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Rum Sponge Clarendoni 1997
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The blend nobody expected to work — and almost everyone here is glad it does. Fruity, funky Clarendon Jamaica meets dirty Caroni tar and rubber, and the two heavyweights actually trade blows in the glass: banana and dried fruit up front, tar, menthol and roasted oak in the back. Long, dry, tannic finish at 60% with the alcohol tucked in neatly. Bold, complex, and genuinely rare.
The community says- Both stills shine
- Dirty-fruity balance
- Long dry finish
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Yes, if you're after bold, mature, oaky rums for sipping neat.
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How does Rum Sponge Clarendoni 1997 taste?
From community reviews · summarized with AI
Rare Caroni-Clarendon blend, dirty meets fruity Near-universal admiration: tasters call it a bold, harmonious experiment where Caroni and Clarendon both come through clearly. A few flag the ambitious price, but nobody questions the rum itself.
Aroma profileCaroni and Jamaican funk collectors
newcomers put off by tar and rubber
Style & occasion: Mature & oakySipping neat
Full aroma profile Aroma families · nose & palate · top aromas
Relative to this rum's strongest aroma family
20 of 46 left detailed tasting impressions · Click an aroma to explore similar rums
Which glass for which rum? The community guide ›
What does the community say?
46 community reviews
Rating scale & review checks
On RumX, 7 means “Good” and 8 means “Very good”.
See the full rating guideHow ratings are made and how we check them ›The website shows a selection of written reviews. The distribution also includes ratings without text. All published reviews are available in the RumX app.
28 selected written reviews
The distribution above includes all 46 ratings, including those without text.
Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
#4197 It's very rare that blends like this, in my mind, very bold choice of rums. This one however Hits the nail on the head. The two mice very well and you get the cross cross of flavours from the two destilleres. Bold blend that pulls all the right strings.
Review by SaibotZtar
Very interesting blend . In the nose predominantly Jamaica Clarendon with fruit and honey.... after a few minutes comes some dough, wood and light menthol to it. On the palate very great mouthfeel at all nothing disturbing ... Fruit and the dirty flavors combine very well. Hardly any bitterness. I like very much.
Review by crazyforgoodbooze
Menthol mouthwash meets cola bottles and burnt rubber tires. Dry, woody and dirty at the same time. An exciting blend that is probably absolutely unique! Really crazy how Caroni and Clarendon battle each other and still form a harmony! Thank you Mirco 😄
Review by Aussierumfan
A very unique blend which I have been keen to try for a while, best of 2 worlds! On the nose there is clearly fruity, funky jamaica but there is also some dirty caroni coming through in the back ground. It's very flavoursome! Quite complex with well integrated alcahol. Fruity (which I guess is the clarendon) then spices, tar and nice wood. Really liked this one. With only 95 bottles produced its quite a rare bottling.
Review by TheRhumhoe
Congratulations to Decadent Drinks for creating such a daring blend. The nose is very deep and complex, combining the two origins to perfection: on the one hand, we have the dirty hydrocarbon and smoky wood notes of Caroni, and the fruity, fermented, medicinal and spicy notes of Clarendon on the other. The blend is very harmonious and structured. The attack on the palate is intense, with both powerful dirty notes and more spicy, gourmand notes. Vanilla, cocoa, coffee, caramel and tropical fruit mingle well with tar, rubber, tannic oak and notes of leather and pepper. The alcohol is very well integrated. The two worlds are well balanced, never managing to overpower each other to the delight of the taste buds. The finish is long, tannic, woody, dry, toasty and roasted on walnut and hazelnut, spicy on licorice and chili, bitter on cocoa, leather and mocha. Tar, rubber and menthol are reminiscent of Caroni, but with the added complexity of Clarendon. An astonishing, tasty and masterful blend.
Review by Joachim Guger
Super cool nose! The finish works perfectly. Warm, powerful, fuuuuuuunky.😃 Great mouthfeel, furry. Warms the whole throat when it goes down. A great rum movie. Won't be available in this form very often.😎 Thanks to Bonn for this truly great sample!!! 😀😀😀😀
Review by Mirco
Sensational blend! I really like both Caroni and Clarendon's, so I was very excited about this one. Works wonderfully, very complementary! Dirty notes with fresh camaican fruit. The courage of this blend alone deserves to be rewarded. 😆
Review by Oliver
Wow. The blend works really well!
Review by mto75
was already very excited about the Clarendoni. Such a blend is so far (to my knowledge) unique. On the nose, the EMB dominates first, with a little air in the glass I also have the Caroni. A 97 Caroni works really well here because it also brings a lot of fruity. On the palate, the two also play well together, dirty notes, dried fruit, barrel/tannins, espresso. There should be more such bold blends!
Review by LukaŽiga
9,2:On the nose, tar, rubber, dirty, some menthol, banana, mango, rhubarb, dried fruits(currants), roasted wood notes like caramel, spicy allspice, bump into our nosetrils. On aeration, molasses is grassy, herbaceous, grassy with hay, fruits are fermented, the rum is also funky, complex, yet balanced, pastry, roasted nuts, vanilla join, oak notes. 8.9:On the palate, the attack is dirty, industrial with rubber, tar, medicinal with solvents, later camphor, full-bodied, dry, creamy with dairy, roasted wood notes like caramel, smoky, meaty, spicy with allspice, vanilla, fruits are fermented with banana, citrus and red fruits, joined by dried fruits and molasses is flowery, herbaceous, minty, dark with black tea, earthy with tobacco, grassy with hay. 9:The finish is long, dry&tannic, warm, dirty, industrial, fruity with tropical, dried, citrus and red fruits, the oak is roasted, spicy, smoky, slightly resinous and molasses is dark with licorice, minty, vegetal, flowery with violet. Edit:9.10.26
Review by Thunderbird
What an experiment and taste experience. On the nose, the fruit aromas of the Clarendon alternate with the dirty aromas of the Caroni, the longer it lingers in the glass, the Caroni flavors prevail. On the palate, a true explosion of flavors that overwhelm you at first...but in a positive sense! It has an amazing complexity and the more it rolls over the tongue you keep discovering new facets! The finish is long and intense. This experiment has definitely succeeded 👍🏻👍🏻
Review by Jakob
At the outset, I must state that I pay my respect for the courage to dare such an experiment. Especially if the whole thing is then also in an amazing way coherent, because with Caroni and Clarendon undoubtedly two aromatic heavyweights meet. Does this also work in tasting? In fact, surprisingly well at first, because yes, the blend harmonizes. But - after standing for a while, I unfortunately detect a roasted note, which some 1997 Caronis bring with them, which only appeals to me personally to a limited extent and unfortunately turns out to be too present. The rest, however, is absolutely convincing - the alcohol is wonderfully integrated, the slight reduction to 60% works well. The Caroni remains aromatically somewhat more dominant, but gets a brave counterpart in the Clarendon, which repeatedly shows that it is also not of bad parents.
Review by Serge
The blend works very well. On the nose for me still a tad better than on the palate. On the other hand, it tastes no better to me than an old EMB or a 97 Caroni. So a nice experiment that produces an excellent rum, but doesn't improve on the two individual profiles. In all honesty, the 97 Sponge EMB actually tasted better to me.
Review by DomM
Very nice bottling. Both rums are heavy weights, which work excellent in this blend. Well balanced, yet both very distinct and present.
Review by zabo
A good combination, I couldn't have imagined. It's very good, but in my opinion a little overrated. What's more, because it's actually a blend, I think the price is too high.
Review by Leo Krüper
Fair review Cool stuff. Hats off that someone dares to dazzle something like this. In the nose Clarendon in the mouth Caroni. But very nicely blended. Great experience
Review by Maxence
Clarendon and Caroni ... two amazing distilleries but how a blend of these would taste ? Angus answered the question with this bold bottling. We can clearly feel aromas from both distilleries in perfect harmony and balance. This rum is complete madness !! 😋🤩
Review by RumTaTa
Tasted at the 12th GRF This experiment has definitely succeeded! Both stems of the individual old and heavy bRums are recognizable and harmonize very well together. Priced unfortunately also very ambitious.
Review by Skyfly
For me, one of the best blends I've ever tried - really makes you want a whole bottle! I don't want to comment much more than the others - this rum is a perfect symbiosis of two awesome rums!
Review by Chrischi78
An exciting experiment: fruity Clarendon notes meet the rough Caroni character. Complex, powerful and harmonious, with a nice long finish. This complex blend is surprisingly well done.
Review by Lukas Jäger
Tried on the 12th GRF and even blind. The confusion was quite big at first, I would never have thought that someone would blend these two together. Even though the Clarendon part was a little more dominant for me, this blend works surprisingly well. Powerful, complex and somehow very harmonious, it simultaneously emphasizes the strengths of both rums without putting them too much in the foreground. Somehow, however, the question of "why?" still remains for me, which is why I can't award it a 9.0
Review by Beach-and-Rum 🏖️🌴
The highly praised Clarendoni fully met expectations. Super nice interplay of fruity and dirty notes. The finish is insanely long. Many thanks Daniel for the great split :)
Review by Martin Spooner
Dirty rubber notes already on the nose. Very promising scent. On the palate then a cool thing. Very nice depth. Wonderfully dirty. Had been looking forward to it for a long time and the anticipation was not disappointed.
Review by Buddudharma
Very nice blend, both components come through equally and complement each other. The fruity notes of a navy blend are naturally missing, but this is still a great rum with a high recognition value.
Review by Alex1981
Horny experiment! Both Clarendon and Caroni character come through, dirty & ripe bananas. Horny if you ignore the price
Review by Pavel Spacek
... Caroni is a distillery from Trinidad, producing at the time of its greatest glory rum, which was added at a ratio of 1:10 to the naval blend. It was too strong and strange to be pleasant on the tongue. In 2000, the distillery ceased production and closed. Only in 2010 did tasters appear who took a liking to the rum because of its special taste. And the interest grew. Caroni belongs to the category of "you need to try before you die" rums. I recommend it, Caroni is a truly unique rum.
Review by Mentalo
Interesting blend that works surprisingly well. The EMB dominates the nose, the Caroni clearly dominates the palate with beautiful dirty notes. But the Monymusk also comes through again and again, especially the longer the rum is given time. The alcohol is perfectly integrated. An experience for fans of both styles, only the price is unfortunately a downer
Review by Yarovish
Mostly Caroni all the way, but the subtle 90s Clarendon note is present which just makes it way less of a Caroni face punch, as good as that is. Phenomenal blend!
This selection contains no written reviews in this rating range.
Rum Sponge Clarendoni 1997 at live auctions
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All live auctions ›Community shelf
11 bottles logged by 10 collectors.
A collector's bottle.
9% opened, 1 emptied.
What did the community pay for Rum Sponge Clarendoni 1997?
Community paid 484–590 €.
Purchase prices reported by members, not a shop price. Avg. 551 €. Full price & collection history in RX+ ›
11 purchased · 47 tasted · 31 wishlist · as of
Details about Rum Sponge Clarendoni 1997
A rum from Multiple countries, bottled by Decadent Drinks LTD, at 60%.
Read on in the RumX Guide
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