Valinch & Mallet Diamond Skeldon SWR – Review
Overview
The SWR style comes from the original Coffey Still recipe of Sir William Russel (or Rose, according to other sources) which is associated with the Skeldon Distillery in Guyana–that’s why the SWR rums are nicknamed “Skeldon”. Unfortunately, the distillery closed in the 1960s and nowadays (probably) there isn’t any bottle of the original SWR left. Actually, there might have never been one as the estate operation ceased long before the single-cask era and the Guyanese rums were frequently used in the British Navy blends. Later on, the Diamond Distillery inherited this recipe and continued to produce rum with their four-column Savaille Still.
Velier (an Italian bottler and distributor famous in the rum world) has bottled two editions of the Skeldon rum in 2005, one distilled in 1973 and the other in 1978. It is fair to say that this moment was a breakthrough – the world has never seen such a good rum before. Nowadays, these two editions still get the highest notes from the spirits critics and are considered the best rums in history.
The success of the Velier’s Skeldons motivated many independent bottlers to include the SWR rum style in their portfolio. We tasted the Skeldon bottled by the Valinch & Mallet, who have gained attention with their high-quality “Spirit of Art” series released in 2021/22. This was a 50.7% rum distilled in 2001 and matured in Bourbon cask for 20 years (15% tropical, 85% continental aging).
AROMA
In the nose, initially, we smelled typical Skeldon notes: chocolate, wood and coffee, followed by walnuts and chemicals: solvents, nail polish remover, glue and iodine. The aroma was shy and quite acidic but at the same time sweet like honey and caramel. Several fruits appeared: raspberry, apple and apricot, dried fruits and raisins. After several minutes, barrel aromas of vanilla, leather, smoke and cardboard or charred wood appeared, concluded by floral and fresher notes.
TASTE
The taste was mainly composed of chocolate, coffee and wood. There was some cream or milk, several notes of dried fruits: apples, apricots and raisins. We could taste roasted wood and vanilla. Earthy and fresh notes with tobacco leaves, thyme, grass and tea concluded the tasting.
AFTERTASTE
The finish wasn’t spectacular, the mild impression of coffee and wood lasted somewhere between short and medium.
SUMMARY
Don’t get us wrong here, it was a decent rum. Fair, consistent, but nothing more, unfortunately. It was flat and one-dimensional, lacked intensity and richness that we knew from other Skeldons. A 20-years-old SWR can definitely do better.