Aroma visualization from community tastings
Distilia Caroni The Last Cask, Dragon, Artist (Yu Chuan) 1999
Sip this one slowly and neat — at 68% it's a slow-burner. Members describe stepping into a "workshop": tar, rubber and hot metal, then leather, caramel and a wave of tropical and dried fruit. What sets this 1999 Caroni apart, several say, is how fruity and less ashy-bitter it stays. A few find it sharp until 2-3 drops of water open it up.
The community says- Complex and deep
- Fruity for Caroni
- Hot at 68%
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The look inside the bottle
How does Distilia Caroni The Last Cask, Dragon, Artist (Yu Chuan) 1999 taste?
Aggregated from 33 community reviews.
Dirty, fruity cask-strength Caroni for sippers Widely loved as one of the fruitier, more balanced 1999 Caronis — dirty rubber and tar with real tropical-fruit depth. The catch: a few find it still sharp and hot, water helps.
Caroni fans who want dirty rubber with real fruit
Anyone put off by high ABV or tar-and-rubber funk
How the community classifies this rum. Each category takes you to similar rums.
23 of 33 left detailed tasting impressions · Click an aroma to explore similar rums
How is Distilia Caroni The Last Cask, Dragon, Artist (Yu Chuan) 1999 rated?
RumX’s 0–10 scale is strict: 8.8 sits in the “Very good” band. 100% of tasters rate it Good or better; only 0% rate it below average. See the full rating guide →
Live auctions
Current bids for this rum at Europe's leading auction houses.
Community voices
What does the community say?
3% rate it between 6 and 8. 18 selected write-ups from 33 community ratings. You can view the complete list in our app.
Review by Martin Ekrt
Excellent aromas of vanilla different fruits and rounded technical notes. A complete bomb to the nose. Taste is quite astringent, but in a good way and irresistible. The finish is again excellent. Plenty of rubber and hospital, tropical fruits, vanilla and more.
Review by Thunderbird
GRF13: I was able to enjoy this drop twice in the glass... from my point of view, this is one of the best continental Caronis I've been able to taste so far. Surprisingly, in addition to the expected dirty aromas, dark fruits are also clearly perceptible. The alcohol is very well integrated. Warm, creamy and soft, it spreads across the palate and unfolds its play of aromas... this continues in a long finish... Top barrel selection
Review by DosenZorn
Very nice Caroni, with the typical dirty notes and nice fruity notes, which were missing from the previously tasted 98 from RA at the Rumfest. Especially on the nose, I had associations with a welding workshop or hot metal and machine oil. Great stuff.
Review by alex
I clearly enjoyed this juice. Tasted on the evening of 31/12/24, it took me at least three hours to drink the glass, so good it was. We find the distillery's usual markers with a bit of tar, rubber, fruit in a mess, beautiful, caramel note I really enjoyed it 😍😍 Nice length in the mouth and alcohol, perfectly integrated
Review by cigares
Tasting Distilia Artist (Yu Chuan). Un nez ample et généreux, complexe, avec de l’atelier mécanique aussitôt suivi par les fruits tropicaux et un côté pâtissier très agréable. La première bouche est un peu chaotique, puis les fruits, les notes d’atelier mécanique et un côté végétal et rafraîchissant s’accordent et s’équilibrent. La finale est longue, harmonieuse, équilibrée et la fraîcheur persiste jusqu’à la fin.
Review by Volkmar Weber
Heavy, powerful Caroni profile, but much fruitier and less ashy-bitter on the finish than many continental matured Caronis. Simply very harmonious, rubber and dirt and sweetish, fruity wood notes for balance. Perhaps the cask spent a few extra years in the tropics before it went to Europe? Just a guess, but a pleasantly different Caroni that knows how to convince in the nose, mouth and finish.
Review by Johannes
More on the dirty side, but overall great complexity! On the second tasting, I am impressed by the complexity. In addition to slightly dirty notes, there are also beautiful hints of fruit with tropical notes.
Review by Serge
Actually a very tasty continental Caroni. Dirty with lots of rubber, but with nice accompaniments of fruit (dry, tropical and dark berries), caramel/burnt sugar, wood and spice. I also smell some fizzy drinks. Pleasantly dry on the palate with some menthol on the spices.
Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
#5161 20.03.2025 Running some samples at home. Nose Medium intense, wood, light roasted, spice, light caramel, light leather, faint nutts, dried fruit, faint rubber and tar. Palate Oily, wood, light roasted, raisin, light cherry, faint mint, faint caramel, light rubber and tar, medium dry, light tannins. Finish Long, wood, light tannins, faint smoke, light mineral, light cherry, faint caramel, medium dry, light rubber, faint tar. Empty glass Wood, dried fruit, light caramel, light leather.
Review by Master P
Definitely the winner of the Last Cask series, I was able to taste it at the GRF and now again in peace. It is very well integrated with great caroni notes. I find it surprisingly sweet on the palate with a slight red berry flavor.
Review by Mentalo
I haven't had many 1999 Caronis in my glass so far and they have disappointed me. The bottling from Distilia is more convincing. The alcohol is well integrated. The typical Caroni dirty notes come into their own, along with a slight sweetness and fruitiness.
Review by DadouRhumRhum
First tasting 28.09.24: bottle opened. First light notes of dirty Caroni, woody and smoky, fruity. On the palate, the 68% has a little trouble getting through, toasty and smoky at first impression, fruit comes later. Taste a little later.
Review by crazyforgoodbooze
My first 1999 Caroni, insanely intense board for the Taiwan market that Rob Bauer has brought here. "Typical" caroni rubber and tar notes, yet lots of depth and intensity. Nice fruitiness and freshness together with the dirty rubber tire profile. Personally, it's just a little too strong for me, with 2-3 drops of water it becomes more accessible.
Review by Jakob
Typisches Caroni-Profil mit klassischen Teer- und Gummiaromen, eingebettet in schwere Karamellsüsse. Eichenholz, dunkle Gewürze, Fruchtanklänge. Sehr leckeres, rundes Profil. Toller Vertreter des 1999er Jahrgangs.
Review by LukaŽiga
8,5:On the nose, the first impression we get is fruity with citrus, flowery and industrial, dirty with notes like tar, rubber.The wood is roasted, spicy and sweet with burnt sugar, vanilla, caramel, leather. On aeration, the molasses is earthy, dried fruits are stronger and the wood presents nuts. 8,7:On the palate, the attack is fruity and woody, the fruits are tropical with mango dried with apricots, raisins, there are dark berries, as the wood is roasted, spicy with caramel, allspice.The industrial notes are slowly gaining speed with dirty, rubber notes, some menthol could not be overlooked.The molasses is vegetal, minty, dark with black tea, there are pencil shavings. Resting brings out smoky, meaty tones with bacon, dried currants, green pepper. 8,6:The finish is long, as the palate notes linger on and the rum becomes dry and tannic..
Review by JFehr
GRF13 Nice and dirty, fun
Review by zabo
My first '99 Caroni. Overall, it already has the typical Caroni notes, but what I don't quite like here is that it's still alcoholic/sharp-edged even after a while, unlike others I've already had in the glass. That ruins it quite a bit, even if it is very complex. I would have expected a bit more from it. In my opinion, it's a little overrated because of its name.
Review by Pavel Spacek
It is not great Caroni but at least it is Caronion first smell. It is too bitter imho. ... Caroni is a distillery from Trinidad, producing at the time of its greatest glory a rum that was added at a ratio of 1:10 to the namornik blend. It was too strong and strange to be pleasant on the tongue. In 2000, the distillery ceased production and closed. Only in 2010 did tasters appear who took a liking to the rum because of its special taste. And the interest grew. Caroni belongs to the category of "you need to try before you die" rums. I recommend it, Caroni is a truly unique rum.
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Details about Distilia Caroni The Last Cask, Dragon, Artist (Yu Chuan) 1999
A rum from Trinidad, bottled by Distilia, at 68%.
Community purchases
24 bottles logged by 18 collectors.
A collector's bottle.
12% opened, 1 emptied and repurchased.
What did the community pay for Distilia Caroni The Last Cask, Dragon, Artist (Yu Chuan) 1999?
Community paid 391–550 €.
What members actually paid for their bottles. A typical range, not the current shop price. Full price & collection history in RX+ →
24 purchased · 33 tasted · 15 wishlist · as of
About the Caroni distillery
The Caroni distillery is located in Trinidad. Rums from Caroni have been reviewed 10,324 times with an average of 8.8/10.
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