other amber rums. Despite the touch of alcohol present on the nose and the delivery, the finish is relatively smooth with lingering flavours of light butterscotch and almond complimented by that light funky herbal flavour which remains in the background.

The Afterburn  8.5/10

This is a very pleasant amber rum. As I sipped I seemed to enjoy it just a little more as I have come to the end. This is a mixing rum, although I would not disagree that some will prefer to sip. It also provide just a little more complexity than what we expect from an amber rum.  I would really be interested in visiting a version of this rum which was aged a few years longer. I think there is enough structure in place, that the result could be outstanding.

If you are interested in comparing more scores, here is a link to my other published Rum Reviews.

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A Suggested Recipe

Célébration du Québec

1 1/2 oz St-Roc Foundation Rum
3/4 oz  Trait Carre Dry Gin
1 1/2  oz  Fresh Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Fresh Lime Juice
3/8 oz  Groseille (Red Currant) Syrup
ice
Lime Slice

Add ingredients into a metal shaker with ice.
Shake until the outside of the metal shaker begins to frost
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with lime slice

Note: If  you are interested in more of my original cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!

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You may (loosely) interpret the scores as follows.

0-25     A spirit with a rating this low would actually kill you.
26-49   Depending upon your fortitude you might actually survive this.
50 -59  You are safe to drink this…but you shouldn’t.
60-69   Substandard swill which you may offer to people you do not want to see again.
70-74    Now we have a fair mixing rum or whisky.  Accept this but make sure it is mixed into a cocktail.
75-79    You may begin to serve this to friends, again probably still cocktail territory.
80-84    We begin to enjoy this spirit neat or on the rocks. (I will still primarily mix cocktails)
85-89    Excellent for sipping or for mixing!
90-94    Definitely a primary sipping spirit, in fact you may want to hoard this for yourself.
95-97.5 The Cream of the Crop
98+       I haven’t met this bottle yet…but I want to.

Very loosely we may put my scores into terms that you may be familiar with on a Gold, Silver, and  Bronze medal  scale as follows:

70 – 79.5    Bronze Medal (Recommended only as a mixer)
80 – 89.5     Silver Medal (Recommended for sipping and or a high quality mixer)
90 – 95         Gold Medal (Highly recommended for sipping and for sublime cocktails.)
95.5+            Platinum Award (Highest Recommendation)