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0C1E6D83-83A1-4DE4-ADF9-6D86F64354A6Trinidad Caroni Velier
Velier Caroni Old Legend Trinidad Rum 1985 70cl bottle
Bottle
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Aged rum · 15 years · 43,4%

Velier Caroni Old Legend Trinidad Rum 1985

8.5/10
Rated by cigares, Johannes & 15 more ↓
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Caroni fans expecting a full tar-and-diesel punch should know upfront: this 1985 Velier is the soft, reduced one. At 43.4% the tar sits back and lets caramel, coconut, vanilla and baked banana take over — several tasters even compared the sweetness to Barbados. Elegant and easy, but the body runs thin and the finish is shorter than you'd want from a Caroni.

The community says
  • Elegant tar note
  • Coconut and vanilla
  • But: Thin body
Not quite your style? Your favorite rum in 4 questions
Currently no offers for delivery to Germany.

The look inside the bottle

How does Velier Caroni Old Legend Trinidad Rum 1985 taste?

Aggregated from 17 community reviews.

Soft, sweet Caroni thinned by low ABV Loved as an elegant, sweeter Caroni with coconut, vanilla and that signature bicycle-tyre note, but many feel the low ABV waters it down — thin body, short finish.

Perfect for

Caroni collectors who want the gentle, sweeter side of the distillery

Less suitable for

Anyone chasing full-strength tar, diesel and a long finish

Style & occasion

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

Mature & oaky Sipping neat

Which glass for which rum? The community guide →

Top aromas · nose & palate
Tar57%
Chocolate · nose only57%
Vanilla43%
Caramel · palate only43%
Coconut · palate only43%
Dried fruit · nose only43%
Nutty · nose only43%

7 of 17 left detailed tasting impressions · Click an aroma to explore similar rums

Recommendation

Your next rum

One difference each to this rum.

Velier Caroni Heavy Trinidad Rum HTR 1994 More intense Velier Caroni Heavy Trinidad Rum HTR 1994 9.1/10878 € Velier Caroni 34th Release 100 Proof Heavy Trinidad Rum 1996 Fruitier Velier Caroni 34th Release 100 Proof Heavy Trinidad Rum 1996 9.1/10793 € Nothing for you? 6 more similar rums ↓

Community voices

What does the community say?

8.5/10

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

Add your rating
Distribution of all 17 ratings
9–10 0%
8–9 88%
7–8 12%
6–7 0%
5–6 0%
4–5 0%
0–4 0%

Ranges include their upper bound: “7–8” means above 7 up to and including 8. See the full rating guide

Review by cigares

Most helpful positive review

cigares
cigares
Jun 20241,129 reviewsSwitzerland
8.7/10

Caronis Velier 1985 tasting. A nose of caramel, rubber and tar with dark, sweet flavors, tropical fruit, baked banana and baked apple. The first sensation is a little acqueous and one senses dilution. But everything returns to normal fairly quickly as the mouth fills with slightly bitter aromas of bicycle tires, fruit and pastries. Elegant yet punchy. The finish is not so long (here too, the reduction makes itself felt) for a Caroni, but once again on elegance. Most of the aromas disappear fairly quickly, but the caramel and bicycle tire remain almost indefinitely. The empty glass is superb, further proof of the wrong side of the reduction. This rum was intended to be bottled at Caroni in bottles stamped "Legend 2000".

Auto-translated 37 found this helpful

Review by Pavel Spacek

Most helpful mixed review

Pavel Spacek
Pavel Spacek
Nov 20241,826 reviewsCzech
7.7/10

Too weak, low expressive for Caroni... Caroni is a distillery from Trinidad that produced rum at the height of its fame, which was added in a 1:10 ratio to the naval blend. It was too strong and strange to be pleasant on the tongue. The distillery ended production and was closed in 2000. 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 truly a unique rum.

Auto-translated 15 found this helpful

Review by Johannes

Johannes
Johannes
May 20233,102 reviewsGermany
8.3/10

Epic Velier Caroni Tasting: again clearly nut on the nose, a bit thin on the palate, short finish.

Auto-translated 31 found this helpful

Expert reviews

2 critics scored it, averaging 8.5/10. Reviews from RumX's blog partners, independent experts who have tasted, evaluated, and described this rum..

Expert review by The Dunder Hut

The Dunder Hut
8.5/10
Caroni 85 Crosstasting This is a really elegant Caroni that has a nose of an caramelized apple baked in a really old wood stove. Some Nut and fruit and rather young wood. On the palate there is a lot of wheel tubing, fruit and caramel. it finishes wih a touch of sweet white bread, could be longer and could be more pungent. Still a nice experience.

Market value

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

Auction results 988 € – 1300 €

from 4 sales, latest 09/2026

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

Avg. community purchase price 1397 €

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 →

Community purchases

13 bottles logged by 13 collectors.

A collector's bottle.

0% opened, 0 emptied and repurchased.

13 sealed 0 open 0 emptied

What did the community pay for Velier Caroni Old Legend Trinidad Rum 1985?

Community paid 604–1,956 €.

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

13 purchased · 17 tasted · 11 wishlist · as of

Details about Velier Caroni Old Legend Trinidad Rum 1985

A rum from Trinidad, bottled by Velier, at 43,4%.

CountryTrinidad
DistilleryCaroni
BottlerVelier
StyleAged rum, Rarities
ABV43,4%
Volume70cl
Age15 years
Vintage1985
Limited edition6,488 bottles

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 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.

Bottler Velier Who is Velier? 
Country Trinidad The odd one out 

All releases in this series

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Velier Caroni Old Legend Trinidad Rum 1985
Velier Caroni Old Legend Trinidad Rum 1985
Trinidad · 43,4% · 70cl

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.
8.0–8.9 Very good your rum Bank a backup. Tell everyone you meet.
7.0–7.9 Good Buy one and recommend it to your friends.
6.0–6.9 Pleasant Solid, super glad I drank it.
5.0–5.9 Average Totally acceptable.
4.0–4.9 Drinkable Not vocally complaining.
3.0–3.9 Poor Wish I was drinking something else.
2.0–2.9 Very poor Nothing nice to say.
1.0–1.9 Unpleasant No, that's not for me.
0.1–0.9 Inedible Pour it out.
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