Caroni Silver Seal 20 Years Old Cask:67 64,8% 1997

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Serge Valentin (90)

This will be the only ‘young vintage’ we’ll have today, and I don’t even know whether this is ‘light’ or ‘heavy’ Caroni. Colour: amber. Nose: light, perhaps. A little alcohol at first (fruit eau-de-vie), then rather fermenting fruits and vegetables, light manure, French beans, a little brine… It’s only after a good five minutes that heavier notes emerge, such as coal tar and smoked ham. With water: fresh paint, putty, and tarmac. Probably not ‘light’ Caroni. Mouth (neat): bang. Diesel oil, gherkin brine, green lemons (not lime), tincture of iodine, fresh coriander, green wood… With water: love it because there isn’t any over-woodiness, which lets the distillate talk. And boy it’s got things to say! Tar, rubber, creosote, ashes, ink, tapenade… But it’s not stuffy, some elegance remains in the middle (kind of). Finish: long, a tad rounder, but this mixture of smoked water with lemon juice and olive brine just works. Comments: a clearer, more distillate-driven one. Probably European stock (as opposed to tropical stock).