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Posts Tagged ‘Dictador’

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Cocktail Hour: Red Sky at Night

Posted by Arctic Wolf on May 5, 2016

Today’s serving has its roots in the modern classic, the Cosmopolitan which I introduced in a posting a few months ago (here). The Cosmo (as it is commonly referred to as) is a popular serving which mixes Cranberry and Lime Juices with Vodka and Orange Liqueur. The International Bartender’s Association (IBA) standard formulation calls for Vodka Citron; however most recipes you find in cocktail books and on the internet call for a standard premium vodka rather than the lemon flavoured variety.

Red Sky at Night SAM_2493This recipe omits the vodka altogether and instead substitutes an amber rum. Following my common refrain, the better the spirit, the better the cocktail, I have chosen today to mix the serving with an 8-year-old column distilled rum which has been charcoal filtered to remove most of its colour and to provide a little polish to its flavour profile, the Dictador Claro 100 Month Aged Rum. Because of the lovely reddish hue given to the cocktail by the cranberry juice, I call this libation Red Sky at Night.

Red Sky at Night

2 oz Dictador Claro 100 Month Aged Rum
1 oz Triple Sec
1 oz Lime Juice
1 oz Red Cranberry Juice
1/2 oz Sugar Syrup (1:1)
Ice
Orange Peel

Add all ingredients into a metal shaker with ice
Shake until the outside of the shaker begins to frost
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass
Garnish with a strip of orange peel
Yumm!

Please remember to drink responsibly, the aim of my blog is to help you drink better spirits…not more spirits!

If  you are interested in more of my original cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!

Note: My review for the Dictador Claro 100 Month Aged Rum publishes tomorrow.

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Review: Dictador Amber 100 Month Aged Rum

Posted by Arctic Wolf on March 15, 2016

rum_amber_100Dictador is produced in Colombia on the Caribbean coast at Cartagena de Indias City. Rather than being produced from molasses, the rum is produced from the virgin honey of sugar cane. Interestingly, the choice of the distillery to use sugar cane honey rather than molasses is based upon a peculiarity of Colombian government policy. It seems that the country has mandated that automobiles in Colombia must use a certain percentage of biofuels in conjunction with gasoline as their fuel source. As molasses is the most readily available source of biofuel, almost all molasses produced in Columbia is earmarked for biofuel production. This means that the folks at Dictador Rum have little choice but to produce and use their own sugar cane honey for rum production.

Recently Dictador released what they call their 100 Month Series which includes four new rums all aged for 100 months. Unlike the more premium Dictador Solero Aged Rums, the 100 month series is meant to be a gateway series consisting of spirits which are meant to be embraced both as entry-level sipping rums as well as cocktail spirits.

The Dictador Amber 100 Month Aged rum is the flagship of the series. It is a continuous column still rum which was aged in ex-bourbon oak barrels. The final rum is said to be decanted by gravity to preserve its rich colour, and then bottled at 40 % alcohol by volume.

Here is a link to my full review:

Review: Dictador Amber 100 Month Aged Rum

“… The breezes above the glass reveal a nice mixture of oak and butterscotch with spicy accents of cinnamon, orange peel, and tobacco. Fine oak spices build up just a little, and soon vanilla and other baking spices (allspice, cloves and nutmeg) have joined in. The rum is pleasant to nose …”

Please enjoy my latest rum review.

Chimo!

 

 

Posted in Rum, Rum Reviews | Tagged: , , , , | 2 Comments »

Cocktail Hour: The Brooklynite

Posted by Arctic Wolf on March 14, 2016

The Brooklynite Cocktail comes to us from the Stork Club Bar in Manhattan, New York. (It appears in the 1946 edition of the Stork Club Bar Book.) It is a simple cocktail, basically a daiquiri made with dark Jamaican Rum, lime juice, and honey. At least one source I researched (The Internet Cocktail Database) adds bitters to the recipe.

Brooklynite SAM_2426

Today, I have switched out the dark Jamaican rum for a lighter bodied, but more fully aged column distilled rum from Columbia (Dictador Amber 100 month Aged Rum). I have also used honey syrup rather than straight honey in the recipe. These changes result in a different final cocktail. This is because Jamaican Dark Rum has strong molasses flavours which dominate the original cocktail. The lighter bodied Dictador Rum creates a lighter bodied cocktail and the less sweet honey syrup allows us to enjoy the subtle flavour nuances of the well aged Dictador rum .

Brooklynite

2 oz Dicatador Amber 100 Month Aged Rum
1/2 oz Honey syrup (1:1 ratio honey and hot water)
1/2 oz Lime Juice
dash of Angostura Bitters
ice
Twist of Lime Peel

Add the four ingredients into a metal shaker with ice
Shake until the outside of the shaker begins to frost
Double Strain into a cocktail glass
Garnish with a twist of lime

If  you are interested in more cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!

Note: My review of Dictador Amber 100 Month Aged Rum will publish tomorrow.

Chimo!

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#6 – Dictador XO Insolent (Rum Howler Top 100 Spirits)

Posted by Arctic Wolf on December 19, 2015

Dictator’s solera aging system is a cascading process where younger rums are aged in oak casks and then blended with older rums. The aged rum are arranged in different flights with the oldest distilled rum on the lowest levels of the Solera. The younger rums are placed on the upper levels with the very youngest rums at the top. As the rum is pulled from the lowest barrels for bottling, the barrels are not fully emptied, and those barrels (about half full) are then topped up with rum from the levels just above. This marrying of old and new softens the fiery younger rum and provides the final blended rum with a refined smoothness and flavor not found in ordinary rums.

Dictador Insolent

Dictador Insolent

For the Dictador XO Insolent in particular, the aging barrels used are pre-used oak barrels which have a significant percentage of oak obtained from Jerez Spain, as well as pre-used Port Wine Barrels. Near the end of the aging process, the barrels earmarked for the XO Insolent Rum are emptied (and the rum stored of course), and these barrels are subjected to an open flame process which caramelizes the rum soaked oak fibres on the interior of the barrel. These barrels are then refilled with the same rum allowing the spirit to draw the sweet caramelized flavours from the interior of the oak barrel.

Here is a link to the #6 Spirit in my Rum Howler Top 100 Spirits Countdown.

#6 – Dictador XO Insolent

“… simply luscious with sweet toffee smells rising from the glass tainted with impressions of butterscotch, vanilla, corn syrup, creme de brulee, maple syrup and peanut brittle. There is a backbone of firm oak sap and spice melded wonderfully into these sweeter butterscotch like aromas with delectable baking spices (cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves) and hints of milk chocolate lying underneath …”

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You may follow my Countdown list of the 100 Best Spirits here: The Rum Howler 2015 – Top 100 Spirits

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#83 Dictador 12 Year Aged Solera Rum

Posted by Arctic Wolf on October 3, 2015

Dictador’s solera aging system is a cascading process where younger rums are aged in oak casks and then blended with older rums. The aged rum are arranged in different flights with the oldest distilled rum on the lowest levels of the Solera. The younger rums are placed on the upper levels with the very youngest rums at the top. As the rum is pulled from the lowest barrels for bottling, the barrels are not fully emptied, and those barrels (about half full) are then topped up with rum from the levels just above. This marrying of old and new softens the fiery younger rum and provides the final blended rum with a refined smoothness and flavor not found in ordinary rums.

Dictador 12 SAM_1388A unique feature of the Dictador Solera System is that in addition to the younger rums being married with older rums, the barrels of similarly aged rums along one level of the solera are periodically consolidated to keep the barrels as full as possible to maintain fuller contact with the wood, and to inhibit the acceleration of the evaporation within the barrels. The Dictador 12 Year Old Rum, is a solera aged rum which is taken from the solera at the point where the average of the rum within that solera row is at least 12 years of age.

Here is a link to my review of the #83 Spirit in my Rum Howler 2015 Top 100 Spirits Countdown:

#83 – Dictador 12 Year Aged Solera Rum

“… There is a good amount of oak tannin and citrus zest which leads out and makes everything mildly spicy. This sensation is quickly followed by flavours of dark toffee which have turned slightly to treacle, and a moderate amount of vanilla oak. A yummy marzipan which reminds me of toasted almonds smothered in roasted marshmallows is nestled nicely under the oak and spice …”

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You may follow my Countdown list of the 100 Best Spirits here: The Rum Howler 2015 – Top 100 Spirits

Posted in Awards, Dark Rums, Extras, Rum, Rum Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , | Comments Off on #83 Dictador 12 Year Aged Solera Rum

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