Not much excitement, but just enough to huzzah.
Introduction
Longueteau. Perhaps my favorite name in all of rum. Not because of their products or heritage or reknown. Just the word. Longueteau.
Spoken like a true french person the word comes with such softness and libido that you’re bound to fall a little in love with it.
Kind of like Damoiseau but softer.
Anyway … coming from Guadeloupe we are very much in agricole territory. And having been around since 1895 we are dealing with one the the good ole boys.
Handed down from father to son for 4 generations and originally starting out as a sugar refinery, Longueteau follows the same path as so many other Caribbean rum distilleries.
Apparrently the only distillery in Guadeloupe to exclusively use their own cane, sets them apart from the rest.
Using their traditional column still they have given birth to a wide arry of rums.
White ones including the “parcelle” rhums, which are made exclusively with cane from certain areas of their cane fiels, resulting in rhums with very different charateristics directly inherited from the terroir, and their more anonymous cocktail friendly ones.
Amber, mostly spiced rhums.
And finally old rhums, with some very interesting rhums among them including the 120th anniversary rhum in the twisted decanter.
Oddly enough the rhum I’ve chose for todays field trip doesn’t show up anywhere on their page.
My good friend Gregers came by with this bottle in his hand and eagerly told me to draw a sample because it was a mad man. And as the good guy I am, I obliged to do so.
Lacking information from the official webpage, I once again had to resort to the good old reliable interwebs for more information.
Very well. The Genesis.
Distilled in 2015 from the juice of red cane, and then kept in steel tanks for 24 months.
The storage in steel tanks let them bottle it in 2017 at distillation strength – a proof of 73,51% which will surely just disintegrate your brain and not feel any guilt about it.
Only 5.000 bottles exist, which used to be a lot and would often stretch for several years. I don’t know how likely they are to sell out quickly today, but there should be ample opportunity to get one still.
Presentation
Now this is something special.
The bottle has the length of a typical bar room bottle, but wears a square footprint.
It’s white and looks almost ceramic. Come to think of it, I don’t remember if it was ceramic or just a coated bottle when I had it in my hands. Unfortunately I only have a sample of it now, and living in the countryside with no proper rum shop anywhere within reasonable mileage, I can’t confirm or deny it myself.
According to online sources it comes in some sort of cardboard cage to diverting all attention to the (faux) ceramic bottle.
The bottle sports some pretty nice artwork with lines and curlicues all over the place.
As for text and information we don’t get much. But then again, a white agricole bottled at still strength from Guadeloupe. What more is there to say? Not much actually.
Pouring it into the glass the liquid is crystal clear. Twirling it leaves the obvious film on the inside of the glass, but other than that it looks much like regular tap water.
I must say that the proclaimed strengh of unbelievable seventy three point five one percent scares me a little. It’s the strongest rum I’ve ever had the pleasure of sitting down with, and I fear a little for my insides.
Time to man up and get to it.
Nose
Strike the comment about tap water.
Shortly after pouring it, you slowly get overwhelmed by a fresh and thick flow of fruity scents.
It creeps up on you much like a magma flow and then slowly overpowers you and pins you to the ground.
And that’s from a foot away.
Pulling it closer the cane juice origins becomes extremely evident and brings with it scents of freshly cut grass, green apple juice and an acidic edge along the line of sour cream or yoghurt.
It feels super intense and concentrated, but has absolute no stab at all, which is super impressive the considering the inhuman strenght.
Taste
Rolling it over your tongue, please take extreme care as the magma flow is VERY real.
It comes in with extreme heat, and a blast of grassy cane juice and something acidic. Like the way taking a bite of an apple months away from being ripe makes your teeth feel.
At the very front if it you’ll also find a layer of very salty liquorice or ammonia, but not in an unpleasant way. It’s like it’s the catalyst that gets the heat and the cane going.
For an unaged spirit it is super tasty though.
It feels extremely pure and honest, delivering only what you would expect from an unaged agricole – and then a little extra.
It reminds me very much of a dialed back version of the Clairin Sajous with lesser funk and lesser madness, but many of the flavours being much alike.
And yet the Genesis has has an ABV advantage of around 20% on the Sajous.
Finish
Following the heat blast of volcanic proportions, you get a long time with the heat to try and get friendly with it. And just as you realise that it’s a battle that you’re bound to lose, it starts to let go.
Then the liquorice and cane juice lingers for some time while a spicy layer of white pepper and anise gently blends into the mix.
The acidic green apples it there in the background slowly tidying up the place as the individual flavours go a way.
In the end there is just a pleasant feeling of warmth, a little bit of the sour apples and clear sinuses left.
Beautiful.
Rating and final thoughts
During the last year or so I must admit that I’ve taken a liking to the white, unaged rums.
Especially the agricoles which I feel does a way better job unaged than their molasses cousins.
But as a common denominator for both I feel that the honest, naked nature of an unaged rum is just so refreshingly easy to see through in a world where aged rums still are a mine field at best.
Unaged, straight from the still. Not many shenanigans here.
The Genesis is just that. Totally devoid of shenaningans or marketing bullshit.
I know it’s a bit far fetched but perhaps the name refers to the rebirth of rum. A rebirth from clouded, luring marketing strategies to a more true and pure reality.
One can only hope.
The value of the Genesis is quite fair at a price around €65. Especially when you factor in the proof of it. But if I had to go out and get one myself, I think I would go for the Longueteau Parcelle no1 or no9 instead. Both being unaged agricoles but at “just” 55% ABV instead. And both equally enjoyable if my memory serves me right.
Furthermore a set of the no1 and no9 can be acquired for around €80 and gives you the opportunity to try to almost identical rhums side by side – the only difference being the terroir of the cane used, as they come from different parts of the island. And that sort of education is worth more than just experiencing a straight from the still blast of insanity. Or is it? You’ll have to decide for yourself.
I enjoyed the Genesis very much for its pure, head on blast of cane juice splendor.
The profile is somewhat narrow and lacks the depth and complexity derived from an appropriate amount of years slumbering in barrels.
It’s a bit of a one trick pony as flavours and scents doesn’t deviate much from what you would expect from an unaged acricole.
I’m pretty certain that if you’re not a seasoned agricole drinker or get a chance to try it side by side with other white agricoles, the only extraordinary memory you’ll be left with, is the strength of it.
Not many rums get issued at +70% and perhaps for a reason.
After just a few moderate sips of this badboy I could feel my ability to operate heavy machinery evaporate like dew in a tropic sunrise.
I’m sure that a little less oblivion would have made it display its many colours even better.
Quality and effort is very high on the scales. No doubt. And it is very tasty, and the way it leaves is as pretty as a sunset.
So of course it need to be rewarded for that. But at the same time we can’t blow the charts as it does lack some finesse, some excitement and both depth and complexity.
Therefore a…
Rating: 77/100
Rum Corner 