Bit of an intro
This rum is made in Manilla in the Philippines. I've been trying to find out what I can about it and most of the information on their website is about which company owns what. The bits of their history that seem interesting to me are that two guys called Antonio Ayala and Domingo Roxas started a company in 1834 and their distillery, Distileria Locorea de Ayala, began by producing what was essentially a gin which they sold to visiting Europeans and wealthy Filipino elites. As demand grew they acquired more efficient distilling equipment from France and were able to produce their gin cheaply enough for it to be available to the common man. They were able to refine their products with the help of a renowned Filipino chemist and became even more popular.
Would you believe that today is the anniversary of the American take over of the Philippines from the Spanish? It is, they took control on December 10th 1898. There was a lot of conflict and eventually the US handed over control to the Filipino people. During the time they were in charge they enacted laws regarding food and drink production to ensure quality. The "Ginebra San Miguel" gin produced at the distillery was the only product deemed "pure" and "stainless" which was the highest distinction of commercial products. They won various awards for their products over the years, made various improvements, bought other companies, got bought by more companies, and merged with even more. Now we come to the present day and it's called Ginebra San Miguel Incorporated and makes a variety of drinks including Anejo 5 year old rum.
I couldn't find out much about the aging, other than it's 5 years. No information about colouring either, or indeed chill-filtering. It's bottled at 40% ABV so I won't add a lot of water and won't be expecting a whole lot of complexity. All in all it seems like a bit of a secret rum. Very little information available about it, and the rum itself doesn't seem very available. Ah well, crashing on...
Packaging
The tiny label on the tiny bottle looks like it's a shrunken big bottle label. Try reading this. You'll need a magnifying glass.
How many of those words can you read?
I don't know about you, but I can see the words "Anejo" and "rum" and the number 5. Everything else is so miniscule that even a ladybird would need to get out her reading glasses. It's on an ok label. Bit yellower than I would usually go for. The picture looks like a little house. I just managed to read the writing underneath it. It says it's made from "select sugar cane spirits" so it seems like it's a blend of different rums. It also says it's aged in oak barrels, which I already assumed to be the case.
Smell in the bottle
On opening
Maybe rhubarb.
Superglue of course.
Caramel
Touch of dark brown sugar
Appearance
It looks a lot like most of the other rums from my advent calendar. Apparently I forgot to take a photo of it in the glass so I had to imrovise.
Artist's impresion
Neat
Nose
Rhubarb I'm sure.
I think a hint of acetone.
Bit of vanilla.
A dry vegetal note, maybe a very faint oak.
Sweet, toffee note.
Arrival
Rhubard.
Chewy toffee, like in Toffos.
Development
Bit of vanilla custard. The whole thing reminds me of rhubarb and custard sweets.
Bit of toffee.
Alcohol sting.
Finish
Touch of something faintly vegetal but not much more.
Water - just a bit
Nose
Custard. Sweet vanilla custard.
Maybe a touch of fennel leaf. Or fronds or what ever they have.
Toffee disappeared for a while, but it's there again now.
Added a couple more drops of water and the menthol is much more forward.
Bit floral. Maybe geranium. Reminds me of Lakeland essense used in Lakeland tobaccos.
Arrival
Sweet.
Vanilla.
Not unlike creme brulee.
Development
Touch of menthol I think. I was thinking mint, bit it's a bit more mentholy.
Maybe it's eucalyptus, like menthol but a bit more of a wood resin feel to it.
Finish
Faint. Kind of just drops off leaving that mentholy feeling in the throat.
Bit of dryness.
Touch of tanniny oakiness.
Maybe a bit resinous. Yes, I'm prepared to say resinous. Kind of piney in fact and a bit astringent.
Kind of perfumed, lingering lakeland essence that I think is geranium.
A few extra comments
I don't have much to say about this one. No tasting notes to compare. We can skip this bit.
Conclusion
Quite nice, but quite simple. I had 20 ml and I didn't really feel like there was much more to it. With other rums I felt like I could have done with a bit more than 20ml to suss out the complexities a bit more, but with this one I feel like I got it all. You never know, maybe it would have surprised me if I'd got a big bottle and some air got in and oxidize it for a couple of weeks or something. I'm not convinced it would though. On th standard one to ten scale I like that it wasn't too sweet. Not sure I'd bother buying a bottle even if I could get hold of one. Interesting to have tried it though.
That's the end. I'm finishing typing this up the day after I started it and starting on today's rum right now. Cheers.
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