What is it? Rum from Peru distilled from molasses in column stills. Aged using a Solera (no details on ages).

Coloured, filtered and 40% abv.

Sugar? You bet. On-line data shows 44 grams per litre. That’s right, 44.

Nose: Smells old. Leather, cigar boxes and incense (sandalwood, cedar, pot-pourri). Oak, thick caramel and butterscotch. Woody baking spices; nutmeg, clove, cinnamon as well as some vanilla and dried fruits.

Palate: Medium mouth feel. Ok this doesn’t taste at all as I was expecting, it tastes a lot drier and almost cognac like. Lots of oak and vanilla, plumes of sweet cigar smoke and aromatic pipe tobacco. Dark winter fruits like figs, prunes and raisins. Some caramel pops up, but it’s distant and quite restrained. Very complex and it’s not a thick, heavy rum.

Finish: Medium. Now the sugar is making it’s play, it’s flattening the finish and leaving that fuzzy feel on my tongue. Still, the finish is still pleasant with some spice and oak prickle and a lovely smoky note, with some thinned golden syrup.

Thoughts? I’d best describe this as “delicate” or “beautiful” and it floats around your senses, however standard retail price is a bit too high for what you get. It’s quite a complex rum with a lot to offer and very well balanced, but it’s too “easy”. It’s been dumbed down and I suspect aimed at the likes of the cognac or whisky market given the price and presentation. I might add that I got mine far reduced (just over £60 rather than the standard £85) and for that price it’s a peach. I wouldn’t spend £85 on it though.

What is it? Rum made from sugar cane honey (not quite molasses, but not sugar cane juice either) in Venezuela. Pot and “batch” distilled, blended from light, medium and heavy rums and then aged for up to 12 years or so in small oak barrels.

40% abv, coloured, filtered.

Sugared? Ooooohhh yes, we’re verging on a liqueur here. On-line data shows around 40 grams per litre.

Nose: Big caramel, toffee, butterscotch (you get the idea). Vanilla and dark fruits, maybe some orange skin. Tiny prickle of spice from the oak. The combination is not complex but it is certainly very hedonistic and smells wonderful.

Palate: Big caramel, toffee, butterscotch. Vanilla and dark fruits……oh wait. Nose, taste and repeat. Very viscous and mouth-coating, actually quite cloying. Yep, it’s a liqueur. Delicious though but a “rum” this is not. It’s very sticky indeed.

Finish: Actually surprisingly long, didn’t expect that. Lashings of vanilla and a bit of oaky bitterness but I get the impression that the finish is just there because my mouth is still coated with the sticky rum and I’m still getting “palate” and not an actual “finish”.

Thoughts? Waaaayy too much sugar (and various other flavourings, including vanilla no doubt). It’s simply not possible to get something this viscous and sticky from distillate and cask. Let me be clear; rum is made from sugarcane (or its derivatives such as molasses) but through distillation no sugar passes from the wash through the still and into the end spirit – it’s a clear, sugar free mix of ethanol and water (as well as certain fatty acids called congeners that provide flavour from the fermentation). It does not have any sugar in it! Any sugar in the bottle is added later by the distiller.

……putting that aside, it’s very, very tasty – but I guess that’s the point. It’s not rum, it’s rum based liqueur. A very good one, but a liqueur non the less. One for the alcopop generation me thinks. If you are getting into rum and have a sweet tooth then this is probably a good rum for you to try, it’s very tasty, easy to drink and has very little character to upset anyone. If you want a real true rum and want to taste what rum should be like then stay well clear of this.

What is it? Well, it’s not 12 years old. It’s Solera aged, between 8 and 14 years apparently, which gives an average age of 12 year old. It’s from Columbia and from sugar cane honey.

40% abv, filtered and coloured (it doesn’t say it’s not so we’ll assume it is).

Sugar? I don’t think so. On-line sugar tests also show is sugar free.

Nose: Eh? Should this smell like the rubbery stuff the bottle is coated in – probably not, but it does. Weird. When the smell of latex catsuit (don’t ask) goes away there is some coffee in there, think roasted beans rather than brewed. Some smoky tobacco and prunes, quite earthy. Caramel and some vanilla too. Smells “manufactured”.

Palate: Let’s hope this is better. Argh! That bloody rubber again, where does that come from?! Well, mouth-feel is pretty good at least – quite oily. Ah, better now; dry actually, I was expecting a sweeter rum. Smoky again, earthy leaves and raisins. Not really much oak. Honey on burnt toast and then some of that coffee (brewed and black this time) as it moves to the finish.

Finish: Short to medium and no rubber, phew. Ends sweeter than the palate and has some bitter oak as it tails off, smoky again.

Thoughts? Minus the rubber and coffee this would be a very ubiquitous rum, and I think I’d prefer that to what they’ve done to it to give it “character”.

Not sold. I’ve been going back to this time and time again because for some reason when I’m not drinking it I want to, but then when I do drink it I don’t want to! No sugar added here, I don’t get that flattening on the finish or a cloying palate, but I’m concerned about 2 things:

The fake rubbery latex and coffee, neither of which should be in rum. I know Colombia produces coffee, but I wonder if they have somehow added the flavour into the rum, as the coffee profile doesn’t quite sit right. We’re not talking notes of coffee here like aged navy style Guyanese rums but actual coffee and it’s all rather odd, like the kind of coffee note found in Old Monk.

Rubber. WTF. This isn’t the kind of rubber ballon or tyre note you get in Jamaican pot still rum, this is altogether something else, and not pleasant. My first thoughts were that this odd rubberised bottle coating (not my thing by the way, gimme a glass bottle) was imparting some unwanted flavours to the rum, but I can’t see that being the case, so I have to assume it’s from the production or ageing process. A bit of research shows that this is aged (at least in part) in sherry casks. I suspect very strongly that some of these casks are duds and are imparting these notes into the rum, whatever the reason I don’t like it.

I wanted to try the 20 “year old”, but given my experience with this I’m reluctant to pay £50 just in case I get a similar experience.