Day 21 of my advent calendar. Sorry it's a day late. I might manage to squeeze two reviews out today and get back on track, but I wouldn't hold out much hope. Anyway, let's have a look at Roble Viejo rum from Venezuela.
Bit of an intro
First time I've ever had rum from Venezuela. Possible the first time I've consumed anything from Venezuela in fact. This could be a slightly interesting one. It turns out that in order to be called Venezuelan rum the product has to be made entirely from Venezuelan sugar cane, be aged in oak casks for a minimum of two years, and have an alcohol content of between 40% and 50% ABV. These rules are those of the first Controlled Origin Denomination for rum and were established in 2003. I'm not certain why they won't allow rum to be bottled at a higher strength. Maybe just to be unique to Venezuela, but who knows. The website have some nice information on it. It says the distillery was started by four friends who had a goal of creating the best rum in the world., and that their commitment to that goal means they only produce limited bottlings and only when the rum is properly matured. They aim for quality over quantity, so I'm expecting something pretty pleasant today. They've won several rewards for their rums and credit the achievement to their master blender, Giorgio Melis.
The distillery's website has some details about the rum. It's made from molasses from Venezuelan sugar cane grown in the Yaracuy state in central Venezuela and they use water from the same region. After fermenting with carefully selected yeasts under controlled conditions they use a five column distillation process, and apparently discard the heads and tails of the run. I'm kind of thinking "You don't say. You really throw away the poisonous bit and the bit that tastes of body odour?" Discarding the heads and tails is standard for distilling. They might mean that their first cut is relatively late and their second cut is relatively early, but I'm not sure. They age in oak barrels which they don't top up as the angels take their share. I didn't think anyone topped up barrels as the level gradually decreases over the years. They seem to be describing pretty standard practice, but then this is rum and not whisky so maybe the rum makers do things differently. They also claim that oxygen permeating the barrel gives rise to esters, organic acids and essential oils that give the rum a complex flavour. They use demineralized water to dilute the rum to bottling strength.
They have a few expressions, and this one is called Extra Anejo, meaning extra aged. I guess that would be XO, although it's aged 8-12 years. XO being a minimum of 6 years maturation, I suspect they've gone for Spanish words instead of the standard notation because the rum is older than six years. They also do a rum aged a full 12 years and one aged 15 years. It's bottled at 40%, which is a tad disappointing after all the talk of quality. I won't add too much water and I already think this could have done with being stronger. No information about colouring being added, chill filtering, or extra sugar added. They do give some tasting notes, so I'll compare in the extra comments.
Smell in the bottle
On opening
Superglue.
Vanilla toffee.
Brown sugar.
Appearance
They seem to suggest it's colour is from the tannins in the wood rather than anything else. Have a butcher's:
Tannin coloured apparently
I'm willing to believe them. It's brown and not much oranginess. If they've used any caramel colouring I don't think it's much, maybe a touch for consistent colour across batches. It's also blurred. I'm not sure why it's so hard to get my phone to focus on a glass of rum, but I gave up in the end and just took a blurry picture.
Neat
Nose
Faintly smoky.
Burnt sugar.
Hint of fruitiness.
Vanilla.
Toffee.
Hint of marzipan maybe.
Cinnamon. Reminded me a lot of cinnamon powder.
Arrival
Slightly sharp fruitiness. Surprising.
Development
Dark chocolate.
Toasted nuts.
Hazel nuts.
Finish
Lingering sweet and sour note.
Dry tannins, reminded me of black tea a bit.
Water - just a bit
Nose
Whiskyish.
Brown sugar.
Fragrant spice, cinnamon I think.
Hint of sweet smoke.
Caramel.
Sweet vanilla.
Touch of fragrant herbs.
Raisin.
Arrival
Fruit.
Dark chocolate.
Faint smoke.
Caramel.
Dry wood chip type mulchy stuff you put on the garden.
Development
Tanniny oaky.
Sharpish fruity note coming in.
Subtle herbal notes.
Oaky vanilla.
Cinnamon buns - sweet cinnamon, bit buttery.
Hint of toffee.
Finish
Black tea.
Sourish note hovering around.
Grapefruit. Sour-bitter and a bit citrus.
Brown sugar.
A vey little spicy warmth in the throat.
Woody cinnamony. I half want to say cinnamon stick.
A little stony. Dry stone. I kind of want to say granite, but who knows what stones smell like. Reminds me of really coarse granite chip gravel though.
Green tea. Dry and slightly astringent with a vegetal thing going on.
A few extra comments
I'll compare my notes to theirs. Theirs are obviously part of the marketing, so bear in mind the positive spin. On the nose they say:
"Aromas of brown sugar and molasses, burnt sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, nuts and smoked wood."
I didn't get molasses, or at least didn't interpret what I was smelling as molasses. I got brown sugar which is kind of the same but not quite. I didn't get much nuts on the nose, just a hint of marzipan, which has a sweet almond smell. For the palate they say:
"Notes of caramel, vanilla and nuts, balanced tannins provided by the toasted casks, elegant, balanced and persistent body, significant minerality and moderate acidity give way to a long and surprisingly fresh finish"
I'd say that's pretty accurate. I got all of that I think, although I would describe it differently. In fact I did describe it differently. I'm not sure about elegant. I'm not sure I'd describe the faint stony note in the finish that didn't appear until I was almost done as significant either.
One more comment on the affect of water on this one. It really opened it up and revealed quite a lot of complexity for a 40% spirit, particularly on the palate. With whisky this would be a sign of a good quality maturation, and I assume it is with this rum too because they made such a big deal of aiming for quality on the website.
Conclusion
Certainly one of the better rums in this selection box- Maybe my second favourite in fact, with the Pusser's still holding first place. Given how much extra business was revealed by just over half a teaspoon of water I think the maturation was high quality in good casks. Sweet smells and flavours, but not too sweet and with enough spice and dry tannins and stuff to balance it out making an overall relatively dry rum. On a scale of one to ten I was quite impressed. Would I buy a bottle? I actually might. I wouldn't mind spending a bit more time with this rum, maybe see how it goes when the air's got into the bottle and oxidized it a little. I'm not sure I'll get much of a chance because this is another rum that's not available in Norway. Maybe I can have a bit more next time I visit the piratey pub in Hamble with my old friend Mr. Tiffen.
I need to go to bed so I can get up in time for work, so I won't get another one out today after all, but I doubt that bothers you much. I might have time tomorrow, but there's a Christmas do at work so not sure. Bye.
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