Foursquare : Exceptional Cask Selection Mark XXI 2010

Characteristics and Tasting Tips for the Exceptional Cask Selection Mark XXI 2010 by Foursquare

Tasting notes

Appearance
This Barbadian rum displays a medium amber to orange-brown hue, with warm highlights in a tulip glass. Clarity and viscosity are medium, revealing a bright limpidity achieved without chill filtration or added colouring.

Nose
The nose opens with notes of caramel and burnt sugar, vanilla and butterscotch, supported by pronounced oak and a touch of nail polish, typical of the Foursquare signature. Tropical fruits then emerge, including pineapple, mango, peach and ripe banana, accompanied by black cherry and grape. A few drops of water reveal more toasted coconut, star anise, spiced orange, liquorice and hints reminiscent of Black Forest gateau.

Palate
The attack is surprisingly soft for a rum bottled at 60% ABV, with notes of butterscotch, vanilla, almonds and raw pie dough. Tropical fruits return on the palate, pineapple, mango, banana and peach, complemented by cherries in syrup and candied orange. The structure then tightens, giving way to a pronounced dryness, pepper, bitter wood, dark chocolate, coffee and a hint of salted caramel, before a long, warm and persistent finish, in which the alcohol is remarkably well integrated.

Pairings and tasting occasions

This rum is ideally enjoyed neat or with a few drops of water, in a tulip or Glencairn-style glass, at room temperature, allowing the aromatic bouquet to unfold fully. Its richness and warmth make it an excellent digestif at the end of a meal. It pairs particularly well with dark chocolate desserts, pineapple or mango tart, Black Forest gateau, as well as blue-veined cheeses and desserts with toasted walnuts and pine nuts.

Mixology

While this rum could find its place in a rum Old Fashioned, lifted with a touch of demerara sugar, spiced bitters and an orange zest, its complexity and exceptional character call above all for enjoying it neat or lightly diluted, without artifice, in order to fully appreciate all its nuances.

A dry, spicy and woody Barbadian rum, the signature of the Foursquare distillery

Foursquare, an essential reference in Barbadian rum

Founded in 1995 on the site of a former 17th-century sugar factory in Saint Philip, Barbados, the Foursquare distillery draws on the heritage of the Seale family, merchants and blenders of Barbadian rum since 1896. Today, Sir David Seale chairs the company, while Richard Seale, owner of the distillery and master distiller, oversees its management and stylistic direction. Foursquare has established itself as an international benchmark for Barbadian rum thanks to a production set-up combining a continuous column and a double retort pot still, tropical ageing exclusively in carefully selected casks, and a systematic refusal of additives. This commitment to authenticity and transparency has made Foursquare one of the most respected names in the contemporary rum world.

Exceptional Cask Selection Mark XXI 2010: an exceptional single blended rum

The Exceptional Cask Selection Mark XXI 2010 is part of Foursquare's flagship series, renowned for its consistent vintages and outstanding quality. This rum is crafted exclusively from molasses, fermented and then distilled separately in a copper double retort pot still and in a Coffey column, before being blended as a single blended rum, the house signature. The whole is aged entirely for 12 years in a tropical climate, in ex-bourbon American oak casks, with no finishing or double maturation, allowing the relationship between the distillate and American wood to be expressed directly. The Mark XXI 2010 continues the line of ECS "vintages" (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009…), appreciated for their stylistic consistency and unapologetic tropical character. Bottled at cask strength at 60% ABV, without chill filtration, colouring or additives, it has been very well received by enthusiasts and specialist critics, with scores regularly between 8.5 and 9 out of 10. Its growing rarity and international demand have gradually made it a sought-after rum, while preserving the integrity of process that characterises the entire Foursquare production.