Day 20 in my advent calendar. Today's rum is from the Dominican Republic. Let's get straight into it.
Bit of an intro
The Dominican Republic makes some very nice cigars and I'm hoping they can deliver on rum too. We'll see. The name comes from Christopher Columbus, Cristobal being Spanish for Christopher, and his face is on the bottle. Nina is the name of one of his ships, and that's what this rum is named after. They produce another premium rum named after his other ship, Pinta. This is most likely a Spanish style rum, so likely sweet and oily. The distillery is owned by Alcoholes Finos Dominicanos, who grow their own sugar cane to ensure quality, that everything they produce is pure Dominican, and to provide work for hundreds of Dominican people. I quite like that.
There's not much more information on the distillery's website about production methods or anything, so I'm going to have to guess whether it's made from molasses, juice of honey from sugar cane. They do say it's aged in a tropical climate for 8 to 12 years which means it's likely to have a significant influence from the ex-bourbon barrels it's aged in. I'm expecting vanilla and maybe caramel notes because of that.
Packaging
It's got Christopher Columbus on it wearing a crazy olden days ruff.
It's not a flower, it's Christopher Columbus
I rather like the picture of Columbus. Not so sure about the pink background, it wouldn't be my choice for a rum label. It does include an age statement though, 8-12 years, which I approve of. I was almost going to say all the fancy lines make it seem a bit busy, but they don't they make it look fancy in a 1700s kind of way.
Smell in the bottle
On opening
Coconut.
Wood spice.
Vanilla.
Appearance
I think it has the orangey hue of caramel colouring. The picture's a little blurred, but you can see the colour still. What do you reckon?
Blurry
Noting wrong with a little caramel colouring as long as it doesn't come through in the flavour. It's used to make it look more appealing and t achieve a consistent colour across batches. Having said that I think 8-12 years in the barrel in a tropical climate could give it a lot of colour, although I don't think it would be quite such an orangey brown as this.
Neat
Nose
Vanilla.
Wood spice.
Maybe a hint of ground ginger powder.
Bit of rich raisin.
Arrival
Very sweet.
A lot of body.
Gingerbread.
Toffee.
Sugary. Tastes like rum with sugar in it.
Development
Toffee carrying though.
Sweet vanilla coming in.
Finish
Sugary.
Hint of fresh mint. (See extra comments)
Vanilla, richer than before.
Water - just a bit
Nose
Wood spice.
Vanilla.
Something a bit fruity sour.
Bit of a heady floral thing, like a heavy, perfumey, flowery smell.
Arrival
Sugar. White sugar.
Vanilla.
Bit of spice, but kind of overshadowed by the sugariness.
Maybe a bit of gingerbread.
Raisiny dried fruits.
Development
Hint of dark chocolate.
Sugary.
White chocolate.
Vanilla.
Faintly minty note. (See extra comments)
Finish
Sugary.
Oak.
Touch of spice.
Brown sugar.
Really sugary feel in the mouth.
A few extra comments
First thing to note is the minty note on the palate. If I was drinking whisky I'd say it suggests a sherry barrel maturation, but this is rum and isn't aged in sherry barrels, so I don't know wat's going on.
They provide some tasting notes on the website so I'll compare mine to theirs. Theirs have a very positive spin. For the nose they say:
"Incredible complex and balanced. The bouquet is sprinkled with unripe strawberries and flowery notes, rounded off by notes of fresh oak an creme Brulee with a caramelized sugar top"
I don't think it' inaccurate, I got a fruity sour note which I think is what they're calling unripe strawberries, I got a floral note, I got oak and woody spice, and I got vanilla and sugar which is pretty much what creme Brulee is. "Creme Brulee with a caramelized sugar top" sounds more appealing than "vanilla and sugar" which I think is why they call it that. Their notes for the palate are thus:
"Lush flavours of mint chocolate and marshmallows. The finish is gentle and soft with notes of vanilla leaving a silky mouthfeel."
Again, it's not inaccurate, it just has a really positive spin. I got hints of mint anc chocolate. Marshmallows taste of sugar and a bit of vanilla, so it's mint, chocolate, vanilla and sugar, and I got all of those flavours. I'd say the mouthfeel it leaves is more sugary than silky though.
Conclusion
A bit too sweet for me. Not bad, but too sweet. I've mentioned before that if a rum isn't too appealing to me it'll be because it's too sweet, and this is one of those. On a scale of one to ten I was quite pleased with myself for getting all their flavour notes. Would I buy a bottle? Nope, it's too sweet for my palate. It's just personal preference though. My cow farming Norwegian friend Mr. Undheim has the same advent calendar and he really likes the sweeter ones and wasn't over keen on the Pusser's which has been my favourite so far.
Hopefully I'll get today's rum in on time, but it's more likely that I'll get it done tomorrow. I hope you're not too angry about that. Bye.
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