RumFest 2019: The Real McCoy

Bill McCoy

Arethusa

Bill McCoy

Still within the ‘Craft Rum Area’, we move onto The Real McCoy which currently falls under the Constellation Brands umbrella and now distributed [I believe], by Marussia Brands. The rum itself hails from the Foursquare distillery in Barbados. Heavier on the pot and with tropical ageing, The Real McCoy is small batch rum typically bottled at 40%. It’s said that the real ‘Real McCoy’ of the 1920s was famously undiluted.

The Real McCoy 3yo [2019] Ob./Foursquare Single blended rum batch #0316 40% WF59 tFRP3.5/5

Described as “molasses white”, our guide says this is one of the better molasses white rums out there. Let’s have a peek.

• C: Ignore the photo for colour, the spirit is clear. To nose and taste, it’s light very clean rather vanilla vodka-like rum, yet murky also with a likeness to faint dry barley sugar. It’s no sipper.

[No score]

 

The Real McCoy 5yo [2019] Ob./Foursquare Single blended rum batch #0516 40%

• C: Quite lacking. Nothing bad, nothing memorable.

Scores 79 points

 

The Real McCoy 12yo [+/-2014] Ob. Prohibition Tradition 40% [75cl] WF78 tFRP4.5/5

• C: An older bottling, fully matured in ex-bourbon. I find some desirable fustiness, but overall it’s a flat/uneventful experience.

Scores 78 points

 

The Real McCoy 12yo [2019] Ob./Foursquare Limited Edition batch #2016 46% tFRP4.5/5

• C: This ‘limited edition’ rum gets an abv-boost, thank goodness. It needed it. There’s also a bit more fruit to this one, no doubt from that extra madeira cask maturation.

Scores 80 points

 

If there’s one lesson from this year’s festival, it’s to seek out 100% pot still rum [and other spirits] made from sugar cane juice.

Further reading:

• boatus.com/the-real-mccoy
• ‘The real McCoy” – wiki

 

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