Day 12 of my lovely advent calendar. Today I have a sample of Columbian rum to peruse. I know nothing about it right now other than it's from Columbia, so I'm going to do a bit of research and see what I can turn up. Look at this pic while I google about all over the internet.
Bit of an Intro
Ok, I've done some searching about and looking at pictures and I'm ready to give you a bit of information. Copy this down: This Rum's made in Columbia by Coloma. It was "created under the centennial trees of the Hacienda Coloma, a coffee estate locate at 1,700 meters above sea level" which is all nice an flowery and part of the marketing. I like it though. I'm into coffee so the idea of a rum made on a coffee estate it quite appealing. The centennial trees aren't relevant, they're only mentioned to paint a nice linguistic picture. You should search google images for centennial trees, they're quite impressive. I assume the trees are there to provide shade for coffee bushes that grow better in the shade, or at least were. I don't know if they still produce coffee. They produce coffee liqueur so maybe they do. The rum is actually partly aged in barrels that have been previously used for the coffee liqueur. the idea was conceived by the rum masters Sandra Reategui and Judith Ramirez. The world of spirits tends to be populated mostly by men, so it'll be interesting to try a rum designed (if that's the right word) by women. Speaking in very broad term women tend to like different kinds of flavours to men. Most single malt drinkers are men for example, and most cigar smokers. Not all of course, there are exceptions. The women I know who drink single malts from time to time tend to like lighter ones, like Glenkinchie, and the female cigar smokers I know of tend to prefer narrower ring gauges for the flavour. The men I know tend to prefer heavier whiskies and peated whiskies, and the male cigar smokes I know tend to go for lager ring gauges although that could just be that a large cigar makes them feel more manly. I like the idea of a coffee liqueur influence on the flavour too.
This is a molasses rum, and is ages in American oak ex-bourbon casks and then finished in the coffee liqueur casks. The water used runs down from the Andes mountains. I don't know what significance that has, but it suggests a natural water source. I was trying to find out a bit about the mineral content of it, but I think it depends what part of the Andes the water comes from. It might be high in lithium, but I'm not sure. The mineral content probably makes a bit of a difference to the fermentation. I'm not sure what would come though in distillation, but the spirit will be reduced to bottling strength with it too, so maybe this rum will increase the health of my thyroid to a negligible degree. I have no way of knowing. It's filtered through old coffee filters from the coffee estate, so I think that's a conclusive answer to whether they still produce coffee. The photos of coffee from the estate are also a bit of a giveaway. I didn't see them until just now.
I'm pretty sure I have the 8 year old version even though it doesn't say so on the label, which would be in the XO category, but labeled as 8 years old on the full sized bottle instead because that's better than 6. There's a 15 year old version too, and a fancy single barrel version. It's bottled at 40% ABV so I won't add much water. No information about colouring or chill filtration, or whether it's double, o tipple distilled or whatever. They give some tasting notes on the website so I'll compare in the extra comments.
Packaging
Pretty good. Blue and goldy colour make a pleasing colour cheme.It says it's rum and has the company name. There is a picture below for your viewing pleasure.
Are you eyeballs happy?
It says rum at the top, then the company logo. Underneath that it says "Ron, Artesenal de Colombia" which I assume means "Rum, Artisanal from Columbia". Not hard to work that out really. The full size bottle is square and looks a bit perfumey. That's ok though. It comes in a blue box with what look like palm leaves or some kind of colombian jungle leaves, and a picture of the Hacienda Coloma. Looks quite nice. I'm not sure how rumy it looks, I'm more used to rum having a British navy theme but most of my experience is cheap rums sold in Britain.
Smell in bottle
On opening
No much.
Sweetish.
Caramel.
Appearance
Not a lot different from other rums really. Look at it.
No surprises
I have no idea is this has any colouring added to it. This colour could just be from the casks, especially since it's finished in the coffee liqueur barrels. They describe it as "Light brown with subtle copper tones", which is pretty accurate if a little fluffy.
Neat
Nose
Soft.
Caramel.
Vanilla.
Arrival
Sweetish.
Bit of vanilla.
Development
Kind of like mocha, coffee and chocolate.
A little creamy.
Finish
Subtle.
Bit of caramel.
Water - just a bit
Nose
Caramel.
Vanilla.
Faintest vegetal note, increasing as the water works.
Bit of mocha.
Warming it up a little brings out the mocha. (See extra comments)
Arrival
Caramel.
Vanilla.
Mocha.
Bit of coffee bitterness.
Faint touch of brown sugar.
Development
Sweet coffee, a bit like coffee with a bit of brown sugar in.
Vanilla.
Juicy feel.
Finish
Alcoholic warmth.
Dry, after coffee feeling.
Bit of dry oak.
A few extra comments
The flavours are very subtle. I said earlier that the women I know who drink whiskies tend to go for lighter ones with gentler flavours and his rum, created by women is light with subtle, gentle flavours. I have no idea if this means anything, but it could be worth noting if you're trying to introduce a lady friend to your spirit appreciating hobby.
The aging in coffee liqueur barrels adds a hint of coffee to the flavour profile, but not a lot. It doesn't dominate. In fact I think a little more would have been nice, but just a little. The other flavours are very subtle so it would be easy for it to take over.
My rum was rather cold at first. It's a very cold day here in Norway, including in my apartment. I wasn't getting a lot of smell as I was sniffing about like a bloodhound, and it occurred to me that cognac drinkers hold the glass in their hand to warm the spirit a little and release the aromas. I tried it with the rum to see if I could get a bit more from it. It worked a little and brought out the mocha note on the nose a little, but didn't have a huge effect.
Time to compare my notes to the ones given on the website. They say the nose has "delicate notes of vanilla and subtle touches of coffee and mocha with a delicate wood". Delicate is certainly accurate, the flavours are indeed delicate. Vanilla, yes. I didn't get coffee, but did get the mocha which is coffee and chocolate. I got caramel, which they didn't mention. On the palate they note "Good balance between vanilla, mocha and a soft ground coffee". That's pretty accurate. It genuinely is. I was going to say describing their own product as having a good balance was a part of the marketing fluff they often put in their own tasting notes to make it sound good, but it actually a good balance of those flavours.
Conclusion
A nice rum, not too sweet. Interesting to have it finished with a coffee liqueur barrel, but I was expecting a little more in that area. I'd be interested to taste their coffee liqueur. I wonder if the caramel note I detected with the various sensors in my face came from the liqueur. Not sure. On a scale of one to ten I'd say that women can certaintly craft a decent spirit. The flavours were a bit too subtle for my preference though, and a little more complexity would have been more enjoyable. A higher bottling strength would have improved it. I'd certainly like to try the older version, but none of their rums are available in Norway. Not sure I'd buy a bottle of this, but I might if it wasn't too pricey. The price I've seen was a little more than I'd be willing to pay though.
I'm hoping tomorrow's has a bit more flavour to it. We'll see.
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