Royal Navy Tiger Shark by Velier – Review
2020 tasting
Velier’s 2nd edition Royal Navy “Tiger Shark” is a blend of rums from three distilleries: Jamaica’s Worthy Park, a Gusanease pot still rum from the DDL, and Caroni from Trinidad, bottled at 57.18% ABV (100 Imperial proof).
The aroma was very rich and intense, starting with walnuts, citruses, and nail polish remover, which was then followed by earthy and fruity notes. After some time the industrial notes took the lead such as, petrol, oil, metal, leather, burnt tires, and dust, which are probably coming from the Caroni component. Eventually, some grassy notes appeared, bringing to mind mint, lemongrass, asparagus and onion. Adding several drops of water brought up sweeter notes: caramel, toffee, burnt sugar, and molasses, together with some sourness.
As we wanted to discover all possible aromas of this rum, we let another sample breathe for five hours. After this time, we sensed that DDL’s aromas started to dominate (mainly honey and oak) with a solid dose of the smell of petrol, tires, and dust.
In the mouth, the initial spiciness caused by high ABV did not last too long and was gradually substituted by the notes of copper, minerals, red fruits, citruses and honey. Molasses was clearly distinguishable what brings to mind Pusser’s Blue Label. Finally, the industrial taste of Caroni appeared, together with sourness and toasted wood later on. Adding water brought sweeter tastes on the top and the taste of molasses and honey was more noticeable.
The sample that breathed for five hours was definitely more industrial in taste, with hints of leather, wood, rubber, and also molasses. Adding water made this rum more dry and the notes of wood and honey were the primary ones.
The rum is pleasantly warming and the leather, copper, and metal come back in the aftertaste to stay with us for long, followed by the taste of blood and highly mineralized water.
This is one of the best rums we’ve tried – tells a captivating story by gradually revealing new tastes and smells.
2023 update
The Tiger Shark is the last big bottle of a sipper we bought ourselves, before we switched to drinking samples almost exclusively. We camped for several weeks on Catawiki to get it for 80 EUR (which was good even in 2019) as a self-gift for Nikodem’s 25th birthday. It turns out, however, that this was an excellent buy, as it has been our second favorite rum for almost 2 years now. Now, we save this bottle for special moments and we use it as a reference for comparison whenever we encounter another outstanding rum.
The nose begins with all kinds of fruits – tropical, citrus, pineapple, apple, apricot, melon and berries, as well as dried fruits, with raisins at the first place. After closer analysis of the smell fruits turn overripe, and the notes of solvents and nail polish remover become more noticeable.
Gradually the drier tones arise such as coffee, a bit of smoke, old leather, woody notes of a charred barrel with a slightly burnt breakfast toast. Before the fruits and woods disappear, fresh, vegetal, grassy and floral notes come into play, with some acidity and cocoa – a frequent companion of the coffee we had at the beginning. At this point the Tiger Shark turns industrial and dirty with glue and copper at the front and grass and minerals hiding in the background. As we didn’t add water this time, the sweetness didn’t reveal.
The sipping begins exactly as smelling: with a variety of fruits and wood. There are tropical fruits: melons, kiwis, mangos and pineapples and the “basic” fruits: apples, berries, apricots in particular; raisins again represent the dried fruit section. In the mouth, the wood is spicy and accompanied by both the cocoa and coffee from the very beginning. It is more toasted and round, rather than roasted. At this point the taste still reproduces the aroma extremely closely: we get metallic and mineral taste, overripe fruits balancing the heavy industrial notes of glues, oils and petrol.
It is dirty and complex – flavors are constantly evolving. A new dimension full of spices opens up, with cloves, nutmeg, walnuts, almonds and black pepper and just a touch of lemon zest which gives a sour accent.
The Tiger Shark leaves our mouth with a bit of everything we have already had, maybe except the fruits. Finish is pleasantly long and oscillates between wood, cocoa, coffee and leather on the one side with metallic and mineral on the other.
This rum is just outstanding. The richness, complexity, intensity and coherence between the taste and aroma easily place it in the world class spirits sector.
