Caroni 22 Year Dayanand Yunkoo Balloon 1998 700mL

Caroni 22 Year Dayanand "Yunkoo" Balloon 1998 is a single-cask, cask-strength Trinidad rum named after Dayanand "Yunkoo" Balloon, a former Caroni worker, released by Italian independent bottler Velier as part of the Employees 4th Release. Distilled in 1998 and bottled at full proof with no dilution or chill-filtration, it is a scarce, highly collectable expression of the closed Caroni distillery.

From the Producer

Caroni operated its own column stills in central Trinidad as part of a state-owned sugar and rum complex for most of the 20th century, producing a distinctive heavy, high-ester molasses rum. When the Trinidad and Tobago government closed the estate in 2002, the ageing warehouses were left untouched and the remaining casks were eventually acquired by Italian independent bottler Velier, working alongside La Maison du Whisky's Caribbean partner LCU. Velier has since released the stock slowly as single-cask and small-batch bottlings, establishing Caroni as a benchmark for collectors of full-proof, industrial-style rum. The Employees series specifically celebrates the workforce of the distillery's final decades: every bottle in the 4th Release is dedicated to a named Caroni employee and presented in Velier's no-frills house style — single cask, natural colour, no chill-filtration, cask-strength bottling. The 1998 distillate in this release sits in the older, more concentrated tier of remaining Caroni stock, delivering the tar, varnish and dark-sugar intensity the distillery is famous for.

Tasting Profile

• Nose: Tar, ripe fruit, varnish, molasses, leather and baking spice.
• Palate: Explosive and oily, with dark sugar, tropical fruit, pepper, oak and classic Caroni industrial notes.
• Finish: Long and intense, with petrol, spice and drying oak.

Best For

Caroni Employees collectors, rare rum tastings and cellar-grade spirits collections.

Product Details