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DD4C2ACE-5431-445D-878E-B8C6DCA71652Trinidad Caroni Whisky Krüger
Whisky Krüger Caroni Bürgermeister Rum HTR 1997 70cl bottle
Bottle
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Aged rum · 18 years · 63,8%

Whisky Krüger Caroni Bürgermeister Rum HTR 1997

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

Offers & prices

No shop currently delivers to Germany.

The look inside the bottle

How does Whisky Krüger Caroni Bürgermeister Rum HTR 1997 taste?

Summarized by AI from community reviews.

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.

Perfect for

Caroni fans who want fruit with the petrol

Less suitable for

Newcomers and anyone put off by tar

Experience level · Connoisseur (5/5)

Style & occasion: Mature & oakySipping neat

Full aroma profile Aroma families · nose & palate · top aromas
Flavor profile
Sweet & dessert
Spice
Wood
Dried fruit
Roasted & dark
Fruit
Funk & ester
Vegetal & floral

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 ›

Recommendation

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What does the community say?

9.0/10 Excellent

30 community reviews
14 selected write-ups on this page, all of them in the RumX app

Top 10% of Trinidad rumsTop 19% at Caroni

Rate it in the app
Distribution of all 30 ratings
9–10 77%
8–9 23%
7–8 0%
6–7 0%
5–6 0%
4–5 0%
0–4 0%

See the full rating guide

Positive from 8.0 · Mixed 6.0–7.9 · Critical below 6.0

Review by cigares

cigares
Jul 20251,173 reviewsSwitzerland
9.0/10

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

Leo Krüper
Dec 2024981 reviewsGermany
9.1/10

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

Aussierumfan
Feb 202499 reviewsAustralia
9.0/10

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.

Expert reviews

Reviews from RumX's blog partners, independent experts who have tasted, evaluated, and described this rum.

Community shelf

33 bottles logged by 21 collectors.

A collector's bottle.

9% opened, 1 emptied.

30 sealed 2 open 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. Full price & collection history 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%.

DistilleryCaroni
CountryTrinidad
Raw materialMolasses
ABV63,8%
Age18 years
Vintage1997
Limited edition96 bottles
MarkHTR
Volume70cl

Read on in the RumX Guide

Caroni

Distillery

Caroni 

Avg Rating 8.8/10 over 620 Rums

No closed distillery is chased harder than Caroni. The Trinidad distillery shut down in the early 2000s and not a drop has been made since, but its heavy, oily, almost diesel-like rum became a collector obsession, carried to the world by Velier. Every bottle now comes from a finite, shrinking stock, even though auction prices for some Velier Caronis have fallen since 2022.

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Rating guide

Every score is the median of members’ ratings, from 0 to 10. A 7 is already a recommendation to buy.

Share of 11,159 rums with at least 4 ratings, calculated on October 14, 2026. Scale and calculation in detail ›