Velier Skeldon SWR 1978
For seasoned enthusiasts only: a legendary, cask‑strength old Demerara that’s ultra‑dark, intensely woody and endlessly complex. Expect dried plums, burnt molasses, nuts, tobacco, coffee and herbs with a near-eternal, dry finish.
- World‑class complexity
- Endless dry finish
- Perfect alcohol integration
Details about Velier Skeldon SWR 1978
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How does Velier Skeldon SWR 1978 taste?
Aggregated from 50 community reviews.
World‑class, wood‑driven Demerara legend For seasoned enthusiasts only: a legendary, cask‑strength old Demerara that’s ultra‑dark, intensely woody and endlessly complex. Expect dried plums, burnt molasses, nuts, tobacco, coffee and herbs with a near-eternal, dry finish.
Seasoned Demerara fans and collectors who love ultra‑aged, dry, woody rums with huge complexity and aren’t afraid of bitterness or very high ABV.
Beginners, those sensitive to bitterness or high ABV, and drinkers seeking sweetness or an easygoing sipper at a reasonable price.
How is Velier Skeldon SWR 1978 rated?
RumX's 0–10 scale is strict — 9.5 lands squarely in the "Excellent" band. 100% of tasters rate it Good or better; only 0% rate it below average. See the full rating guide →
Rum reviews
A selection of the most popular reviews from our community. You can view the complete list in our app.
Review by DomM
The nose is just beautiful. Intense and very complex, delivering dark and woody notes alongside dried and fresh fruits as well as a hint of floral notes and a herbal bouquet of herbs in the background. You can spend a lot of time just enjoying this. On the palate, the Sekeldon is again very thick and intense. The long tropical maturation clearly shows with wood dominating the profile. While it is very wood-forward, it is far from one-dimensional. Herbs, dried fruits, and some cardboard create a deep tasting experience. Exceptional dram. Cheers to Jakob for the sample.
Review by Jakob
Very complex without becoming unbalanced at any point. The wood note is particularly impressive, giving the rum a noble depth that borders on the bitter without overpowering the other notes. Heavy, dense consistency. Very nicely integrated alcohol. The only "fly in the ointment": Tasted blind, it doesn't stand out enough in comparison with other Skeldons for me to agree with the perfect score. However, this does not detract from its outstanding quality.
Review by Giorgio Garotti
Over the years that I have been passionate about this distillate, I have always dreamed of tasting this legendary rum! I don't know if perfection exists but this rum definitely is! Really intense in flavors and smells! You can perceive everything sharply! The finish is endless! Chapeu! I was also able to taste the original 1978 straight from the tasting sent to Velier before being cut with part of the 1973 and I must say it was even more intense and incredible than the bottled one!
Review by Oliver
An experience to have this drop in the glass. Dark, burnt, intense - a very own profile! For me, however, far from the perfect 100 points.
Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
14.07.2025 Retasting this wonderful release and I still love it. ---------------- 15.06.2012 Lanternen, Kolding Celebrating a friend's birthday in this bygone bar. Notes Very dark in colour. Nose Balanced, fruity, licorice, herbs, wood, roasted, earthy, light olive, plum. Palate Balanced, complex, oily, wood, roasted, fruity, berries, licorice, light grass, faint nutts, herbs, light plum. Finish Very long, wood, roasted, complex, dried fruits, coffee, medicinal, light mint.
Review by zabo
Edit: just added a nicer picture and corrected the rating after thinking about it again. First: Thank you Jakob for sharing. I take my deepest bow. The timing for a tasting was no longer the most opportune admittedly. We smelled and discussed it for a long time yesterday. I went back to myself and recalled everything. Yes, it's really not bad, admittedly, although my criticism is the woody, bitter coffee note. I find this very borderline. I think if this had come out of the barrel a little earlier, it could definitely break the sound barrier. To be fair, we had quite a few things in the glass that evening that tasted better to me. That's why I can't rate this one too highly for me. Nevertheless, an excellent rum.
Review by Galli33
WoW WoW!!! What a lovely present from my girlfriend❤️ One of the best birthdaypresent ever! Finally i could have a really really small taste of this legendary rum! All in all I would say a remarkable skeldon with all the classic facets (spiciness, dark chocolate, dried fruits, nuts, oak and a bit of licorice), a good complexity and a long last finish. Cheers to Mr. Gargano🥃
Review by Johannes
Compared to the Skeldon73 less bitterness, but more fruity glue note. It doesn't get any better than this! Incredibly round, complex, incredibly long finish...
Review by Mike H.
94 points. I’m extremely happy to cross this one of my bucket list.
Review by Pavel Spacek
This is the rum I would like to drink every day. Nuts, wood, round ... ... Stare Velier Demerara rumy je to nejlepsi, co v rumovem svete muzete ochutnat. Rumy zraly spise omylem nekolik let v tropech a nikdo obsah sudu nedoplnoval. Andelska dan byla 90% a vice, proto je chut obzvlaste plna a intenzivni. I kdyz se jedna o extra drahou zalezitost, doporucu alespon jednou v zivote ochutnat rum z teto serie.
Review by Christoph H.
With much awe and respect one approaches this bottling, given price and reputation.Unfortunately, I did not write a commentary at the time of tasting and must report something from memory. The nose was brute and takes one to Olympus in terms of tropical aged Demerara Rum. Incredibly intense, complex and deep. Lots of stickiness, dried fruit, strong molasses, spice, tobacco...... Almost slays you, as there's hardly any alcohol perceptible either. In the mouth the whole thing repeats itself, however, it is already noticeably overlaid there for me.As impressed as I was, it is not a 100 point rum for me despite everything. Too crass and special is for me, so I would need something like that maybe only 2-3 times a year.Impressive experience!
Review by CHM
In my personal opinion, this rum is very good, also has its own undisputed profile, but I would have expected something more based on the ratings. I was allowed to double blind taste it twice now, without knowing which spirit is in the glass at all. There are better rums for my taste. Nevertheless, a very good bottling.
Review by Rum Freund
Simply legendary stuff!
Review by Maxence
As we could expect after 27 years of aging, this Skeldon is very dark. The nose is super complex and extremely well-balanced. The palate appears to be less balanced because of additional woody notes which are slightly too much bitter for my liking. Still a really good palate though. This rum is definitely worth its legend !
Expert reviews
Reviews from RumX's blog partners, independent experts who have tasted, evaluated, and described this rum..
Expert review by Single Cask Rum
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Expert review by The Dunder Hut
"Review #1000 on RumX. What a Dram. This is a very complex Rum that changed it's nose several times. This really has the whiff of Cognacs around 1900. Very woody withouth being unnecessary bitte. floral and slightly spicy notes. Some herbs that have been cooked together with stuff(Nutmeg) burned molasses and backed sour plums. After a while it gets a really careful fruitiness with a hint of cotton candy or old Ice-Wine. Also this chalky dusty dryness. Always in a complex melange of things. Truly great. The Palate hits you initially with the sour plums and taste of jammy fruits, peach and grape. There is old wood and a bitterness like brazil nuts. All in a bundle with burned molasses. The alcohol is integrated to perfection and just slightly warm when neeeded. It is adstringent, but withouth being wood-soupy. In the back of the throat is the slight sweet floral hint of old cognac/armagnac of centuries past. It finishes extremely long and warm with a complex spicyness and really dry wood notes. Eternaly dry bitterness that really never overpowers. At the very and that brazil nut bitterness gets hint of artichoke bitterness and a little sensation of eucalyptus, unsweet dried plums and a savoury coating around your mouth. Let's not talk about the question of price, since this is a dimension which in 2024 has only to some degree to do with the content. This 98 is the best scoring I have given a Rum to date. I feel like this is as close as perfection could get to a demerara Rum that actually exists. It bears no flaws and an overall superb, complex and pleasant tasting experience. I am glad i shared this sample with a dear friend, because that is what made the experience a 100/100."
Community purchases
39 bottles logged by 52,000+ RumX members. The ratio of closed / opened / emptied, indicates whether this rum is meant to be drunk or is a collector's item.
Also on the wishlist of 117 members.
About the Skeldon distillery
The Skeldon distillery is located in Guyana. Rums from Skeldon have been reviewed 823 times with an average of 8.9/10.
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Oliver · FounderBy rum lovers, for rum lovers
I'm Oliver — together with Jakob, Robert and Lukas, we started RumX in 2018 as a small passion project in Stuttgart, back then under the name Rum Tasting Notes.
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