Velier Caroni, the short story behind the bottle and label design

Caronis were expensive this time at rumauctioneer.

https://rumauctioneer.com/lot/6009091/caroni-1996-velier-full-proof-heavy-20cl-vijay-vijay-ranmarine

Small Vijay bottle for >500 pounds, that's crazy.

Ok, the big one was sold for 1200. We'll see some other prices next year. :)

Hi Erik,

most important point in this kind of investment:

invest in things you like and love ! Don't invest in Caronis or any other rum if you don't love them. You have to take care for them longer then for your kids or as a marriage holds. And anyway, you never know is someone willing to pay the price in 30-50 years. So, then you will be lucky to have nice stuff you love to drink.

As vomi says, try to buy always the whole series.

It's like kudzey says, in this time range every rum getting worthy. Think about, a rum is getting for example 10x the price in this time. Who is willing to pay 10'000.- for the Caroni you had spent 1000.-. If you buy rum in the price range from 100.- to 200.- so possibility is mor higher to sell them in the future. Yes, you need a lot more of storage space.

Further investments, rum from distilleries you prefer and like. I recommend special edition and vintage bottlings. Also Agricoles from little distilleries could be a win.

1996 is a very good year, these Caronis are more sweet and fruity.

@vomi1011, why do you prefer the Eversley 1996 over others?

It's Catawiki

By the way, what auction is this one?

Storing for 30-50 years would make almost anything expensive. Any Caroni will be fine. This is a perspective difficult to foresee but I believe rum market will just grow, as well as the old things. Just be careful to store the bottle properly.

Not a bad one, but Eversley 1996 would be better. If you can manage to buy a full employee collection go for it.

You are right, the rum market getting closer to the whisky’s ones. Paying for the label, yes, the quality of the liquid is truly perfect, but worth it ? And worth how much ? Surprisingly I found on a auction an Diplomatico 2001 (lucky I own a bottle), sold for 350.-, that’s the higher price increase rate then on my Caronis. The market will make the price. So, if you young and clever (it means it's possible you can live from now on easily more than 30 - 50 years) buy some nice rum and store it until your old and retired. So you can sold it for a good price or you drink some good old rum !

Yeah there are only 591 sets of each release. There were seven sets of the 4th release at the last auction from rumauctioneer. Each set was sold for around 525 pound or 585 Euro. I don't think the sellers earn anything. Rumauctioneer earned the most :) There is another crazy story about Velier Hampden LMDW release. This bird bottles were sold immediately for around 155€ and some of them were sold for 400€ each on ebay afterwards. Just some OWH, LFCH and LROK bottles. https://lesamisdesamisdurhum.com/2020/10/29/hampden-single-cask-2020-lmdw/ I understand that someone is willing to pay for a bottling of a closed distillery. But for a bottle of Hampden? It wasn't even a high ester bottling. The rum market is slowly becoming like that of whisky. People are paying just for the label and a limited bottle, not for the liquid inside.

Have you seen : VELIER CARONI EMPLOYEES 4RD RELEASE BOX 3 BOTTLES / 3 X 20CL for only 800.- VELIER CARONI EMPLOYEES 3RD RELEASE BOX 3 BOTTLES / 3 X 20CL for 990.-, a crazy story !

Of course, I have the old four bottlings of Rum Nation. The opinions about this bottlings differed, but I like them. I am thinking about buying the 22 year old Caroni from Rum Nation. Unfortunately there are only 0.5l in the bottle.

Exactly, it's like a Mezzan (know the Caroni 1999), but it was the cheapest Caroni I ever buy, 45.- ! No question, dirty rum must be strong ! Do you know the Rum Nation bottlings ? Not that dirty like the Veliers, more on the woody side but still with a drop of diesel and crump of tar. Bought a bottle Chairman's MS Swiss ed. for my personally reserve (another box in the house bunker) :-)

Sounds like it tastes like Mezzan Caroni 1996. This watery impression is the problem, I can't enjoy heavy flavors with watery taste. For me it doesn't go together. A dirty rum must be strong. My every day Caroni was Bristol 1998-2015 for 90 €, unfortunately it costs now 130 €. That's why I would rather pay more for a cask strength Caroni or buy the CHAIRMAN'S RESERVE MASTER'S SELECTION. This rum is also dirty with leather notes.

I don’t know knows the Felicite tastes, but your rating sound not very happy (here and on rumundco ;-)). The Bristol Carib tastes more like a watery Rum Nation version, more old furniture than petrol. Or like the VSOC, a bit weaker without the sweet twist in the end, see my ratings. Mind that there is a new version of it, the label is half pink half silver and not Caroni. Try to find Berris's Caribbean Rum XO, an excellent mild every day Caroni (80.-)

I think Bristol Caribbean Collection is something like Caroni Felicite isn't it? https://www.rumundco.de/bristol-caroni-trinidad-tobago-felicite-gold-07

HV 21 and 1997 Bristol are very gentle Caronis, Bristol Caribbean Collection is also a Caroni? How does it taste? "The Last" would complete the series in terms of quality. The 21 is very mild and round, "The Last" is more intensive with all the tasty flavors we love. It represents the most perfect Caroni. € 550 is fine for this time, I paid € 475. This bottle will reach 1k value in some years.

1974 is a legend, never had this one. Next year we will see the 5th and 6th Employees releases and then just some single cask bottlings, in such a small amounts that we'll never get a bottle of them. And that closes the Caroni chapter and it finally goes down in history. So find your fat wallet soon.

Hey vomi1011, thanks for this cool link ! I'm Caroni addicted since I tried the Bristol 1974 and the Velier 12 yo. At some time, I go to Genoa to visit Velier. First, I have to find the fat wallet.