So much for getting this done on the day. This is yesterday's rum, but it was nice. Have a read while I work on the next one.
Bit of an intro
To start with I think we can agree that a Spanish rum is going to be Spanish style. Spanish style rums are usually made with molasses rather than sugar cane honey or sugar cane juice, and are typically sweet and oily. This one's not made from molasses though, it's made from sugar cane juice so I'm not sure what to expect. Should I expect something sweet and oily like a typical Spanish style rum , or something lighter and fruitier like a sugar cane juice rum. I don't know what to expect and I feel like I've been slightly mislead when a Spanish rum isn't made from the usual raw ingredients of a Spanish style rum. It's not even made in Spain, it's made on La Palma, which is one of the Canary Islands and therefore kind of Spanish, but not proper Spanish. Fortunately for me (although not for the people of La Palma) the Island has a historical connection to pirates, having been attacked by Francois Le Clerc the original peg leg pirate, and Sir Francis Drake the Queen's pirate. Rumour has it they were both looking to steal the rum and presumably any pieces of eight they might happen to find.
The brand was founded in 1936 on Gran Canaria, but the distillery was sold and then closed down. The son of the original founder moved to La Palma and started another distillery and brought the name Rom Aldea with him in he mid 1950s and it's not being run by the fourth generation of rum distillers in the Quevedo family. The sugar cane is grown locally and harvested by hand, and the growers follow the recommendations of the distillery for a nice tasty sugar cane juice. The founder of the Ron Aldea brand had a long career in the sugar and rum industries, so they ought to have some good recommendations. The cane is then milled as soon as possible to obtain fresh juice, and a residual byproduct is sent back to the cane growers to use as fertilizer. The juice is then fermented naturally with no temperature control and the time it takes varies depending on the ambient temperature. I think this ought to make for some flavour variations batch to batch as the yeast will be operating a little differently each time. The fermented sugar cane juice is then distilled using one of the very first column stills in Europe. It's the original still the founder had made in 1893. Presumably he used it for other projects before opening his distillery on Gran Canaria. It's heated using a wood fire, which is quite exciting. Not only is it a direct fired still which should in theory give the spirit a bit more complexity due to the uneven maillard reaction taking place in he still producing a vast (me harties) array of flavour compounds, but each firing of the still will have a different fire, meaning greater variation batch to batch. To large drinks manufacturers this could be interpreted as inconsistency, but to me it means a more interesting and authentic product. They use a variety of woods to mature rums, but this particular rum in aged entirely in American oak for a minimum of ten years. When it's blended and ready for bottling the rum is watered down with natural spring water and then rested for at least two months for the flavours to marry properly.
One of several expressions from the distillery, the Maestro is bottled at 40% ABV, is at least ten years old and aged in American oak. The rums selected for the blend are all from the same year. I'm not sure if that makes it a special vintage type rum or not, but they do call it a vintage rum on the website. They produce 10,000 bottles of it each year which gives it a bit of exclusivity, but I'm not sure if that's a marketing technique to make is seem special and charge a higher price for it, or if it's just that they can only produce that much each year. the still doesn't look that big in the pictures on the website, so I'd be willing to believe that they can't produce more than that without dropping a product or two from the lineup. They've included some tasting notes, so I'll compare mine to theirs in the extra notes section.
Packaging
Looks kind of gothic. If you like white foundation and black lipstick then you'll probably enjoy looking at this tiny sample bottle. Observe it through your telescope from your vantage point in the crow's nest.
Gothic
Black background with old style writing. It could be a black metal band's logo on there, however if you added a skull and crossbones in the corner it could easily be a pirate themed rum. I quite like it, but it doesn't seem quite as up market as others.
Smell in the bottle
On opening
Superglue.
Pear drops.
Vanilla.
Appearance
No surprises here. It's a brown spirit with a brown colour.
Pirates probably like the colour
It's certainly an appealing colour. I'm not sure if they add caramel colouring or not, but it's certainly darker than the other sugar cane juice rums in the box. I'd suggest a little colouring is added, although it's possible that ten years of aging produced this colour.
Neat
Nose
Pear drops.
Maybe cola cubes.
Vanilla.
Chocolate.
Maybe cigar tobacco.
Raisin.
Arrival
Sweet arrival but not too sweet.
Vanilla.
Raisin.
Development
Vanilla.
Oak.
Alcohol sting.
Finish
Creamy coconut.
Vanilla, quite ice ream like.
Oak.
Vegetal, leafy.
Water - just a bit
Nose
Custardy, creamy vanilla.
Raisin.
Possibly fruity coffee.
Cigar tobacco.
Coconut getting clearer as the water works.
Arrival
Sweet.
Touch of coconut, getting clearer as time passes with the water.
Just a touch of raisin.
Development
Oak.
Cocoa powder.
Bit of coconut.
Maybe sweetish coffee.
Finish
Creamy mocha.
Vanilla.
Seeds. Bit of poopy seeds, bit of pumpkin and sunflower.
Dryish oakiness.
Dark chocolate.
Vegetal, kind of sweetcorn-ish.
Savoury herbs.
A few extra comments
My only extra comment is to compare my notes to those on the website, so here it is. They say it has "impressive notes of vanilla, cacao, coconut an coffee" all of which I tasted, although the coffee was very faint and the coconut was subtle, but increased as the water did it's work. They also describe it as "Very tasty and fruity rum" which I agree with. There was noticeable raisiny dried fruit notes and it was indeed very tasty.
Conclusion
Very nice. My tasting notes don't do it justice. There's much more complexity than I was able express. On a scale of one to ten I'd say this is definitely up there, but still not as good as the Pusser's which is still winning for me. Would I buy a bottle? Not sure. It's unfortunately another one that's not available here in Norway, but another one I'd consider if it was a decent price. I'd have a glass if I saw it in a bar, but I only know of one bar that's likely to have it and that bar's in a different country. Overall a very pleasant experience.
The next rum's from Nepal, which is intriguing. Don't forget to come back and read that one. It's not a part of the world with many products available here so should be interesting.
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