Ferrand Plantation O.F.T.D. Rum, 70 cl

Product Information

So what has all the fuss been about? Well firstly I don’t think the intention of this rum was ever as a sipper. I’ve no idea how old the blend in this rum is but I’d be very surprised if overall the blend is over 5 years old. On the palate, oh yes, the 69% is an excellent flavor carrier, fiery caramel, fiery vanilla, fiery chocolate, fiery fruits. Very powerful yet pleasant.

One of the few Plantation rums with an age statement on the label, this might be considered the flagship of Plantation’s “signature blends” lineup, and is one of the brands they’ve been offering longest. The five year age statement is nice, if not particularly impressive—it makes this a “moderately aged” rum. It’s important to note that 3-4 years of that time is tropical aging in Barbados, and the remaining 1-2 years is aging in France in “Ferrand casks” previously used to mature cognac. That’s a significant period, which makes this ultimately a product substantially different than simply a Bajan rum—there’s also the moderate dosage to consider as well. Products like this are at the heart of the dispute between Maison Ferrand and the other Barbados distilleries. The eye-catching label tells the story of a rogue’s gallery of well-known rum and Tiki celebrities who came together to influence its taste and character. From the bar world: Ester levels” and “volatile elements” are both crude measurement of the intensity of a rum’s flavor. They are not the same however. Traditionally, Jamaican rums cite ester levels, which are a measurement of just the esters without regards to other volatile elements. For the most part, this means measuring Ethyl Acetate. This particular compound is usually found in much higher quantity than other esters. (You can learn more about esters and flavor here. In this enlightened era of bespoke, high-end distilled spirits, we celebrate the soloist – the carefully nurtured, single estate gems rising to the top of category: Pappy Van Winkle 23 year bourbon, Fuenteseca Reserva 21 year tequila, Appleton 50 year rum, Macallan M Single Malt, and so on. Each represents a high point, a moment in time and the essence of a particular place. A pinnacle of individuality and greatness.

Try a Plantation O.F.T.D. Sample…

It is interesting that Plantation have dropped the Trinidad rum entirely from the blend. Personally this is a good thing as I don’t really rate the modern Trini rums at all. Whether you enjoy sipping on an overproof rum, dilute it with water or another rum, this is definitely worth trying. Which could perhaps be construed as a criticism. It isn’t. I have argued on numerous occassions about rums being viewed as sipping rums and mixing rums. Many feel that a “mixing” rum is an inferior product. It’s not I genuinely believe that some younger rums such as Myers’s, Woods 100 and Appleton’s Signature Blend (V/X) simply work much better as mixers than they do sippers. I do not think this makes them bad in anyway and it is not a slight against them. The label tasting notes say: “It bursts with caramel cream, chocolate, and vanilla notes. It continues on with cinnamon, raisins, nutmeg, oak, and molasses with smoky accents.” Cask type/Age: ex-Bourbon, ex-Cognac casks, 1997 distillation. 18 years in ex-Bourbon, then 1.5 years minimum in ex-cognac casks

O.F.T.D. officially stands for Old Fashioned Traditional Dark but if you ask any of the seven collaborators who were in the room when this blend was born, they’ll tell you it really stands for something else that was exclaimed when the winning rum was tasted… Plantation O.F.T.D. Rum is our take on that classic style of overproof rums. And not just ours: to join him on the quest to get the blend and the proof just right, Alexandre Gabriel scoured rum joints around the world to find six grizzled old salts who knew which end of a rum bottle was which.Taste: Orange and allspice, clove and baking spices. Coffee hints as well. The finish is powerful – but there’s a lingering aftertaste of toasted dark brown sugar and orange. Like a hint of orange. Fast forward nearly two years to the very same room where the group had deliberated that December. Mrs. Wonk and I are preparing to run the gauntlet, tasting all nine high-proof rums. Several are ultra-high ester rums, doubling down on their palate-destroying power. To anybody but a hardcore rum geek, this might seem terrifying. For me, these are the sort of moments that make rum writing worth all the effort. Prvá písomná zmienka o existencii rumu pochádza z ostrova Barbados v roku 1647, je však isté, že výroba rumu sa odohrávala na ostrove od začiatku 17. storočia. Vo Francúzsku prichádza uvedenie rumu neskôr a to v roku 1694. Rum sa v tom čase považoval za liek. Priemerná kvalita a lacná produkcia znamenali, že rum sa prvotne konzumoval medzi otrokmi na plantáží (brandy a sherry sa považovali za príliš drahé, takže tie boli vyhradené pre osadníkov). Rum sa tiež stáva nápojom námorníkov a pirátov. Skutočný pokrok v destilačných technikách ešte neprišiel a dovtedy rum zostával len pre miestnych. Začiatkom osemnásteho storočia sa však rum šíri cez oceán do Európy a Severnej Ameriky. Rumové odrody Took me a few sips to get some of a flavor profile because in each sip, once the taste buds detected something, my throat and tongue got a sound thrashing from the 69% ABV (138 proof).