Wild Parrot - 1994 New Year's New Yarmouth review

A quick review today, otherwise known as 'a bit of new years eve indulgence' - especially as I'm tasting this against two of my favourites: Thompson Bros New Yarmouth 1994 (26yr) and Rum Artisanal New Yarmouth 1994 (25yr) 😁😎🥃

The release price of the Wild Parrot was considerably above that of the Thompson and the RA (even given the bottle size difference). It's also the highest abv of the cluster at a monster 68.1%. So I'm expecting 'big' things!

This review is really an add-on to my original comprehensive (at the time) 1994 New Yarmouth horizontal tasting (here) and bolt-on tasting of the Malt, Grain & Cane bottling (here).

Since those reviews, the NY94 releases keep on coming, so I'll not be keeping up with the reviews (much as I'd like to, for these outstanding rums!)

Anyway, the opportunity to review this one came up. And what a better way to spend a few hours on NYE afternoon!

A generous 25ml of each, left to open up for a good 20+mins, nosed first, then tasted, in increasing abv order. Assisted today by the poet himself, Mr Robert Dylan.

I won't re-detail notes for my two incredible 'control' rums. Those, along with their impressive scores and a little background on the distillery, can be found here.

Wild Parrot 1994 New Yarmouth, 26yrs, 68.1%, 242btls

An impressively aged, very limited release Jamaican rum. Molasses based, column stilled. Distillery aged for a massive 25yrs before being shipped to Europe. As with all these releases, this is a single cask (WP94681) with the associated risks and excitement. After 26 years - especially tropical years - the barrel type, previous uses, barrel management and even location within the warehouse will mean every barrel is very different. Some could be amazing while others fail completely🤞

Angel's share is not listed but is likely to be a loss over this long period of over 70%, possibly even over 80% !!

Eyes: An absolutely glorious, dark (yet bright) amber-gold.

Nose: At first I'm greeted by the expected austere, rich anise, plummy depth and spicy vanilla. But this one is also offering an usual fresh mandarin orange and some weird detergent notes. Plus some very strong, surprisingly fresh wood polish and aggressive alcohol when compared to its brothers & sisters. The additional fresh notes could be interesting but they're clashing a bit with (and slightly muting) the refined and relaxed melody that I so love with these beautiful old rums.

Mouth: Woah, that's unexpected. When compared to the other 94 New Yarmouth I'm tasting today, this is like a different rum. Terrible alcohol integration, and a mouthful of slightly clashing flavours. The RA has a layer of spicy orange zest which feels perfectly integrated in the rum, whereas the Wild Parrot has fresh orange zest, fresh funkiness, a little fresh ginger and a whole load of bitter, tannic 'off nuts' taste that really doesn't work. It's not over oaky, or offering the wet wood notes I've observed on other older rums, it's more that's it's got some bad, and slightly confused flavours. A poor barrel, or has some younger rum been blended in? Sadly a flop for me in NY94 lineup. [82pts]

Hope you enjoy my reviews. Any feedback would be much appreciated 😎

Wishing you all a wonderful evening, and hope 2023 will be less of a shitshow that 2022!

Cheers

SecretRumBar