Guadeloupe Rum 1998 Plantation Single Cask #3
Launched in 2003, Plantation Rum is a brand owned by the well-established cognac producer, Cognac Ferrand. Established in 1989, Maison Ferrand has used its extensive contacts in the spirits industry to source some exceptional casks of rum. The company also has privileged access to those in the warehouses of Clarendon and Long Pond in Jamaica, through its acquisition of the West India Rum Distillery (WIRD) and the shares in National Rums of Jamaica that came with it. Its ownership of the Bajan WIRD distillery has seen it increasingly involved in rum production as well as bottling in recent years.
This is a 1998 vintage from Guadeloupe, bottled from cask #3.
As there are strict quotas on agricole rum production in Guadeloupe, very little rum is spared for the independent bottling scene, and the casks that are are usually distilled from molasses instead. The majority of 1998 vinatge Guadeloupe rum from independent bottlers is from a large batch of molasses rum distilled at Damoiseau, often labelled as Bellevue. Plantation are insistent however that this rum is an agricole produced over the AOC (appellation d’origine contrôlée) limits for production that year, forbidding it from being labelled as such. Quite the rarity if this is in fact true!