Trinity Hall Rum Tasting 

Tonight, Trinity Hall presented a selection of rums from various Caribbean locales and representing different styles based on the influence of the European settlers there.  It’s always fun to experience the uniqueness of these cultural interactions and tonight was no exception.  Here’s what Marius, the proprietor, picked for us tonight.

English Harbor 5 Year Old Rum – hailing from Antigua, this rum has molasses and dark fruit on the nose with a taste of light brown sugar, cane, white pepper then turns negative with some rubbing alcohol that pretty well ruins it. There’s a bit of leather on the finish but it’s dominated by a tannic, industrial taste and the overall experience is thin. Definitely not recommended.

Ron Abuelo 12 Year Old – This Panamanian Rum opens with an aroma of molasses, tobacco, raisin, pecan praline and butter and continues with an engaging taste of molasses, toffee, vanilla, cane syrup and tobacco. The finish is cane syrup, leather and a continuing note of tobacco, making this a rich and flavorful rum that you have to try!

Plantation XO 20th Anniversary Rum – This edition is a blend of 12-20 year old rums from Barbados that is finished in Pierre Ferrand Cognac casks.  It’s full of vanilla, but of the artificial variety,  along with toffee and sweet honeysuckle, butterscotch candy and nutmeg.  The artificial flavors and sweetness carry through to the finish making this somewhat disappointing.

Ron Zacapa 23 Centennario – This is a very popular Guatemalan Rum that I haven’t had in a while. From start to finish the dominant impression is sweet and syrupy. There’s a smell of sugary cherry syrup and a taste of sugary vanilla and toffee, cherries, prunes with some black pepper and tobacco adding the only interesting balance. The finish is sweet and flavorful, but too syrupy and simple. If you like sweet and simple, this is an overpriced version that you could probably do without. Look for something cheaper.

Appleton Estate 21 Year Old Jamaican Rum – While this does have the typical Jamaican funk (caused by the esters from fermented additions to distillate), this is a terrible representative of the style.  In short, it’s pretty awful!  Once you get past the vanilla, dark fruit, rotten banana peel, molasses and black pepper, you’re met with rubber and other industrial flavors that ruin the experience.

Ron Zacapa XO –  Another Guatemalan rum from Zacapa aged in ex-cognac casks, but this time the range is 6-25 years old (presumably the ages represented in the solera system that they use, which means diminishing amounts as the age increases).  This is a definite improvement over Zacapa 23, with an aroma of red grape, cherry and straw and a perfectly expected follow-through of the same with molasses, prune, vanilla, tobacco and black pepper  on the palate. To be honest, this tastes more like a Spanish brandy than a rum and you might be better off going that route for more flavor and complexity at a better price.

Balcones Texas Rum (batch 16-1) – This is one of the latest rum batches from Balcones and still a fairly limited offering.  It’s a huge 63% ABV and takes a lot of water to bring the burn under control.  Once you get there, it might even start to resemble rum ;-).  By far the boldest offering of the evening (after all it’s from Texas!), the nose offers toffee, corn, honey and dark cherry, while the taste is the typical tannic Balcones profile (there is a distinct taste to all of their offerings) with toffee, corn, vanilla, ginger, black pepper and white pepper followed by a long, leathery, spicy and peppery finish.  It’s not your typical rum, but well worth the unique experience. See my review of Batch 13-1 to see how this rum has improved since the first batch.

These tastings are about weeding out the riffraff as much as they are about discovering great spirits to enjoy and I accomplished both tonight.  The clear winner is Ron Abuelo 12 Year, which I highly recommend for under $40.  It’s sweet for sure, but it retains a really nice, complex flavor even so (I’d love to taste an unadulterated version of this one).  Aside from the Balcones offering (and only because of it’s uniqueness), I would stay away from all of the others.  As a side note, I would recommend Cardenal Mendoza Spanish Brandy Solera Gran Reserva for about $50 as a much better experience of what Ron Zacapa XO is trying to offer.  Trust me, you’ll be glad you did!

Balcones Texas Rum (Batch 13-1)

rum-2015To my knowledge, this is the original release of Balcones Texas Rum, although there were several variants entered into competitions prior to this release.  It was bottled on September 27, 2013 at 58.5% ABV; however, my bottle also bears a gold label declaring this a Commemorative Bottling available at the distillery on December 7, 2013.  In any case, I purchased this almost a year later at True Spirits in Plano, TX and it bears the signature of the former Head Distiller, Chip Tate.  As you can see from the picture, later batches were bottled at a significantly higher ABV.

The nose is fairly hot, but not overly so, with molasses, caramel, straw, tobacco, rotten banana peel and vanilla.  After a while, a light dusting of cocoa develops and a distinctly reedy aroma (yes, like cane juice rum).  A bit of water tends to bring the straw forward, subduing the fruits and vanilla, while  leaving the molasses and tobacco in place.  I think it’s a nice improvement in balance, but it was good before as well.

The taste is different and much bolder than the aroma with an opening of cocoa, prune, straw and overripe orchard fruit before giving way to a spicy transition of tannic white pepper layered over the previous fading flavors.  The finish is leathery and spicy with lingering cocoa-laced molasses and it lasts a long time.  Water tames the initial flavors as well as the spiciness so that the transition is less pronounced and the experience is more of a slow morphing of flavors with the same descriptions as before.  The finish becomes less leathery with a bit more extension than before and the cocoa-laced molasses becomes nice and spicy.  All of this takes nothing away from the excellent mouthfeel, which remains plenty oily.

When I first opened this bottle, I judged it to be the worst offering I’d tasted from Balcones (and I’ve tasted just about everything and several different batches of each), but I’ve completely changed my mind as the rum has oxidized in the bottle over more than 2 years.  It’s improved over time to the point that I’m sorry to see it go.  This is a unique rum that seems to defy the traditional Caribbean styles, but I would venture to say that it most closely resembles a Cuban-style rum.  It lacks the esters of a Jamaican, the rich sweetness of Demerara and is much bolder than any Bajan that I’ve had, but it has a nice melding of overripe orchard fruit and spice that I would attribute to a good Cuban rum.  I guess I’ve convinced myself that it may not defy these styles after all. 😉

I’m told that subsequent batches have seen more barrel time and have improved significantly, so I may have to explore a more recent batch and I’m genuinely surprised that I’m thinking this way.  It looks like Texas does produce some good rum after all, but I’ll warn you that this is not for the typical Bacardi drinker.  If you like Matusalem Gran Reserva 15 or 18 with a bit more boldness and less sweetness or if you like Westerhall Plantation with more boldness and less reediness, then you should give Balcones Texas Rum a try.  I warn you not to judge it on the first pour, but rather to be patient (possibly for months) while the flavors improve to offer you the full experience.

Papa’s Pillar Blonde Rum

light-rum-bgEvoking the name of Ernest Hemingway’s boat, Papa’s Pilar Blonde is a blend of rums from Florida, the Caribbean and South America that are solera-aged using ex-bourbon and port wine barrels before being blended, then finished in Spanish brandy barrels.  I picked up a sample of this a while back because it was cheap and the grenade-like full-sized bottles looked cool. I’m glad that I didn’t bother with a larger bottle, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The aroma is full of nuts, milk chocolate and vanilla with a lot of sweetness. The taste is similar, except I’ll change the chocolate to white and specify the nuts as of the macadamia variety. There’s also a peppery bite with a bitter chocolate and nut finish. It’s simple and very un-rum-like, but that’s not the problem. It’s unbalanced and artificial tasting… very artificial tasting. Don’t bother with this one unless you like artificial chocolate and nut flavors with vanilla and pepper.

Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva 18 Year Old

Cuban Rum, 18 Years, 40% ABV, $32

I originally learned about this rum a few years ago from Cap’n Jimbo’s Rum Project, where it was put forward as a reference standard for Cuban style rum.  Last year, it was discovered from court documents related to a dispute between members of the Matusalem family that the original recipe included macerated prunes and vanilla.  Since then, the current producers apparently started using artificial flavors resulting in the aforementioned dispute.  In any case, this is a relatively inexpensive rum with quite a heritage that has gone through some unfortunate changes recently.  Let’s give it a go….

Nose is sweet with a rich charred character and laced with overripe banana, vanilla bean, sweet tobacco and a feint reediness.  There’s also a bit of black pepper that comes through with more intense inhaling and overripe stone fruits with a softer approach.  It’s not very complex, but very enjoyable, especially if you enjoy sweet fruity aromas.

The taste is immediately sweet and that sweetness carries through to the finish.  Like the nose, there are lots of overripe fruits, but that’s tempered with a mild bitterness like the caramel at the bottom of a good flan.  The reedy character is more noticeable here while the banana and vanilla are joined with soft cocoa before fading into the mildly bitter finish.  It’s an interplay of spices, overripe fruit and sugar cane that takes you from a sweet entrance through a flavorful cascade ending in a fairly long finish of caramelized banana peel and charred wood.  After a while, the black pepper becomes more evident and seems to linger with the reedy quality… like there’s an affinity between the two.  It’s never strong or pronounced, but it’s more noticeable.  With each sip, the sweetness intensifies as it counters the woody caramel finish and reveals overripe pear, overripe dark cherry, orange marmalade (thanks Cap’n Jimbo) and banana peel.  While these other fruits and flavors are noticeable, the initial ones continue to dominate, namely the overripe banana and vanilla.

This is a moderately complex rum that is very enjoyable.  The sweetness played against the bitterness provides some contrast and keeps things interesting, while the overripe fruit character with mild spice develops over time and then lingers with each sip.  We know that this rum is sweetened and I imagine that this is too counter some of the bitterness that is present.  Unfortunately, the added sugar probably mutes some of the flavors that would be expected with a complex rum.  I don’t mind the added fruit and vanilla, as long as it’s natural (not artificially flavored) and clearly labeled, but the added sugar can’t be helping the quality.

For me, this lies between the demeraran and agricole style rums with characteristics consistent with both while never fitting into either category.  The 15 year old is almost as good as this 18 year old and the price is only marginally different.  I’ll be looking for a new reference for Cuban style rum.  In the meantime, give this one or the 15 year old a try.  Both are pretty good.

El Dorado 15 Year Old Special Reserve

Demerara Rum, 15 Years, 40% ABV, $32

I’ve been enjoying this rum for quite some time and it’s become a favorite of mine, even though it has recently come under fire for undeclared additives (a significant amount of sugar), effectively destroying the presumed purity of this Caribbean classic.  I know… what a way to open a review!  That’s definitely a digression, so let’s start from the top.

This very dark rum comes in a classic “squatty” rum bottle (and nicely boxed, I might add). It’s a blend of “specially selected aged rums, some as old as 25 years, from the Enmore and Diamond Coffey stills, the Port Mourant double wooden pot still and the Versailles single wooden pot still, [which] is blended to perfection and aged in old bourbon oak casks.”  There’s definitely a lot of history associated with the unique stills employed by Demerara Distillers in the making of El Dorado rum.  It’s also interesting to note that each of the products are distinct blends and not merely various ages of the same blend.  This provides more of an adventure in exploring the range and I recommend doing so… I’ve been impressed with everything I’ve tried so far.  The unique blend employed here is aged for 15 years “in old bourbon oak casks.”

The nose is a rich entanglement of molasses, prunes, vanilla, straw, sweet tobacco, overripe pear, honey, charred oak, pomegranate, wet grass and ginger.  There’s the slightest amount of heat, but it’s mostly sweet and rich with just a note of musty leather.  The taste is similarly sweet, rich, flavorful and mildly hot.  Initially sweet, the flavors arrive in waves of fruit followed by waves of spice as you anticipate the transition to a slightly leathery, fruity finish with a bit of musty bitterness.  The first wave brings sweet tobacco, caramel, prunes and honey followed by a wave of pear, molasses, vanilla, bitter orange, overripe banana and fresh straw.  Next a wave of charred wood, ginger, plantain and white pepper overlap the previous wave and then both fade into the finish.  It’s really interesting to note the arrival of the flavors with each sip and this experience keeps the entire pour desirable and pleasurable.  The sweetness is noticeable, but not objectionable.  I just wish I could experience it without the added sugar.

At the current $32 per bottle, this is truly a bargain for a masterpiece of history and flavor.  Of all the rums that I’ve tasted, this is the most alluring… almost calling me whenever I glance at the bottle.   There are better rums for sure, but this is definitely a favorite.  If you want a cheaper introduction to El Dorado Rum, then give the 8 Year Old a try at less than $20… you’ll be amazed!  I hope to give the sweeter 12 Year Old a try this year.

Update: I’ve received some offline comments from my good friend, Cap’n Jimbo, so I’d like to offer some clarifications.

  • The fact that Demerara Distillers adds sugar to a premium offering like El Dorado 15 Year, especially 31 g/l (among the highest in the industry), is truly disheartening.  This is effectively a pollution of the Demerara style which they represent and a sad omen for things to come with respect to their products (I hope I’m wrong about this, at least for their premium offerings).
  • I still think that El Dorado 15 Year is a great tasting rum and has some complexity and flavor robustness that is rare in the $30 range; however, it is no longer representative of the Demerara style of rum that it once was.  I say this because I have it on good authority that the addition of sugar is a recent change and, in my opinion, a sad one.  I’ll be on the lookout for good examples of the Demerara style, which is my favorite so far.  At this point, my reference is Flor de Caña Centenario Gold 18 Year.
  • El Dorado 15 is now officially my favorite flavored rum. 😉

My Own Custom Whiskey Advent Calendar

Last year I was introduced to the concept of a whisky advent calendar by my friend, Gene, and the folks at Master of Malt. Today, I decided to build my own custom version using samples that I’ve collected over the past year. I’ve come up a bit short, so I’ll supplement a few from my open bottles that haven’t been formally tasted yet. The collection includes, Scotch from most regions, bourbon, rye, rum, brandy, grappa and mezcal. I know that this ventures a bit beyond whiskey, but that just makes the journey more interesting. I’m using a somewhat arbitrary order while saving a few of the premium offerings for last. I’m looking forward to it and I hope you enjoy it, too.

Ron Matusalem Platino

Cuban Rum, 3 Years, 40% ABV, $10

Besides Bacardi (I’m not counting that one), this is the first white rum I purchased. It was a great price and I didn’t know much about it, but I grabbed it anyway.

On the nose, its sweet and spicy with smells of toffee, straw, ginger, overripe plum and cherry, pear, honey and mild tobacco. The taste is vanilla, caramel, apple, pear, plum, banana, ginger, grass and black pepper. The finish is mild wood, subdued fruit for a while and dissipating spice. There’s a lingering taste of overripe banana and leathery tobacco in the background as well.

This is a really nice rum with a nice collection of fruit and spice without much sweetness and just a bit of bitterness. Overall, a pretty good balance.  The price I paid was really good, but even at the current $15 that I see, this is a good buy.

Sweet Crude Rum

Rum, Unaged, 40% ABV, $27

I was really excited about this rum because it hails from Broussard, LA… only a few miles from where I was raised in Lafayette. In fact, I made sure that I secured a bottle from the original release. Sadly, that was last year and I’m only getting around to posting these notes now after spending some one-on-one time with a good pour.

Sweet Crude smells like caramel, grass, dark cherry, Bit o’ Honey and a hint of turpentine. The taste is briny, sweet and spicy up front and the finish is leathery, bitter and spicy. At first, I detect brine, lemon, ginger, agave (no joke), white pepper and grass. The palate feels slightly oily with bitterness and spice and the finish is similar… bitter tannins (does this spend any time in wood) and a good bit of spice that slowly fades against a vegetal backdrop. It reminds me more of mezcal than rum… strange (no, I didn’t pour from the wrong bottle). It’s hard to believe that this comes from molasses. The flavor isn’t reedy like cane juice rum, but the profile is closer to that style.

It’s possible that they’ve improved Sweet Crude by now, but this initial batch wasn’t very good. The price has dropped a few bucks to the low $20 range, but this still isn’t a good buy for rum. Unless you must experience the Cajun heritage represented by this rum, I would totally pass on this one.

10 Best American Rums

According to Caribbean Journal’s Rum Journal, I have a sample of one of the best rums in the country:

  • Prichard’s Fine Aged Rum (Kelso, TN) – Tennessee is known for another fine spirit, but it’s quickly developing into a home for rum. One of the best is Prichard’s, which makes a range of rums, including a range of flavoured rums. But the Fine Aged Rum is the best of the bunch.

The only other mainland rums I’ve had are:

  • Sweet Crude (Broussard, LA) – Hailing from my homeland, this rum was introduced last year in south Louisiana.  I’ll be posting a tasting of this one at some point, but it’s not worth looking for yet.  I still hold out hope for this craft distillery to produce something noteworthy… even rooting for them!
  • Copper Run Gold Rum (Walnut Shade, MO) – This is a decent rum, but overpriced.

So, it looks like I need to branch out a bit.  There are some interesting mentions in the article and I plan to actively pursue bottles of these:

  • Siesta Key Spiced Rum (Sarasota, FL) – Rum Journal named Siesta Key Rum our spiced rum of the year in 2012, meaning it wasn’t just the best American spiced rum — it was the best spiced rum period. And so it remains. (Siesta Key’s other varieties, including spiced and gold, are also excellent).
  • Dancing Pines Cask Rum (Loveland, CO) – Dancing Pines makes three rums, including a light and a spiced variety, but the cask rum is our favourite. It’s made from cane molasses and distilled in charred oak barrels. It’s got strong notes of caramel, toffee and malt.
  • Sammy’s Beach Bar Rum (Maui, HI) – Made by Sammy Hagar, the legendary frontman of Van Halen, Sammy’s Beach Bar rum is actually a rhum agricole, meaning it’s distilled from sugar cane juice in the style of rums from Martinique. It’s fresh, it’s Hawaiian and it’s delicious.

The 2013 Spirit Journal World’s Top 120 Spirits

Spirit JournalF. Paul Pacult has published his Top 120 Spirits for 2013 and here’s how I fared with the list:

7. Parker’s Heritage Collection Master Distiller’s Blend of Mash bills Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (USA) 63.5% abv, $80.

I know of 4 batch releases of this sixth release from the Parker’s Heritage Collection, but this doesn’t match any of them.  Perhaps this was a pre-release batch that he reviewed, after all he is a special guy in the world of spirits.  My bottle is the most current release at a whopping 69.7% ABV and considered by many to be the best batch of the four.

32. Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey (USA-2012) 66.2% abv, $70.

I have the 2011 edition of this limited annual release from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, but I’ve yet to open it.

56. Merlet Crème de Cassis de la Saintonge Boisée Liqueur (France) 20% abv, $25.

I have a bottle of this that a friend of mine picked up for me in Paris last year.  It’s quite good!

60. William Larue Weller Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (USA) 61.7% abv, $70.

This is another one in my cabinet from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection and I’m looking forward to opening it.  It’s a wheated bourbon and I don’t have any experience with this type, so I need to open it soon.

67. El Tesoro de Don Felipe Añejo 100% Agave Tequila (Mexico) 40% abv, $59.

This is my favorite tequila and I’ve still got another bottle of it left from a clearance deal I happened upon over a year ago.  I also have the blanco and reposado from El Tesoro and they’re quite good as well.

85. Laphroaig Cask Strength 10 Years Old Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky (Scotland) 55.3% abv, $60.

I’ve had a sample of this from a friend and it’s a bold Islay whisky.  I prefer Ardbeg Ten, but this one suits the preferences of many.  I spent too much time evaluating it at cask strength and my mouth was becoming numb by the time I had added enough water to bring it down to a realistic level.  I plan on giving this one another try.

86. Dos Maderas 5 + 3 Years Old Superior Reserve Rum (Guyana/Barbados) 40% abv, $38.

I finished my bottle of this one last year and it was pretty good, if not bit too sweet.  I like this much better than Dos Maderas PX (5+5), which is finished in Pedro Ximenes Oloroso Sherry casks, as that one is overly sweet for my taste.

87. Herradura Blanco 100% Agave Tequila (Mexico) 40% abv, $55.

Last year, I bought a sample pack of Herradura Blanco, Reposado and Anejo.  I liked the Anejo the best.

92. Santa Teresa 1796 Ron Antiguo de Solera (Venezuela) 40% abv, $39.

My brother introduced me to this Jamaican rum.  While it was good, I consider Appleton Estate Extra 12 Year Old Jamaican Rum to be better.

97. Rhum Barbancourt Réserve Spéciale 8 Year Old Rum (Haiti) 43% abv, $23.

I’m on my second bottle of this rhum agricole (i.e. cane juice rum) and it was a slow start for me with this one.  At first, I was totally unimpressed and considered it a bit over-aged, but as time wore on I came to appreciate it more and more.   It’s got a “reedy” flavor to it that takes a bit of getting used to.  Now, I don’t think I would be without it and plan to try other rums of this style.

99. WhiskeyPig Straight Rye Whiskey Aged 10 Years (Canada) 50% abv; $70.

This one is 100% rye (most rye whiskeys are around 90-95%) and is bottled in Vermont.  I found a bottle in Louisiana about a year ago, but now it’s readily available here in Texas.  I’ve not opened my bottle yet, but my friends tell me that I’m in for a real treat when I do.

114. Balcones 1 Texas Single Malt Whisky Special Release (USA) 52.7% abv, $68.

This local distillery in Waco, TX has won many awards with their Texas Single Malt.  Personally, I find it to be the best of the young or no age statement (NAS) malt whiskys that I’ve tasted.  It’s bursting with flavor and has a nice dry finish.