Ron Matusalem prides itself on being a Cuban style of rum with a history in Cuba they trace back to 1872 when two brothers, Benjamin and Eduardo Camp, together with a partner, Evaristo Álvarez opened a distillery in Santiago de Cuba. According to the information I found last April on the Matusalem website, the rum they were producing began to win acclaim by the first quarter of the 20th century. The distillery apparently operated until the 1960′s when due to the Cuban Revolution the Álvarez family was exiled, and the rum they made disappeared from the landscape.
The brand was resurrected by Claudio Álvarez Salazar, who is the great-grandson of Evaristo Álvarez. Of course, it was not possible, given the political situation in Cuba, for Claudio to produce or bottle the rum in Cuba. Apparently, it is produced (presumably by a third-party as Ron Matusalem does not own a distillery) in the Dominican Republic, and then bottled in Lawrenceburg, Indiana by Proximo Spirits.
Here is a link to the review for the Rum Howler #23 Rum of 2017:
Review: Ron Matusalum Gran Reserva 18 Rum
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We have reached the top 25 rum spirits of 2017. I have reviewed and/or re-tasted each of these rums within the past three years. (All Rum reviews were based upon bottle samples either purchased by myself or provided to me by industry.)
You can continue to follow the countdown on twitter (Rum Howler on Twitter) using the hashtag #Top100Rums.
Alternatively you can view the list as it grows daily by viewing my Reveal Page:
The Rum Howler – Top 100 Rums of 2017
El Pasador de oro XO is a new rum brand brought into Western Canada by Charton Hobbs. The rum is produced by Les Bienheureux S.A.S. (in Paris France) and (according to the information sheets given to me) is a blend ‘grand XO’ Guatemala rums aged from 6 to 15 years in oak barrels at selected Guatemalan distilleries. The rum undergoes a final aging process in France where the spirit is rested in used cognac barrels in the cellars of Les Bienheureux.
Dictador
Rum Nation
Our #31 Canadian Whisky takes us back to the Last Mountain Distillery, Saskatchewan’s first micro distillery. I am a big fan of the husband and wife team of Colin and Meredith Schmidt and the spirits they distill. So it is no surprise to me that their Private Reserve Whisky is, according to my rankings, the best craft (micro-distilled) whisky produced in Canada for the year that is 2017.
Note: As indicated earlier, I will not be creating a posting for every whisky in my countdown on this website; but I am going to try to highlight every Canadian spirit that I have not reviewed previously.
The Rum Howler Blog 