Brown sugar | Molasses | Black raspberry | Rye spice | Light lime

Molasses | Baking chocolate | Burnt sugar | Charred oak | Touch grassy

Cola | Thick oak | Rye spice | Soy sauce | Dark maple syrup

Fortuitous Union started as an honest mistake blending rye and rum together when a warehouse worker transferring rum to a steel tank, didn’t realize the tank still contained 5 year old MGP rye whiskey. The mistake ended up tasting so good the company is now running with the idea of blending rum and rye together. For Batch 002, the team sourced Foursquare rum and two other undisclosed Jamaican & Dominican Republic rums. Anyone that has the pleasure of sipping Foursquare rum knows how distinct its flavors are. We’re told the majority of the 85% rum in this union is Foursquare rum and it’s pretty easy to figure out after one sip.

This version of Batch 002 (there are four in total) takes the rum and rye blend and finishes it in Buffalo Trace Weller Bourbon and Woodford Reserve Double Oaked barrels. That’s a lot to parse, both conceptually and tastewise. The nose is brown sugar and molasses focused with gentle black raspberry and lime undercurrent. Foursquare’s trademarked flavor comes out on the palate and finish and is unmistakable. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has tasted their rum, except here it is nicely cut down a notch by the finish. This mellowing isn’t done with a wealth of rye or bourbon related flavors, but more specifically rye spice and barrel char. It's not transformational, but more playful and experimental. The end result of this marriage of spirits and finishes is a puzzle that asks to be solved. There is little doubt that this will be a polarizing dram, but the more you get familiar with it, the more you can ultimately appreciate it