Review: Pixan Solera Especial   84/100
a review by Chip Dykstra (Aka Arctic Wolf)
December 2, 2020

Pixan Rum is produced at Destileria Espiritus del Norte a relatively new distillery located in Monterrey in northeastern Mexico. Apparently Pixan comes to us linguistically from the Mayan people and it is a word which roughly means ‘Spirit which gives life’.

It was hard to find information regarding this new distillery, although I did uncover that on Friday, December 23, 2016, an European community trademark registration was filed for PIXAN RUM DE MEXICO by Destilería Espíritus del Norte S.A. de C.V. . This trademark was registered on April 19, 2017. This means the distillery appears to have begun to export rum into Europe about two and a half years ago.

Pixan Solera Especial is sold as a premium Solera aged rum. I visited a few retail websites, and found that most were implying that the spirit was a 6 Year solera aged rum. This would mean the oldest rum in the blend would be aged about 6 years with the average age of the blend being somewhat younger. I also discovered that the solera was comprised of American oak barrels, and also saw evidence that the Pixan rum was finished for at least 3 months in old wine barrels.

Pixan Solera Especial is bottled at 40 % alcohol by volume.

In the Bottle 4.5/5

Pixan Solera Especial is sold in the squat cylindrical bottle shown to the left. The bottle design with its low center of gravity and heavy glass base is a good choice as this style of bottle is very stable and not prone to being knocked over easily. I like the colourful label, and the cork stopper, although perhaps more information regarding the rum could be included to help the consumer in his purchase decision.

In the Glass 8.5/10

Colour: Amber

Legs: Small to medium droplets form at crest dropping slender legs

Nose: Almond/butterscotch/vanilla and oak spice with orange and banana peel. Hints of grape and raisin. Fine oak spice building in the background.

In the Mouth 50/60

Entry: Heated with fine spice and a little pop of alcohol heat.

Butterscotch and vanilla lead out accompanied by oak spice and almond flavours. Raisins and grapes can be tasted in the background. Orange peel and light baking spices (cinnamon and ginger) add to a lively mouth feel.

Pixan Solera Especial would make an excellent cocktail mixer for daiquiri style cocktails and even an Old Fashioned.

In The Throat 12.5/15

We notice a bit of youthful exuberance with oak and orange peel spice combining with alcohol heat in the exit. Butterscotch and vanilla add a level of comfort to the finish which is punctuated with hints of grape and raisin.

The Afterburn 8.5/10

Although the youth shows itself, the spirit is nonetheless tasty with a strong combination of classic butterscotch/almond and vanilla flavour accented nicely by the wine enhancement which adds grape and rainin flavours. The oak spice plays a nice role as well adding to a lively palate experience.

If you are interested in comparing more scores, here is a link to my other published Rum Reviews.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You may (loosely) interpret the scores as follows.

0-25     A spirit with a rating this low would actually kill you.
26-49   Depending upon your fortitude you might actually survive this.
50 -59  You are safe to drink this…but you shouldn’t.
60-69   Substandard swill which you may offer to people you do not want to see again.
70-74    Now we have a fair mixing rum or whisky.  Accept this but make sure it is mixed into a cocktail.
75-79    You may begin to serve this to friends, again probably still cocktail territory.
80-84    We begin to enjoy this spirit neat or on the rocks. (I will still primarily mix cocktails)
85-89    Excellent for sipping or for mixing!
90-94    Definitely a primary sipping spirit, in fact you may want to hoard this for yourself.
95-97.5 The Cream of the Crop
98+       I haven’t met this bottle yet…but I want to.

Very loosely we may put my scores into terms that you may be familiar with on a Gold, Silver, and  Bronze medal  scale as follows:

70 – 79.5    Bronze Medal (Recommended only as a mixer)
80 – 89.5     Silver Medal (Recommended for sipping and or a high quality mixer)
90 – 95         Gold Medal (Highly recommended for sipping