Bristol Port Mourant 1999

Review by Jakob

Most helpful positive review

Jakob

Apr 20251,666 reviewsSwitzerland

8.0/10

Still noticeably young, the PM profile is recognizable with wet wood notes, dark spice aromas of pepper and allspice, as well as light citrus fruit aromas. This is complemented by dried fruit notes that lay a pleasant sweet smoothness over the rum. Without knowing the original distillate – meaning the cask strength version – I believe that both the port finish and the dilution have had a very positive effect on the rum. The aromas are present, show strength, but are by no means unbalanced. Nice rum.

Review by DomM

Most helpful mixed review

DomM

Aug 20251,038 reviewsGermany

7.7/10

Looking at the set of Bristol‘s 99 PM bottlings from 11y to 23y: On the nose all bottlings come with a good intensity despite the reduced ABV. All are transporting classic PM notes, showcasing the profile at different points in time. Particularly the 11y was a positive surprise compared to some 2010ish younger continental PMs. The sweetspot for me comes with the 15y - display a nice balance of cask notes (including dried fruits) and some lifeliness. 16y comes with a noticeable smokey notes. At 23y both bottlings show a bit too much wood on the nose, somewhat closing the profile up instead of enhancing it significantly. On the palate all six bottlings show a decent amount of sweetness (candied herbs) even up to the 23y bottlings. For the latter two, wood and herbal notes clearly take over, taking the lifeliness of the younger bottlings. Those are nice and mature, but again I‘m feeling the sweetspot at the 15y mark here. The 15y adds dried fruits versus the 16y delivering some smoke - similar to the nose. The low ABV isn’t what I would have wished for. However, intensity is decent - only the finish seems to lose quite a bit. Cheers to Johannes for curating this set :)

Review by zabo

zabo

Apr 20261,972 reviewsGermany

7.6/10

In the test, a few Bristol Port Mourant from the year 1999: the RX3898 (11yr), the RX21891 (23yr), the RX506 (15yr), and the RX5733 (16yr). What they all have in common is that they are all relatively heavily reduced, so they lack a bit of strength. But overall solid, though unfortunately not 100% convincing. In terms of ranking, I liked the 15yr best. The 23yr came in second, followed by the 11yr and 16yr.