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4AF8F57B-A6C3-4A66-8205-15FEBCDEBD58Trinidad Caroni Velier
Velier Caroni 1st Employees Dennis „X“ Gopaul HTR 1998 70cl bottle
Bottle
Aged rum · 20 years · 69,5%

Velier Caroni 1st Employees Dennis „X“ Gopaul HTR 1998

Sip this one slowly and neat — at 69.5% it runs hot, and members warn the alcohol burns on bigger sips. What you get for the patience is classic Caroni: burnt rubber, tar, dark chocolate, bitter vanilla and salted caramel, with a long finish one taster called something to melt into. A "powerhouse" from the 1998 vintage, best in small pours.

The community says
  • Rubber and tar depth
  • Long melting finish
  • But: Very hot

Offers & prices

1,595.00 €incl. VAT
incl. VAT 70cl · 2,278.57 €/l
Total 1,595.00 € Free shipping
Whiskytempel Ø 2.5 days delivery time
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Delivery to Germany
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The look inside the bottle

How does Velier Caroni 1st Employees Dennis „X“ Gopaul HTR 1998 taste?

Summarized by AI from community reviews.

Hot, tarry cask-strength Caroni for sipping Loved as a heavy, aromatic Caroni with tar, rubber and caramel depth. The near-70% heat is the one recurring gripe — great in tiny sips, punishing in large ones.

Perfect for

Caroni fans who want heavy tar-and-rubber intensity

Less suitable for

Anyone sensitive to high ABV or heat

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

10 of 41 left detailed tasting impressions · Click an aroma to explore similar rums

Which glass for which rum? The community guide ›

Recommendation

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Gifting rum? 3 questions to the right bottle

First choice: 18 of 22 tasters who tried both prefer it.

What does the community say?

8.9/10 Very good

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

Top 15% of Trinidad rums

Rate it in the app
Distribution of all 41 ratings
9–10 24%
8–9 73%
7–8 2%
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 Jakob

Jakob
Oct 20241,666 reviewsSwitzerland
8.6/10

Epic Velier Caroni Tasting 2023: Aromatically a stunner, but the alcohol remains present. At just under 70%, this is not really a point of criticism, the rum is still excellent and fun to drink. Definitely one of the outstanding tropical representatives of the 1998 vintage.

Review by Oliver

Oliver
Apr 20231,232 reviewsGermany
8.4/10

Really great nose with lots of caramel and cocoa.The alcohol is too present on the palate (just under 70%) and prevents a top rating.

Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰

Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
Jun 20267,227 reviewsDenmark
9.0/10

05.06.2026 I am in the mood for Caroni today so I decided to dig out some of the samples I have. No spitting today for sure 😃 ----------- This rum comes in very powerful and strong. The alcohol can burn especially if you take larger sips. The price is pretty fair for a product of this quality and definitely worth a try if you're a connoisseur.

Expert reviews

2 critics scored it, averaging 9.1/10. Reviews from RumX's blog partners, independent experts who have tasted, evaluated, and described this rum.

Community shelf

81 bottles logged by 67 collectors.

A collector's bottle.

6% opened, 3 emptied.

76 sealed 2 open 3 emptied

What does Velier Caroni 1st Employees Dennis „X“ Gopaul HTR 1998 cost?

Community paid 370–1,866 €.

Current best price: 1,595.00 € – within the typical community range.

Purchase prices reported by members, not a shop price. Avg. 864 €. Full price & collection history in RX+ ›

81 purchased · 44 tasted · 31 wishlist · as of

Details about Velier Caroni 1st Employees Dennis „X“ Gopaul HTR 1998

A rum from Trinidad, bottled by Velier, at 69,5%.

DistilleryCaroni
CountryTrinidad
BottlerVelier
Raw materialMolasses
ABV69,5%
Age20 years
Vintage1998
Limited edition1,092 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 11,149 rums with at least 4 ratings, calculated on October 13, 2026. Scale and calculation in detail ›