A new edition of Planteray’s Mister Fogg Navy Rum tribute expression has set sail and is now on the way to retailers. “Sail n°2” features different components but similarly follows the inspiration of vintage British Royal Navy rums by incorporating distillate from various producers and countries. The rum is issued at 55.7% ABV including 4.8 g/l of dosage, along with Cognac cask aging in France for a background flavor familiar to Planteray customers.
This year’s blend includes a bit of cane juice rum from Mauritius but mostly leans on a blend of pot and column still rums from Trinidad, Barbados, and Guyana. The blend spends some time in open vats along the riverside in France, intended to replicate the process employed at historic docs in London.
Planteray Mister Fogg Navy Rum Sail n°2 breakdown:
35% Trinidad: Trinidad Distillers, limited
34% Barbados: different vintages from West Indies Rum Distillery
20% Guyana: Diamond Distillery
6% Mauritius: Cane Juice rum from the St Aubin Distillery
5% Jamaica: Blend from Clarendon Distillers, Long Pond Distillery, and Hampden Distillery
Due to the ever-changing blend rums coming into the docks, each flagon of vintage Navy rum had a different character. I was unimpressed by Mister Fogg n°1 but n°2 definitely tastes more like the vintage British Navy rums I’ve tried a couple times by incorporating more smoky molasses notes. Mister Fogg is not nearly as assertive as something like Pusser’s Gunpowder Proof in this regard, however.
Mister Fogg seems better to me as sipping rum than one used for cocktails. It doesn’t drink like a 55% ABV rum, and the small amount of dosage means this is very pleasant to sip. Some of the flavors are subtle enough that you really need to taste this rum neat, though that said it does work fabulously in a rum-forward cocktail like a Mai Tai.
Thanks to the sailor from Nashville for dropping this bottle off the ship and letting it float to California.
