Award-winning Black Tot rum has released the fourth edition of its perpetual rum blend, Master Blender’s Reserve 2023.

Crafted by Master Blender Oliver Chilton, the super-premium rum is released yearly on the anniversary of Black Tot Day, 31st July. This day commemorates the historic event in 1970 when the British Navy discontinued the daily rum ration, a tradition which had been in place since the early 1800s.

The blending method used to create the Master Blender’s Reserve rum is a modern-day adaptation of a lost blending practice. One third of a blend is held back for another year and blended again,­ thus creating what is called a ‘perpetual blend’ with the heart of the blend always consistent. From the early 1800s until Black Tot Day 1970, the British Navy created the world’s longest running perpetual rum blend. Black Tot, in a commendable revival of this technique, reintroduced it to the world in 2020 with the inaugural release of the Master Blender's Reserve.

For the 2023 edition, Oliver Chilton artfully combines a range of rums from some of the best distilleries in the world. Casks were selected from Guyana, Trinidad, Barbados, Jamaica, and this year a rum from Grenada, distilled in 1993, was added to bring depth to the blend. These were then married with Black Tot’s perpetual reserve, Master Blender's Reserve 2022, and some original Navy Rum from 1970, keeping the liquid history alive.

Says Oliver Chilton of the new release; “Our fourth evolution of Master Blender’s Reserve is a return to the denser, more traditional style of Black Tot 50th Anniversary Rum. With a larger focus on older rums from Guyana and the addition of 30-year-old rum from Grenada, a real sense of maturity and status has developed. It is such a privilege to be able to keep back stock from each blend to mature on and use as the heart of next iteration of Master Blender’s Reserve, reimagining a blending technique used for so many decades by the rum blenders of the Navy.”

Black Tot Master Blender's Reserve 23 shows rich notes of chocolate, thick liquorice and toffee with orange marmalade and cinnamon. It is non-chill filtered and bottled at navy strength (54.5%). As with every bottle of Black Tot, all of the rum’s blend components are featured on the back of the bottle.