Aroma visualization from community tastings
Whisky & Rhum Caroni L'Esprit 1996
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Beeswax, tar and burnt rubber with a honeyed sweetness underneath — that's the shape of this 1996 Caroni. Several tasters call it a softer, sweeter take on the distillery, with the dirty "garage" notes wrapped in caramel rather than leading. The recurring gripe: it's light on the fruit and the 64.3% booze pokes through. One member summed it up as "concentrated and balanced."
The community says- Waxy honeyed sweetness
- Classic tar and rubber
- But: Light on fruit
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The look inside the bottle
How does Whisky & Rhum Caroni L'Esprit 1996 taste?
Summarized by AI from 27 community reviews.
Sweeter, waxy Caroni with tar and heat Loved by most as an elegant, sweeter Caroni, though a few miss the fruit and depth of famous 1996 bottlings. The high ABV shows; some feel the tar arrives only late.
Caroni fans who like a sweeter, waxier, less fruity take
Anyone wanting the fully tropical, fruit-driven 1996 profile
Style & occasion: Mature & oakySipping neat
Full aroma profile Aroma families · nose & palate · top aromas
15 of 27 left detailed tasting impressions · Click an aroma to explore similar rums
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Community voices
What does the community say?
27 community reviews
16 selected write-ups on this page, all of them in the RumX app
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Ranges include their upper bound: “7–8” means above 7 up to and including 8. See the full rating guide
Positive from 8.0 · Mixed 6.0–7.9 · Critical below 6.0
Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
Most helpful positive review
07.08.2025 Relaxing a bit while retasting this nice rum that I still like a lot. ----------------- 22.04..2019 Enjoying some samples at home. Colour Medium dark in colour. Nose Wood, light roasted, fruits, spice, light tar, faint rubber, light anise, faint mint. Palate Round, balanced, wood, faint smoke, fruits, light rubber, light tar, spice, faint floral, fain caramel. Finish Long and warm, wood, light roasted, light rubber, faint tar, spice, light citrus, light caramel.
Review by Johnny Rumcask
Most helpful mixed review
WTF. On the nose a slight hint of the typical dirty Caroni notes, but the alcohol pushes strongly to the foreground. In the mouth then the disappointment: where are the Caroni notes? The alcohol is strongly dominant, dark notes emerge, wood, roasted aromas, then some vanilla. Even after a longer standing time, the alcohol dominates. Only in the finish do faint dirty Caroni notes appear with tar, burnt tires, etc. All in all a harsh disappointment.
Review by Thunderbird
A rather pleasant representative of the Caronis that is not overpowering and still contains plenty of classic markers. I miss the berry fruits a little... but that's it. Alcohol is noticeable, but still well tolerated. The darker aromas predominate in the finish, which I like.
Review by Rodolphe
Caroni that's too much garage oil or bicycle tire or wet old wood juice isn't my thing, so I often like it, but nothing more. But this one shows me that it can be really classy! Old wood with beeswax and a nice freshness to boot. Very elegant, very pleasant, very good. I haven't tasted 50 caroni, but this is the best I've had. I'm happy to share it to let people discover it, but if I had the chance to buy one again, I'd take it right away!
Review by mto75
First impression on the nose: quite distinct whisky notes. Unfortunately, I couldn't find out what the BB4 cask is about. Later, yellow fruits / mirabelle plum, white peach, and plastic/wax notes appear. On the palate, workshop notes but not too dominant. Also roasted and nutty notes, and cask. The high ABV is clearly noticeable as a spirited note. A rather atypical Caroni profile. Blind, I probably wouldn't have identified it as Caroni. I prefer the 'classic' Caroni profile.
Review by Joachim Guger
Typical Caroni aromas plus some caramel and tropical fruits. Great spice. Hardly any wood aging, you naturally feel the 64%, but well integrated. Long finish. Funky.🇯🇲🇯🇲 A Caroni-Hampden monster. I've never had it like this before, super interesting!
Review by RumTaTa
The nose starts relatively light with vanilla, bourbon and cereal. Of the caronino notes I find only very remotely a little tar. The alcohol I slightly superficial. On the palate harmonious to the nose, sweet and with associations to Highland Whisky. The alcohol is also clearly noticeable here. In the aftertaste, the rum is then softer and here flashes tar, bicycle tube and "dirt" again strongly. The rum ends with barrel notes. I like the sweetness and the finish. Otherwise, this is probably more of a LTR.
Review by Vincent D
A superb Caroni, for what I know of it. A dirty framework but indulgence and pretty fruits. It's quite pleasant. A bit too strong in alcohol for me who prefers these profiles with a slight reduction but very cool. The nose is really superb and the alcohol beautifully integrated. Nice selection.
Review by Tom Buteneers
I liked this one quite a lot: concentrated and balanced.
Review by Serge
Nice wax and honeycomb notes that join the burnt sugar and rubber. On the palate it feels a bit alcoholic and lacks the luxurious creaminess of the tropical cousins. Little fruit.
Review by Basti
The nose is initially quite reserved and needs some time. Compared directly with the 98 Cave Guildive, it appears much more restrained and less complex. On the palate slightly smoky, with tar, rubber, spices and leather. Good Caroni, but overall I liked the 98 CG a bit better.
Review by zabo
Thank you Serge for letting me try the rest of your sample. And of course Rodolphe, who once again made a very good rare bottle available to many people. Very, very tasty.
Review by Mentalo
I like the 96 vintage and L'Esprit isn't bad either. Pleasant sweetness combined with dirty notes. Then barrel notes in the finish. Unfortunately very few fruity notes. Alcohol is integrated okay.
Review by Pavel Spacek
... Caroni is a distillery from Trinidad, producing rum at the height of its fame, which was added in a ratio of 1:10 to naval blends. It was too strong and strange to be pleasant on the tongue. In 2000 the distillery ended production and was closed. 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 really a unique rum.
Review by DomM
Sweetness, vanilla and bee wax on the nose. A tiny hint of dirt. Side by side to a fully tropical 96 HTR bottling, this one is largely missing out on the fruity side of things (I only get a hint of yellow fruits) and lacks depth. Not bad per se but clearly not on par. Similar experience on the palate. Sweetness, caramel, wax. A bit of an alcoholic sting, but not too bad. Again, cannot compete with the Velier 21y as a reference. Fruits and dirty notes are more or less missing in the L‘Esprit by comparison. It is by no means as uninspiring as some of the LTR LWR 1996 bottlings I have tasted. Enjoyable but not able to hold up to the vintage‘s reputation.
Review by Filip Šikula
So that's a beautiful caroni again ❤️ the smell already predicts that we're going to check out the garage. It's all there, oil, thinner, beeswax, a little fruit. It's beautiful. Let's drink. This is more of a sweeter caroni profile, but the sweetness just packs the technical notes beautifully. These develop immediately in the first sip and last all the way through the long finish. I am thrilled!
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Community shelf
14 bottles logged by 11 collectors.
A collector's bottle.
7% opened, 0 emptied.
What did the community pay for Whisky & Rhum Caroni L'Esprit 1996?
Community paid 160–250 €.
Purchase prices reported by members, not a shop price. Avg. 180 €. Full price & collection history in RX+ →
14 purchased · 28 tasted · 9 wishlist · as of
Details about Whisky & Rhum Caroni L'Esprit 1996
A rum from Trinidad, bottled by Whisky & Rhum, at 64.3%.
Read on in the RumX Guide
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