English Harbour Rum is a genuine Caribbean spirit produced by Antigua Distillery Limited (ADL). The rum is named for the Antiguan naval port of English Harbour which was the site of naval confrontations between the English and the French who were the two major naval powers of the 18th Century.
When I contacted ADL several years ago with respect to their rums they indicated to me that the special character of their molasses based rum begins with the fermentation process. They use baker’s yeast during their fermentation and allow it to interact with the wild yeast present in the distillery. The use of open top fermenters aids and encourages the marriage of the different yeasts. After fermentation, the English Harbour rum is distilled upon an all copper continuous still. (The Antigua Distillery operates one of the few remaining all-copper continuous stills in the Caribbean.) According to the ADL website all English Harbour Rum is aged in used American bourbon barrels which are charred on the inside. Interestingly, as each barrel is filled a handful of oak chips is added to enhance the interaction of oak and rum.
The English Harbour 1981 Vintage distilled in 1981 to commemorate Antigua’s Independence. It is the last of the rum to be distilled on the Company’s original Savalle Still which the Company installed when it was first founded in 1933. The 1981 Vintage rum was aged for 25 years in whiskey and bourbon barrels before blending and bottling. It is available in very limited quantities with only 600 bottles released annually. Each bottle is individually numbered for authenticity.
Here is a link to my full review:
Review: English Harbour 1981 Vintage (25 Year Reserve Rum)
Please enjoy my review which completes my look at the English Harbour line-up.
Chimo!
To the right is my most recent acquisition, and when I re-tasted it alongside all of my favourites this past summer I found that this modestly priced spirit sat alone on top of my rankings. The Alberta Premium 25 Year Old is a spirit which brings all the goodness of Canadian Rye to the fore, yet despite its bold and spicy flavour, it is also deeply complex spirit which carries layer after layer of nuanced subtlety for the whisky connoisseur to enjoy.
I had a small hand in bringing this particular rum to Alberta, as I introduced the 25 Year Old to a local liquor importer, the Libor Group. It only took one taste to convince them that this rum despite its high price was a something very special.
The Highland Park 25 Year Old Whisky is blended with up to 50 per cent of its whisky coming from the matured (1st refill) Spanish oak, and it is bottled at 48.1 per cent alcohol by volume. This is a full 20 % higher than the 40 per cent bottling strength we typically see in North America. The combination of the higher bottling strength and a larger portion of Spanish oak whisky in the blend will bring forward a stronger more assertive aroma and flavour than the other whiskies in the Highland Park portfolio, and may even make the whisky a little intimidating at first tasting.
The Rum Howler Blog 