Aroma visualization from community tastings
The Duchess Caroni Nautilus 1991
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Tar and rubber sit lighter here than most Caroni fans want, with yellow fruit — apricot, apple, a little mango — vanilla and dry American oak filling the middle. This 1991 Duchess is a 31-year-old at cask strength, and most tasters call it a restrained, textbook Caroni that never fully opens. Several note the alcohol isn't perfectly integrated and the palate dips mid-sip.
The community says- Yellow fruit, apricot
- Balanced at 54%
- Keep in mind: Restrained, one-dimensional
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No shop currently delivers to Germany.
Auction results: 775–1,273 € (2 sales in 24 months, incl. buyer's premium, latest 01/2026). How the range is built ›
The look inside the bottle
How does The Duchess Caroni Nautilus 1991 taste?
From community reviews · summarized with AI
Light, restrained old Caroni, oak-forward Recognizably Caroni but muted — light tar, rubber and yellow fruit over oak. Many find it too restrained and a touch hot; a few praise its balance and easy drinking.
Caroni collectors who want a lighter, oak-driven old profile
Fans chasing heavy tar-and-rubber Caroni intensity
Style & occasion: Mature & oakySipping neat
Full aroma profile Aroma families · nose & palate · top aromas
Relative to this rum's strongest aroma family
17 of 27 left detailed tasting impressions · Click an aroma to explore similar rums
Which glass for which rum? The community guide ›
Buying advice
Is it right for you?
Yes, if you're after bold, mature, oaky rums for sipping neat.
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What does the community say?
27 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.
20 selected written reviews
The distribution above includes all 27 ratings, including those without text.
Review by Thunderbird
Most helpful positive review
This Caroni is more on the spicy, darker side. While I still perceive notes of yellow fruits and peach on the nose, these are completely lost on the palate, where there are only spices, roasted and chemical aromas. These also continue in the finish. This is not a Caroni that appeals to me... I find it lacking in fruitiness and balance.
Review by Tom Buteneers
Most helpful mixed review
Very fruity with the recognizable Caroni notes present but not overpowering. Very well balanced and easy to drink, the 54,1% hits the perfect spot.. Glad to have a couple cl left after the split on the forum. Happy to give my father a taste of it today. Revisit 23/10/2024: I’ve accumulated more experience on the Caroni spectrum over the last half year so I wanted to know how it holds up nowadays. My palate has evolved clearly. I would describe it as a good rum nowadays but not necessarily a very good Caroni anymore. Tropical aged Veliers have corrupted me 🥲
Review by cigares
A rather interesting nose with lots of fruit (pear and apricot among others), bitter herbs, minerality and rubber. On the palate, there's a very bumpy start, followed by a dip and the reappearance of a few aromas. Red apple and apricot, bitter herbs, rubber. The finish is short, but some aromas persist, including butterscotch. The empty glass is more balanced, with a woody/smoky edge. Far from uninteresting, but not the Caroni you'd dream of owning. The imbalance on the palate is what disappointed me here. Thanks Tom for the split.
Review by Jakob
Quite restrained on the nose, with hints of wood and spices and a few Caroni-typical medicinal, rubbery aromas alongside muted fruit notes. A little more happens on the palate, the fruit becomes more expressive, as does the wood. Gradually, some tar, fruit and minerality are added, as well as spices and sweet aromas. It comes across as an HTR light, the aromas lack punch - unfortunately too colorless overall.
Review by Rodolphe
Thanks to Tom for this beautiful split. Well, we're in Caroni territory on the nose, no doubt about it. The oily, rubbery notes are there. But the nose is a little closed, next to it is essentially wood. Then, with time, rather pleasant yellow fruit aromas develop, even if the nose remains relatively closed. On the palate, spices, yellow fruit and more "garage" notes. In the end, it's pretty good, the oil/rubber flavors not being my favorite. But on such an old rum and at such a price, one might expect a stronger, more expressive profile.
Review by Leo Krüper
A slightly spirited, sharp 1991. Only very slight hints of Caroni. Some 91 TDLs have more of a Caroni feel. Slightly bitter, slightly tarry. Overall, not a good Caroni at all. The price of €1000 is unreasonable for the quality.
Review by Mentalo
I'm torn in the evaluation. The rum is of good quality, although not particularly complex. Very fruity with slight, dirty Caroni notes. I didn't find it wrong, although I expected more "Caroni". For the price, I should actually deduct 10 points.
Review by DomM
Nose is definitely on the lighter side of things. While there isn’t any Caroni dirt, it is not quite a flat column nose either. Solvent, vanilla, some wax and (rather fresh) yellow fruits and apple. On the palate: vanilla, caramel and chocolate. Some wood and yellow fruits in the background. By far not terrible. However, not exiting either. Definitely nothing akin to the sought after HTRs. For background info what this stuff actually is, I highly recommend Steffen‘s Caroni bible :) Side note: I just tasted some 1991 TDLs in parallel. They are handsdown preferable over this - at least if you plan on drinking rather than collecting.
Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
#6352 Enjoying a few samples while watching the final days of the Eco-Challenge Fiji. I admire how tough these people are and they just keep racing for days on end with very little sleep. Thank you Henrik for the free samples 😊 A pretty Ok release with fruits and some light rubber and diesel notes.
Review by crazyforgoodbooze
I wouldn't necessarily have been blind with caroni, especially from the nosing, but rather with similarly old, rather Spanish 92 TDLs... The taste is already recognizable as caroni, albeit rather restrained and in the background. Could still be a TDL with more power throughout. For 1000€ the alcohol is also too beastly and poorly integrated for me and overall the PLV here is rather bad than right for me... You can do it, but you can also leave it.
Review by Rowald Sweet Empire
So Caroni is crazy expensive these days. Would have never bought this (900?1000?€) bottle...but thanks to sample swaps I got a bit to taste. So the nose is pretty dense. Dusty, musty, tar, bit of rubber. Vanilla. Blackcurrants. Dry. American oak. Not extraordinary. Caroni texbook. Which reminds me that TDL can make something quite close to this although more fruity (berries)! Taste: so again musty, dusty, tar and...berries! The red fruits kick in. A bit of mango. Tannins. Woodspice. Hint of pepper. Pretty balanced. Easy on the tar. Not much rubber. Nice and likable...but, big but..is this really better or more special than 2000-2006ish TDL? This profile gets very close..but cost a lot more. A very enjoyable drop. Balanced. But I miss the weirdness in it. Glad to have tried this though.
Review by Johannes
Relatively neutral with few caroni notes. Tastes like neutral alcohol that has been stored for a long time. I cannot associate this rum with Caroni.
Review by Jarek
Franconian Rum Tasting Gang & Jakob, 2023-07-27 Part 3: Yes, it is clearly a Caroni, a bit dirty, a bit tar, a bit rubber. But very one-dimensional, boring and unspectacular. Fruit somewhat underrepresented. I could still understand around 150,- euros for the bottle. But for the release price, quite a disappointment.
Review by zabo
Unfortunately not as good as hoped. At first, it was a bit too alcoholic for me. After a very long standing time, quite palatable. But now the but: overall it seems quite fleeting and the notes rather reserved.
Review by Pavel Spacek
... Caroni is a distillery from Trinidad, producing rum at the height of its fame, which was added in a ratio of 1:10 to naval blends. It was too strong and strange to be pleasant on the tongue. In 2000 the distillery ended production and was closed. Only in 2010 did tasters appear who liked the rum precisely for its special taste. And interest grew. Caroni belongs to the category of rums "you need to try before you die." I recommend it, Caroni is really a unique rum.
Review by Oliver
Quite reserved, inconspicuous Caroni. The alcohol could be better integrated.
Review by JFehr
Chocolatey, woody and spicy. The price is of course extremely exaggerated. Still a nice rum.
Review by FischeJ
Quite alcoholic. Few Caroni characteristics as I find. Some rubber but not very dirty. Quite spicy. On the palate I also miss the fullness. Pretty fruity. Expectation, price and quality somehow don’t match here unfortunately.
Review by Gregor
Pleasant nose of chocolate bean, citrus fruits (orange, grapefruit), slight rubber, some smoke and walnut Palate: like the nose, rubber/tire comes through a bit more, alcohol very well integrated, finish with sweet mango, papaya
Review by Arnaud Faverjon
A fairly light profile, the nose took a good 30 minutes to finally express itself. Rather pleasant on the whole, without being overpowering, we're far from a heavy rum, but age has done it good.
This selection contains no written reviews in this rating range.
Expert reviews
Reviews from RumX's blog partners, independent experts who have tasted, evaluated, and described this rum.
Expert review by Single Cask Rum
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The Duchess Caroni Nautilus 1991 at live auctions
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All live auctions ›Community shelf
2 bottles logged by 1 collectors.
A drinker's rum.
50% opened, 0 emptied.
What does The Duchess Caroni Nautilus 1991 cost?
Avg. community purchase price 995 €.
What members paid for this bottle, self-reported. Not a market value — the purchases are over three years old at the median and unverified.
Current best price: 1,290.00 €.
2 purchased · 27 tasted · 2 wishlist · as of
Details about The Duchess Caroni Nautilus 1991
A rum from Trinidad, bottled by The Duchess, at 54,1%.
Read on in the RumX Guide
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