I was not expecting to find myself at two different rum events in the midst of the Scottish winter, but that is exactly what happened in recent weeks.

First, the launch event for the Royal Mile Whiskies x Foursquare private cask bottling and then a chocolate and rum tasting with Diplomatico.

Foursquare is a distillery based in Barbados that has only bottled a small selection of UK exclusives before. This collaboration of the Private Cask Selection series with Royal Mile Whiskies is the first with a Scottish retailer.

The rum is 14 years old, a blend of pot and column distilled rums and has been matured in both ex-bourbon and ex-Madeira casks. I found it to have notes of dried apricots, sweet spices like cinnamon and cloves, brown and caramelised sugar both on the nose and palate but the latter had more influence of robust oak and there is sweet arrack lingering on the finish.

Pictured: Whisky writer Moa Reynolds (Image: Newsquest)

The rum is bottled at 58% ABV and holds up well with the addition of a couple of drops of water which brings out more dried and nutty characters on the nose whilst the palate opens up with more chocolate and raisin notes. This is a rum which I believe would appeal to a lot of........

© Herald Scotland