April Auction starts Friday 12 April. Bottle deadline 8 April.

Caroni HTR 1997 Cadenhead's 21 Year Old

Lot: 6108

Caroni HTR 1997 Cadenhead's 21 Year Old

Winning Bid: £230

Currency Estimate

Important: Currency exchange rates are constantly changing; this feature is to be used as a guide price only. All final transactions occur in British Pounds (£).
Lot:
Distillery: 
Caroni
Age: 
21 year old
Vintage: 
1997
Region: 
Trinidad
Bottler: 
Wm. Cadenhead
Cask Type: 
N/A
Bottled Strength: 
59.4%
Bottle Size: 
70cl
Distillery Status: 
Closed
Production method: 
pot still
Base: 
Trinidad molasses
product Details

Caroni HTR 1997 Cadenhead's 21 Year Old

Wm. Cadenhead may be Scotland’s oldest independent bottler Scotch, but its connections to the rum industry are just as lengthy. The company was founded in 1842 by George Duncan. His brother William Cadenhead joined the company in 1952, taking over after George’s death in 1958. William had a relation called Robert Cadenhead who owned a rum merchant business in Liverpool and London, and the two companies were amalgamated upon Robert's death. Wm. Cadenhead got into the whisky bottling business after 1904, when William's nephew Robert Duthie took over, and since its sale to J&A Mitchell in 1972, Wm. Cadenhead has become one of the most sought after names on the independent scene, and was one of the earliest brands to begin promoting single distillery bottlings of rum.

A 1997 vintage, this HTR (heavy type rum) was pot distilled from Caroni Ltd molasses and bottled from a single cask by Wm. Cadenhead in February 2019.

The Caroni distillery is said to have been established in 1918, however there are several historical references that suggest distilling was happening there earlier in the 20th century. It became part of the Tate & Lyle firm in 1936, who used it as a base for expanding their eventually considerable sugar operations in Trinidad. Caroni was a key ingredient of the British Navy rations, where its famous high-ester 'Heavy' rums helped to make up the signature flavour. Sadly, with the decline of the Trinidadian sugar industry, the island’s remaining rum producers became increasingly dependent upon imported molasses, making distilling less economical. Tate & Lyle sold a 51% controlling stake to the Trinidadian government in 1970, before it became fully nationalised in 1975. Despite being self-sufficient in molasses, the newly established Caroni Ltd continued to lose money for the next 25 years until the government tried to minimise its ownership, selling off 49% of its share, just enough to retain control. Angostura were the preferred bidders, but a dispute over the value of Caroni’s warehoused stock scuppered the deal, and Caroni was closed for good in 2003.

In the end, Angostura still acquired the majority of the circa 18,000 warehoused Caroni barrels for blending. These remained in Trinidad, as did a large batch of casks later acquired by Velier's Luca Gargano in 2004. A great number of casks also found their way over to Europe as well though, imported by Bristol Spirits and the Main Rum Company, resulting in a proliferating number of sought after continentally aged releases from independent bottlers like this over the years.

Important Notice

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Please note: Due to the various ages of bottles and their seals, condition of liquid is at the buyer's discretion and no claim can be lodged against failure/leakage in transit.