Dead Reckoning Barbados PX – December 2024
Who wished for a fantastic FOURSQUARE rum for Christmas? Who’s letter to Santa includes the words ‘DEAD RECKONING?
Have you been good this year? Well SIT DOWN and pull up a GLASS or TWO and BUCKLE UP!
The Rum Tribe have DELIVERED for your CHRISTMAS! Nothing less than two of the hottest rum brands around – FOURSQUARE and DEAD RECKONING combining forces in the one bottle…Dead Reckoning Barbados PX!
The Dead Reckoning Barbados PX is 10 year old Single Cask. A blend of pot and column distilled Foursquare rums, tropically aged for 8 years in Barbados in an ex-bourdon cask, then brought to Adelaide and given 12 months in a 40 year old Spanish Pedro Rodriguez Pedro Ximénez cask and then yet another year in the dry heat of Adelaide resting in an old ex Makers-mark bourbon cask before being bottled at 50%abv. Strictly limited – but don’t sweat – we’ve got first dibs!
Now we know you’ve all been wanting Foursquare so we’ve saved this one for our final rum of the year – and we know you are going to LOVE it. We’re thrilled to be offering this rum just as Richard Seale and Foursquare have taken out the honours for Rum Producer of the Year at the 2024 International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC).
But Foursquare is no stranger to this award. In fact, this year’s IWSC Rum Producer of the Year award makes an incredible combined total of 11 ‘Rum Producer of the Year’ awards from two of the world’s most respected and vaunted alcohol competitions – the IWSC and the ISC (International Spirits Challenge) since 2016. Richard Seale and Foursquare are arguably the world’s best rum producers, period.
Justin Boseley’s Dead Reckoning are Australia’s first Indy rum bottlers and to say the brand has piqued the interest of Australia’s (and the worlds) rum drinkers is laconic Aussie dryness at its best! And it’s just that sort of dryness – well dry ageing anyway – that seems to give all of Justin’s rums a little bit of ‘X-factor’ (as well as bumping up the ABV in the casks during maturation!). This ‘dry ageing’ that Justin carries out in specially selected finishing casks never fails to produce incredible rums with body, complexity and nuance. This month’s Barbados PX is no exception.
International markets are SCREAMING for Dead Reckoning after the many glowing write-ups by renowned international reviewers like ‘the Fat Rum Pirate’ and Singapore’s ’88 Bamboo’. We’re pretty lucky to have ‘direct to the source access’ to this brand that brings the very best rums from all around the world into the country.
Our Tasting Notes:
Nose: Foursquare funk at it’s finest here! Subtle notes of overripe fruit salad sit over wafts of fragrant flowering jasmine, biscuit spice and just a touch of polythene glue sweetness.
Palate: Lovely and mouth-coatingly oily at first with huge red fruits and plum pudding notes (how seasonal J), choc-liquorice bullets and salted caramel.
Finish: The sweet and oily mouthfeel of the palate evolves into quite a crisp and clean spirit (the column still component in action I’ll wager). Not lacking in ‘stick to your teethiness’ though – this just lasts and lasts with spiced fruit mince, rich espresso crema, and dark chocolate.
So BIG, so round, so complex and oh so very satisfying. In fact it’s so big, it’s almost a journey in every pour. The sticky sweet-to-dry evolution on the palate, the fruits and wafts of flowering vines mixing with those other glue-like esters that somehow make it better. So many flavours and smells to discover here – it’s just so pleasant to sit on a big pour and contemplate the journey this rum has had before ending up in your glass.
FROM DEAD RECKONING
Following on from the “best independently bottled foursquare I’ve ever tasted” quote Fat rum pirate release, I thought I’d showcase what a quality PX sherry cask can offer .
Aged 8 yrs in Barbados tropical aged & 2 more years secondary aged in both PX Sherry and bourbon casks undergoing Australian dry ageing in Adelaide.
Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla is located in the historic centre of Jerez, Spain. Their collection of Sherries is made up of the finest wines from the area, ranging from the pale, light and elegant Finos, to the mahogany coloured Olorosos, to the unique Antique Sherries aged for up to 30 years in traditional barrels.
The bodega’s reputation is based on the excellence of the Antique Sherry range of intensely pure and complex single solera Sherries that undergo extended ageing times in the cellar, lending to their stunning complexity and depth.
On the nose is the unmistakable waft of that Foursquare goodness & a hint of figs & red fruits.
The palette delivers a multidimensional waterfall of delicate flavours, figs, walnuts , prunes & dates backed up by the familiar delight of vanilla , caramel slice , black pepper & oak spice
Regards
Justin Boseley
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 Indelable) 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.
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.
