Arctic Wolf
08-02-2009, 12:07 AM
It really is a dark and stormy night. I am in Alberta (Edmonton now to be exact), and one heck of a storm just ripped through south of here. It will probably hit the news as the 'Big Valley Jamboree' in Camrose was hit by the storm which collapsed the stage and sent everyone home. Hopefully no one is trapped under the wreckage any more although news reports are still sketchy. So first a prayer for those who may be in trouble.
Now on to more positive thoughts. It was suggested to me that Goslings Black Seal would be perfect on a dark and stormy night like this so I have retired to my room with a unopened bottle and decided to impart my first impressions to the forum.
First off I will say that the bottle looks a little foreboding. I thought the bottle was darkly colored, but when I tipped the bottle I saw that instead it is the rum which is dark. Inky dark with red tones. Almost wicked looking.....
I pour a little into my glencairn glass and instantly I am hit with a most unusual and I must admit enticingly unpleasant aroma (that doesn't make sense but then this rum is very different from the norm). I smell burnt caramel apples, intense hyacinth, and wisps of cinnamon and nutmeg. Maybe even a little allspice. At the same time the smell is earthy. It makes no sense to my nostrils to get this earthy smell but it is there in spades. (I hate to admit this; but in my imaginings I actually think of an old graveyard with freshly upturned earth, hyacinth and hibiscus on nearby graves and pungent burnt smells coming from the glass.)
My first sip is tentative and the tip of my tongue has gone all tingly and then numb, and then tingly again. The smell in the glass has changed and become more intense with sugary spiciness. Wisps of dark licorice, anise and more cinnamon waft upward. I take another sip.. larger this time and taste the burnt caramel. I also taste Jagermeifter! I taste the hyacinth, the upturned earth, the spices and the burnt caramel, and a herbal bomb in the background that I want to describe as Buckley's cough medicine minus the menthol. The flavour is intense but very interesting.
A bitter but clean wash is left in my mouth after I swallow.
A dash of coke does nothing to the flavour, but eases the bitter backwash in the throat. At fifty percent coke a marvelous change occurs in the glass. The Caramel is tamed and the herbal bombshell is smoothed out to a rhapsody of complex flavours. It tastes sweet and spicy at this point with no particular flavour dominating. I probably could not pinpoint a single flavour in the profile anymore, although when I was younger my mother made a dutch desert called sinsebrie (have no idea of the spelling). This is kind of like that. A soup of brown sugar, raisons, nutmeg, cinnamon and barley all rolled into one. I guess that earthiness has turned to maltiness.
At 75% coke the beast is almost fully tamed. The flavour profile is still deep with burnt caramel, but this is very drinkable for me. I am surprised that the bitterness is for the most part far more gentle than I thought. I find Mount Gay XO to be far more bitter. I feel that others who comment on the bitterness of this drink have mistaken the deep burnt caramel for bitterness, but in my mind the two are very different.
The finish though does leave a certain dryness and slight bitterness in the throat and mouth. The herbal spiciness is felt strongly at the back of the palate long after the glass is consumed.
The verdict. I am glad I tried this. It will indeed be my dark stormy night drink, but it may also be my 'bitterly cold afternoon in the dead of winter' drink. That dryness, I believe will have a certain appeal on cold afternoons.
Cheers all
(And may all those at the Jamboree make it home safely tonight!)
Now on to more positive thoughts. It was suggested to me that Goslings Black Seal would be perfect on a dark and stormy night like this so I have retired to my room with a unopened bottle and decided to impart my first impressions to the forum.
First off I will say that the bottle looks a little foreboding. I thought the bottle was darkly colored, but when I tipped the bottle I saw that instead it is the rum which is dark. Inky dark with red tones. Almost wicked looking.....
I pour a little into my glencairn glass and instantly I am hit with a most unusual and I must admit enticingly unpleasant aroma (that doesn't make sense but then this rum is very different from the norm). I smell burnt caramel apples, intense hyacinth, and wisps of cinnamon and nutmeg. Maybe even a little allspice. At the same time the smell is earthy. It makes no sense to my nostrils to get this earthy smell but it is there in spades. (I hate to admit this; but in my imaginings I actually think of an old graveyard with freshly upturned earth, hyacinth and hibiscus on nearby graves and pungent burnt smells coming from the glass.)
My first sip is tentative and the tip of my tongue has gone all tingly and then numb, and then tingly again. The smell in the glass has changed and become more intense with sugary spiciness. Wisps of dark licorice, anise and more cinnamon waft upward. I take another sip.. larger this time and taste the burnt caramel. I also taste Jagermeifter! I taste the hyacinth, the upturned earth, the spices and the burnt caramel, and a herbal bomb in the background that I want to describe as Buckley's cough medicine minus the menthol. The flavour is intense but very interesting.
A bitter but clean wash is left in my mouth after I swallow.
A dash of coke does nothing to the flavour, but eases the bitter backwash in the throat. At fifty percent coke a marvelous change occurs in the glass. The Caramel is tamed and the herbal bombshell is smoothed out to a rhapsody of complex flavours. It tastes sweet and spicy at this point with no particular flavour dominating. I probably could not pinpoint a single flavour in the profile anymore, although when I was younger my mother made a dutch desert called sinsebrie (have no idea of the spelling). This is kind of like that. A soup of brown sugar, raisons, nutmeg, cinnamon and barley all rolled into one. I guess that earthiness has turned to maltiness.
At 75% coke the beast is almost fully tamed. The flavour profile is still deep with burnt caramel, but this is very drinkable for me. I am surprised that the bitterness is for the most part far more gentle than I thought. I find Mount Gay XO to be far more bitter. I feel that others who comment on the bitterness of this drink have mistaken the deep burnt caramel for bitterness, but in my mind the two are very different.
The finish though does leave a certain dryness and slight bitterness in the throat and mouth. The herbal spiciness is felt strongly at the back of the palate long after the glass is consumed.
The verdict. I am glad I tried this. It will indeed be my dark stormy night drink, but it may also be my 'bitterly cold afternoon in the dead of winter' drink. That dryness, I believe will have a certain appeal on cold afternoons.
Cheers all
(And may all those at the Jamboree make it home safely tonight!)