This review is long, long overdue. Perhaps that is a good thing though. Perhaps some opinions are best left to formulate overtime. Perhaps somethings best reveal themselves in due course. Foursquare Premise is one of those things. The 8th Release in their Exceptional Cask Series and perhaps, the most controversial.
I will be the first to admit; as a lover of Foursquare Distillery, I was not a fan. When I first tried this in April of 2018 at the Chicago Rum Festival, part of me thought that this was a miss. I chalked it up to palate fatigue and overall exhaustion (though I was blown away and to this day, insist that Foursquare 2005 trumps Criterion). I would go on to try it again in late June as it began to make its way to shelves around Chicago. And the second time around; my initial fears would be confirmed. Swing and a miss. Hot, heavy, muddled, rubbery. How could this be? How could a distillery I look up to so much let me down?
Premise is a blend of pot and column still rums aged three years and seven in ex-sherry. I don’t know what type of sherry or for how long (Richard Seale will inform you that it truly does not matter). I assume like most, it is Oloroso and know that it is definitely not PX. All aging is done in a tropical environment. And I assumed that was the issue with this rum. That so much time in the tropics was just too much for this release.
Fast forward to February of 2019. I find myself walking the aisles of my local liquor store in Nashville looking for something challenging. That’s when I caught Premise staring me down from the top of the shelf. I spent a solid half hour mulling it over. Debating between this release and just about everything else that the store had to offer. I decided that I would be a fool to not pull the trigger on this. Worst case scenario, it would be dynamic for cocktails and maybe even make for some interesting sherry cobblers.
I brought it home and popped the cork. That familiar aroma of sherry filled my senses. What was I getting myself into? Why did I buy this again? I poured into my Glencairn. The beautiful auburn colored drew me in. Oh, how I do love this color.
As I get in close for the initial smell I am hit with that boozy sting once again. Damn. Ethyl and a slightly familiar aroma of peppery oak. Then I find something new. I am enticed by aromas of what can best be described as freshly baked pastries. This wonderful sweet doughy aroma kills the heat. It is followed by sugar frosting; mushy strawberry jam and that rubbery dunnage note I always find in sherry cask spirits before a subtle orange juice note comes through.
On the palate, that pop from the nose is at the forefront once again. But there is more this time around. Such a wonderful complexity that I have trouble trying to describe. All of them pronounced without drowning each other out. Intense fruitiness and sweet cream and earth all playing off of each other. Each component making the other stand out in its own right.
The mouthfeel is different too. What was once heavy and condensed has lightened. It still has heft on the body, but it is now much more pleasant to sip on. Definitely in the realm of winter warmers and sherry bombs. That should be a band.
The finish is zesty and juicy. A brilliant pop of Lemonheads and orange juice linger on the tongue. The acidity almost like a Sauvignon Blanc, making my mouth salivate unlike before.
I don’t know what changed between the time I first had this rum and now; but I am glad it happened. This is one of the classic examples as to why you should not “judge a book by its cover” or “third time’s the charm”. I am so glad to have given this bottle its proper run. This bottle is everything that excites me about spirits. It is challenging and demands your patience. It is easy to just toss something to the side because of a poor first impression. But that really says more about you and that what is waiting to show you its true self. If you are ready.
