Aroma visualization from community tastings
Whisky Krüger Caroni Bürgermeister Rum HTR 1997
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Tar, varnish and pencil shavings up front — the garage-floor side of Caroni — but this 1997 keeps surprising people with fruit: ripe mango, apricot, orange, overripe banana, a touch of burnt sugar and toffee. Several tasters call it an unusually fruity, "non-typical" Caroni. At 63.8% it runs hot and oily, so give it air. Divisive by nature, loved by nearly everyone who tried it.
The community says- Oily petrol depth
- Unusual ripe fruit
- Long warm finish
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10 more payment methodsLive auctions
Offers & prices
No shop currently delivers to Germany.
Auction results: 434–515 € (4 sales in 24 months, incl. buyer's premium, latest 12/2025). How the range is built ›
Buying advice
These ship to you
Yes, if you're after bold, mature, oaky rums for sipping neat.
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The look inside the bottle
How does Whisky Krüger Caroni Bürgermeister Rum HTR 1997 taste?
From community reviews · summarized with AI
Fruity, oily 1997 Caroni that surprises Regulars rate it one of the better 1997s — the classic petrol-and-tar backbone stays, but the fruit and balance win people over. A few note it can turn heavy with too much air.
Caroni fans who want fruit with the petrol
Newcomers and anyone put off by tar
Style & occasion: Mature & oakySipping neat
Full aroma profile Aroma families · nose & palate · top aromas
Relative to this rum's strongest aroma family
8 of 30 left detailed tasting impressions · Click an aroma to explore similar rums
Which glass for which rum? The community guide ›
What does the community say?
30 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.
14 selected written reviews
The distribution above includes all 30 ratings, including those without text.
Review by cigares
A surprisingly soft nose with lots of fruit, overripe banana and other caramelized fruits, but also clearly mechanical workshop notes. The entry on the palate starts lightly but immediately the whole mouth is filled with complex and deep flavors and aromas. A very slight carbonation in the finish. The finish is majestic on the fruits with a somewhat strong diesel note. The empty glass smells of the mechanical workshop with a burst of fruit. This rum tells a story, a story of a mechanical workshop in the middle of a vast tropical orchard. Re-tasted at the Caroni tasting at the Spirits Museum and seems a little less good. Re-tasted with more oxidation and the tar takes over too much for my taste.
Review by Leo Krüper
Incredibly good for a 97. Not at the level of the 96, but still great. Round, vanilla-like, not very dirty. Above all, it worked great for such a small clique
Review by Aussierumfan
A wonderful Caroni!! I havnt tried enough of them to be able to compare vintages but this is a great 1997. Smells wonderfully musty and has a lovely mouthfeel. I gave it some time to settle, I can detect oily petrol, along with fruits in the background. Hints of Glue as well? I managed to buy one of these origional 50ml sample bottles on rum auctioneer a year or so back. Well worth trying if you can get your hands on it, I don't see it around much online.
Review by TheRhumhoe
A superb Caroni in every way. The nose has great depth and a broad aromatic spectrum: terpenic notes come first (petrol, tar, rubber, polish, smoky notes), followed by fruit (exotic, raisin), toasted wood and spices (vanilla, pepper), as well as a touch of caramel and burnt sugar. The whole is well-balanced, intense and elegant. The attack on the palate is equally striking. Burnt sugar, caramel and toffee compete for dominance with the dirty notes of a car garage. The rum is warm, oily, intense and complex. The exotic fruit is still present, as are spices (chili, vanilla), wood, leather and a rather bewitching medicinal edge. The alcohol is perfectly integrated. The finish extends the pleasure to infinity. Tannins dry out the palate, which retains the oil, fruit, wood, spice and smoke aromas. Caramel, burnt sugar and toffee add sweetness to a finish of rare intensity. An excellent Caroni, the standard-bearer of its vintage.
Review by Joachim Guger
Dust-dry on the nose. Lacquer, polish, dirty caroni notes (petrol), pencil and a hint of fruit (raisin, ripe mango). Outstanding! 😍 With a little breathing, it becomes rounder and the fruit becomes more present. Great mouthfeel. Burnt caramel. Hardly dirty. And then a wonderful finish. Great 1997 Caroni. Very close to my reference RX358. Excellent and different from a fully tropically matured Caroni. Both can be very good 😀😀😀😀 Thanks to Bonn for this great sample.
Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
17.05.2019 Nice get together at my place with nice spread of rums. Notes Dark to very dark in colour. Nose Fresh, wood, light roasted, light tar, faint rubber, cherry, light caramel. Palate Oily, balanced, complex, cherry, dried fruit, light tar, light rubber, spicy, light caramel. Finish Very long and warm, wood, light roasted, dried fruit, light rubber, faint tar, light prunes. I'm so happy I have the other releases as samples.
Review by Gunnar Böhme "Bauerngaumen" 🤓
An unusual Caroni - and a truly exceptional rum!
Review by mto75
In direct comparison with the blog a Roger (88), the mayor is still a little ahead, hence 89.
Review by Matthias
For me personally one of the best 1997s. Has nen very own taste and he can probably also split. No Caroni as one is accustomed to him from eg Velier. It reminds me a bit of a full-bodied wine when you smell it for the first time. Very tasty
Review by w00tAN
Unusually fruity on the nose for a Caroni, I would never have guessed blind. Honey, wood, orange, apricot, plum? On the palate then strong, honey or jam with fine spiciness. Long finish though with slight sharpness. Alcohol well integrated. Very interesting. Thanks Gunnar for the sample!!
Review by Pavel Spacek
Strong technical oil taste. Wow! ... Caroni is a distillery from Trinidad, producing at the height of its fame a rum that was added in 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 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 Mopar Rules
a very nice, non-typical Caroni. Very fruity on nose and palate with apricot and orange dominating the scale. A decent influence of the cask and some roasty flavors add up to a quite complex character
Review by Mr. Stups
Very good Caroni.
Review by Franzi
Very interesting, very special notes that are not for every evening for me, but definitely exciting. The notes are intense and yet hard to describe: pencil, dirt a bit lighter, therefore more drinkable than other Caronis.
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 In Spiritus Veritas
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Whisky Krüger Caroni Bürgermeister Rum HTR 1997 at live auctions
A bid is not a final price: the house sets the buyer's premium, shipping and any customs duty.
All live auctions ›Community shelf
33 bottles logged by 21 collectors.
A collector's bottle.
9% opened, 1 emptied.
What did the community pay for Whisky Krüger Caroni Bürgermeister Rum HTR 1997?
Community paid 67–136 €.
Purchase prices reported by members, not a shop price. Price history with 4 auction results in RX+ ›
33 purchased · 30 tasted · 12 wishlist · as of
Details about Whisky Krüger Caroni Bürgermeister Rum HTR 1997
A rum from Trinidad, bottled by Whisky Krüger, at 63,8%.
Read on in the RumX Guide
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