Dead Reckoning Barbados ‘The Bosun’s Persuader’ – February 2026

HOLD OUR RUM GLASS! A SINGLE CASK, 14 YEAR OLD FOURSQUARE!

• 8 years in Barbados and another 6 dry aging by Dead Reckoning (and we know what that means!)
• One of the Foursquare Exceptional Cask (ESC) Series – Others have won so many awards we needed to list them below
• Bottled at a BRAWLING 61%
• EXCLUSIVE to the Tribe
• Surely the cheapest 14 year old Foursquare you will find

Yep, you read right. Our Rum of the Month for February is nothing less than a single cask 14yo Foursquare bottled at 61% – The Dead Reckoning Barbados ‘The Bosun’s Persuader’

A Bosun’s Persuader, was a weighted, flexible club used by Royal Navy boatswains (Bosuns) to discipline lazy sailors or enforce press-gangs to recruit men by hitting them, often on the head, to ensure they worked or joined the ship. These antique naval tools featured lead weights at the ends, connected by a shaft of flexible material like baleen or whalebone, covered in intricately knotted twine or cord, serving as a harsh disciplinary instrument.

Like the name suggests, the The Dead Reckoning Barbados ‘The Bosun’s Persuader’ is an unassuming weapon of a rum that packs more than a punch at a brawling 61% abv. Tropically aged in Barbados for 8 years in an unnamed ex-bourbon cask, it was then transferred to Justin’s care in Adelaide, poured into a 200 litre first-fill Makers Mark ex-bourbon barrel and further ‘dry aged’ in Adelaide for another 6 hot, dry South Australian years.

During this dry aging time in Adelaide (one of the driest places on earth based on average humidity) the abv climbed in the barrel by an astonishing 14% – yep you read that right, fourteen percent – reaching 68% abv before being disgorged.  But that has come at a price – no less than 22% of the barrel was taken by the Angels in that time, around 44 litres. Greedy Angels!

Interestingly, three Foursquare ECS (Exceptional Cask Series – foursquare’s ‘flagship’ series) bottlings matured 14 years (same as this months Bosun’s Persuader) have taken out the top awards in both those shows over the last 4 years. The ECS Equipoise, Equidem and Redoubtable all showing that 14yo Foursquare is not only some of the worlds best rum – but worlds best spirit.

Not only is the Dead Reckoning also a 14yo single cask from Foursquare – but is presented at the same 61% abv that all three of the 14yo Foursquare ECS releases that took out these awards were released at. So it seems 14yo and 61% is a winning formula for Foursquare – and Justin has listened to the master.

Trying to summarize the astounding success that Richard Seale and Foursquare have achieved since Richard took the reigns of the company is difficult in a paragraph. So lets break it down into some dot points from just TWO of the worlds most respected spirits comps.

International Wine and Spirits Competition Awards

IWSC Rum Trophy Wins – Foursquare Distillery

• 2025 Rum Trophy – Foursquare EQUIDEM 14-Year-Old named the IWSC’s Rum Trophy winner (the highest rum honour) — marking four total Rum Trophy wins (2016, 2020, 2024, 2025).
• 2024 Rum Trophy – Foursquare 14 YO Equipoise Rum won the IWSC Rum Trophy as the world’s best rum.
• IWSC Rum Producer Trophy 2024 – Foursquare Rum Distillery named Rum Producer of the Year.
• IWSC Rum Producer of the Year (Multiple Years) – Foursquare has won this title multiple times, including 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2024.
• IWSC Outstanding Spirits Producer of the Year 2021 – Foursquare Distillery earned this top accolade across all spirits categories.
• Richard Seale – Personal IWSC Recognition
• IWSC Industry Champion (2023) Richard Seale was named IWSC Industry Champion — a prestigious honour recognizing his influence, advocacy, and contributions to elevating rum (and particularly Barbados rum) on the global spirits stage. This was the first time the title was awarded to a sole rum producer and someone from the Anglophone Caribbean.

International Spirits Challenge Awards

• 2018 Supreme Champion Spirit Foursquare 2005 First rum ever to take the top title at ISC.
• 2021 Supreme Champion Spirit Foursquare Redoubtable 14 Year Old (2021) Overall winner across spirits categories.
• 2021 ISC Rum Producer of the Year Recognises excellence across Foursquare’s portfolio.
• 2021 Master Distiller of the Year Richard Seale. Awarded in tandem with Foursquare’s 2021 success.

The Dead Reckoning Bosun’s Persuader 14yo Barbados is our highest priced Rum of the Month to date. But – if you compare it with the price of any 14yo Foursquare it’s more than a bargain! The other 14yo ECS bottles mentioned above range from $275 to over $500 in Aussie dollars in OS liquor shops – and they aren’t paying the taxes on spirits we do ’over there’!

At $169 a bottle we believe we are offering the best priced 14yo 61% Foursquare you’re EVER going to see. AND… this one is a single cask unlike ANY of the distillery ECS bottlings. You’re gonna want two bottles!

EVERY PURCHASE OF THE RUM OF THE MONTH GOES IN THE DRAW TO WIN!

Win the Dead Reckoning ‘Corporal Ashley Birt’ – A blend of 5 Caribbean rums & 1 Australian rum honouring Corporal Ashley Birt as part of the Dead Reckoning Commemorative Series of rums.

Our Tasting Notes:

Nose: A rich bowl of Titanically deep slightly over-ripe tropical fruit notes, sweet, hot, dripping caramel and Christmas cake spices by the absolute bucketload, fragrant vanilla pods just-cut and scraped, and freshly opened Allen’s jube lollies complete this olfactory symphony. I could spend hours with my nose in this glass – sumptuous, inviting, warm and just so, so good you’ll find yourself with your glass under your nose for 99% of the time you have this rum in your hand.

Palate: A warm heat with some peppery prickles that build and then quickly melt away as sweet waves of fruit mince crash onto a luscious base of vanilla custard, mixed-peel citrus, Jasmine flowers and

Finish: Gives away the column still component as it fades with an interesting sweet yet dry-ness. More citrus peel notes sit alongside hi-cocoa dark chocolate, subdued but discernible [Barbadian] funk . Lip smackin’, cheek suckin’, long chewin’ goodness!

Once again a Dead Reckoning release to pour, sniff, swirl, sniff, taste and chew whilst revelling in the whole experience. If you’re a cigar smoker – crack out a good one.  Huge fruity depth of flavour with lovely first fill American oak notes – some pepper and that slight dryness keeps it all in check and balanced. Masses of layers to unpack, and [ideally] chat about with your drinking pal. Seriously – don’t muck about with this one, get two bottles at least! Thank me later.   

FROM DEAD RECKONING

Barbados, arguably the birthplace of rum with Mount Gay kicking it off. Nowadays, with a more modern take on rum, Foursquare have been been a market leader for decades. 

Looking back to 2019 the first bulk rum I purchased for a long term ageing project had to be a Foursquare. It had a lot going for it , worlds best distillery & distiller awards , & countless ECS series releases that just kept getting better . 

After this particular release spent 8 years Tropical ageing in Barbados it then spent a further six years in a ex Bourbon Barrel Australian dry ageing in Adelaide. Not so coincidentally South Australia with the lowest recorded humidity in the world combined with at times ,brutally hot summers with the Barrel aging Warehouse reaching over 50°C in summer and prolonged months cold of winter.

The six years the rum has been in Adelaide. I had an ABV increase of 15% and an angels share of 22%.

Released at 61% which was water down from its cask strength of 69%. 

ABOUT DEAD RECKONING

Justin Boseley, has immersed himself in rum for the past 20 years; a journey starting as a deck scrubbing lad with a thirst for Rum and adventure culminated in him becoming a Chief Officer; driving billionaire’s mega yachts around the world. This life of salty seadog adventure took him to Rum’s heartland, the Caribbean islands for 6 months a year, every year.

When he wasn’t at the helm of a mega-yacht he could be found hanging off a bar or at a distillery sampling the best the Caribbean rum scene had to offer. Upon ending his days at sea there was only one thing he knew better that navigating around the world’s oceans- that was Rum. For 10 years Justin has scoured the globe discovering & importing the world’s best rums into Australia.

Dead Reckoning is Australia’s first independent rum bottler, and each release from his bond-store is an anticipated event that never fails to please! The Dead Reckoning brand has also recently branched into the US market with huge success. The Rum Tribe is incredibly proud of our close association with Justin and Dead Reckoning.

ABOUT FOURSQUARE

Foursquare Rum Distillery is located on a former sugar plantation that dates back to approximately 1720, within the tiny Caribbean island of Barbados. The distillery was re-opened by the Seale family in 1996, distilling operations and blending are currently directed by Richard Seale, 4th Generation Trader/Distiller of R.L. Seale & Co.

Despite being sat in the middle of a sugarcane plantation, Foursquare are forced to import most of their molasses from Guyana. Surprisingly, given the number of different brands of rum produced at foursquare, they utilise a singular fermentation practice. Using distillers yeast imported from South Africa, the two-step process is computer temperature controlled, progressing very slowly molasses is added during the latter stage over a period lasting 24 hours. Rums produced at foursquare are all a blend of pot and column stills. Blends are undertaken both before and after ageing, with all casks filled with various blends of the pot and column stills. Master distiller Richard utilises American oak, ex whiskey casks for the majority of Foursquare’s rums, often also experimenting with Sherry, Madeira port & Zinfandel , Andean, Boudreaux casks which offer nuanced variation in flavour.

The Foursquare distillery is owned by R.L.Seale & Co which is a 4th generation family-owned rum trading company dating back to the 1920’s. Now run by David Seale and his son Richard – they oversaw the expansion of the family business to include distilling in 1995 with the purchase of an abandoned sugar refinery. After restoring, refurbishing and installation of fermentation tubs and custom-made distillation equipment, the distillery opened in 1996.

Richard aims to bring authentic Barbadian rums to market and prides himself on the purity of the rum he produces with no sweeteners added throughout any of his bottlings. Pushing boundaries and lifting the global perception of quality of rum, Richard often releases products that would surprise and delight any single malt connoisseur out there.

All Foursquare rums are made form a combination of pot-still distilled spirit and continuous column distilled new make. Their continuous column still is a technological marvel that operates under vacuum to allow distillation temperatures to be decreased.

A two-step fermentation process is used in all Foursquare rums, using a specific yeast imported from South Africa. This 2-step process is computer controlled with the temperature increased slowly and the molasses gradually added over 20 hours.

The majority of maturation at Foursquare is done in ex-bourbon casks. However, Richard loves to experiment with casks so Sherry, Port, Madeira and (in the case of the Indelible) Zinfandel. They fill their casks at 65-68% alcohol to allow greater interaction between the spirit and the wood. The majority of producers not filling at less than 70% and many cask their spirit at levels approaching 80% abv. Foursquare age all their rum for a minimum of 2 years and pride themselves on never using flavouring additives in their rum.