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E1D3ADF9-3753-4C87-9610-6E9DAE26731BTrinidad Caroni The Rum Cask
TRC Caroni Trinidad HTR 1997 70cl bottle
Bottle
Aged rum · 18 years · 64,1%

TRC Caroni Trinidad HTR 1997

Tar, rubber and bicycle-tube "dirt" wrapped in dried fruit, vanilla and licorice — this 1997 Caroni from The Rum Cask hits that classic dirty-meets-fruity balance people chase. At 64.1% it makes real "power," and most tasters say the alcohol sits well after time in the glass. A few found it a touch too brachial next to gentler 97s.

The community says
  • Tar and rubber
  • Fruity and dirty balance
  • But: High proof heat
Currently no offers for delivery to Germany.

The look inside the bottle

How does TRC Caroni Trinidad HTR 1997 taste?

Aggregated from 34 community reviews.

Dirty, fruity, high-proof Caroni sipper Loved across the board as a proper dirty-yet-fruity Caroni with tar, rubber and dried fruit. The main gripe: the high proof can turn a bit brutal and needs air.

Perfect for

Caroni fans who love tarry, fruity cask-strength rum

Less suitable for

Anyone put off by high proof or heavy rubber-and-tar notes

Style & occasion

How the community classifies this rum. Each category takes you to similar rums.

Which glass for which rum? The community guide →

20 of 34 left detailed tasting impressions · Click an aroma to explore similar rums

Recommendation

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How is TRC Caroni Trinidad HTR 1997 rated?

RumX’s 0–10 scale is strict: 8.9 sits in the “Very good” band. 100% of tasters rate it Good or better; only 0% rate it below average. See the full rating guide →

Community voices

What does the community say?

100% rate it 8 or higher. 18 selected write-ups from 34 community ratings. You can view the complete list in our app.

Review by cigares

cigares
Mar 2025933 reviewsSwitzerland
9.0/10

Spirits Museum Tasting 29th of March 2025. Un nez très fruité avec un côté pâtissier très gourmand, l’atelier mécanique (goudron et caoutchouc) vient après et avec le bois très bien intégré donne à ce rhum une splendide complexité. La bouche est super ample, puissante mais malgré tout harmonieuse. Tous les arômes, les mêmes qu’au nez, se combinent très bien et le bois même s’il est plus présent qu’au nez reste très abordable. La finale est longue, harmonieuse et la puissance de ce rhum descend tout doucement. Un léger piquant en fin de bouche lui enlève quelques points.

Review by TheRhumhoe

TheRhumhoe
TheRhumhoe
Feb 2025918 reviews
8.9/10

Un Caroni suave et élégant. Le nez est rond, plaisant et équilibré, avec de jolies notes sales sur le goudron, le caoutchouc, la colle et le pneu de vélo. On décèle le bonbon au caramel qui donne beaucoup de délicatesse au profil, qui a une dominante sur le bois, les épices, le fumé, le cuir et le tabac. Un peu de fruits (secs notamment) viennent apporter un peu de fraîcheur. Un Caroni conventionnel mais charmant. En bouche, c’est un Caroni huileux, rond et extrêmement gouleyant qui s’ouvre à nous. Les notes terpéniques, fumées, épicées et boisées sont bien fondues dans le décor, laissant le bonbon au caramel et les fruits tropicaux un peu plus de place au palais. Le profil est complet et si agréable qu’on le boirait comme du petit lait. L’alcool est superbement bien intégré. La finale est longue, plus sèche mais tout aussi ronde. Les tanins sont plus présents. On retrouve plus d’épices, plus de notes toastées et du sucre brûlé qui prolongent le délice en bouche. Les fruits secs et les notes empyreumatiques sont subtils mais l’ensemble est très harmonieux. Un Caroni doux et des plus sensuels, très attrayant et savoureux, un régal.

Review by LukaŽiga

LukaŽiga
Jan 2025799 reviewsSlovenia
8.7/10

8,5:On the nose, the first impression we get is quite rigid roasted wood notes like caramel, burnt sugar, nuts, leather, spicy vanilla and industrial ones with rubber and tar.It needs time to reveal its depth with other notes, as a molasses is dark with licorice then, vegetal, eucalyptus is also there after an oxidation, the wood is smoky, spicy with pepper, the first fruits that arise are citrus, then dried with raisins, prunes and tropical with mango, banana.Later the rum becomes tannic, as some meat notes could pop up. 8,8:On the palate, the attack is fruity and industrial with dried fruits like apricots, raisins, citrusy orange, the industrial ones are rubber, tar, bicycle tube.The wood is charred, creamy with caramel, nuts, burnt sugar, milk chocolate, spicy with vanilla, pepper. After resting, it becomes dirtier, there is some menthol, the molasses is darker with licorice, vegetal with herbal notes, a bit flowery. The longer in glass, more delicious it is, as yellow fruits, plum and banana could be tasted... 8,7:The finish is long with dirty industrial notes, menthol, roasted and spicy, dry wood, tropical and dried fruits, a bit bitter, tannic..

Review by M@xiM

M@xiM
Jul 202325 reviewsPoland
9.6/10

Aroma: floral, dense, wine, smoky-tropical, paint and varnish smoky notes are comprehensively mixed with tropical aromas, a very cool tropical aroma. Taste: dense, a lot of fruit with sourness, then a smoky plume, paint and varnish notes in the background. Long smoky fruity aftertaste. The fortress is high and I don't really understand all the nuances, but damn it's very tasty. Аромат: цветочный, плотный, винный, дымно-тропический, лакокрасочные дымные ноты комплексно перемешаны с тропическими ароматами, очень крутой тропический аромат. Вкус: плотный очень много фруктов с кислинкой, затем дымный шлейф, на заднем плане лакокрасочные ноты. Долгое дымное фруктовое послевкусие. Крепость высокая и я не сильно разбираю все нюансы, но блин это очень вкусно.

Review by Lot-NAS

Lot-NAS
Oct 2023226 reviewsGermany
9.1/10

A lot of liquorice, vanilla, tar and rubber. Complimented by spices, dried tropical fruits and hints of incense. After some time I also found a little bit of blackcurrant and eucalyptus. The palate is oily, sweet and spicy with perfectly integrated alcohol and all from above. The finish is long and warm, again with liquorice, vanilla and some tar. A great Caroni overall. Many thanks to SaibotZtar for the Sample!

Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰

Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
Mar 20225,618 reviewsDenmark
9.2/10

I always love when there is a Caroni in the tasting and this one was no exception. The nose is typical Caroni with tar and rubber in the woodiness. Fruits, vanilla and licorice compliment the overall nose. The oily palate takes off where the nose finishes, and the tarry rubber, wood is very well balanced with the fruit and vanilla. The finish is very long and woody with rubber, tropical fruits and vanilla.

Review by Lukas Jäger

Lukas Jäger
Dec 2024519 reviewsGermany
9.0/10

Schöner 97er Caroni von TRC! Mit 64% ordentlich Power, aber der Alkohol ist recht gut eingebunden. Eher auf der etwas fruchtigeren Seite, jedoch auch mit ordentlich Holz, das wunderbar ins Gesamtprofil integriert ist. Hinter allem liegt ein ölig-dreckiges Profil, das Caroni auf jede Geschmacksknospe schreibt. Wirklich schöne Abfüllung, davon würde ich auch eine Flasche nehmen!

Review by Leo Krüper

Leo Krüper
Dec 2024888 reviewsGermany
8.5/10

Solid 97 Caroni. Really a good batch with many exciting continental bottlings. Heavy workshop notes paired with a deep sweetness. Caroni in its purest form. In comparison with other 97 Caronis (Bürgermeister, S-Shop), this one unfortunately comes across as too brute. Unfortunately, the alcohol drowns out a lot, as the competitors are much more delicate.

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Market value

What this bottle last achieved at auction. A research indicator, not a forecast.

Auction results 334 € – 443 €

from 4 sales, latest 10/2025

Prices incl. buyer's premium — what a buyer pays, not what a sale nets you.

Avg. community purchase price 393 €

What members paid for this bottle, self-reported. Not a market value — the purchases are over three years old at the median and unverified.

How we calculate this →

Details about TRC Caroni Trinidad HTR 1997

A Pot Still Rum from Trinidad, bottled by The Rum Cask, at 64,1%.

CountryTrinidad
DistilleryCaroni
CategoryPot Still Rum
DistillationPot Still
ABV64,1%
Volume70cl
Age18 years
Vintage1997
Limited edition255 bottles

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Community purchases

26 bottles logged by 15 collectors.

A drinker & collector.

19% opened, 4 emptied and repurchased.

21 sealed 1 open 4 emptied

What did the community pay for TRC Caroni Trinidad HTR 1997?

Community paid 88–347 €.

What members actually paid for their bottles. A typical range, not the current shop price. Full price & collection history in RX+ →

26 purchased · 36 tasted · 16 wishlist · as of

Read on in the RumX Guide

Caroni

Distillery

Caroni 

Avg Rating 8.8/10 620 Rums

No closed distillery is chased harder than Caroni. The Trinidad distillery shut down around 2002 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, which is exactly why the prices keep climbing.

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Rating guide

RumX's 0–10 scale is strict. Here's what each band means.

9.0–10.0 Excellent Stash as many as you can afford. Tell no one.
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