Rum Nation has invaded my home Province of Alberta with a very interesting assortment of aged rums from the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. The man behind this invasion is Fabio Rossi, who turned to rum in 1999 and founded Rum Nation. His company is headquartered in Italy; but Fabio purchases select rums from various distillers in the Caribbean and the Americas. As a result Rum Nation provides a rather unique assortment of rare limited edition rum bottlings. One such Bottling is the Rum Nation Panama 21 Years.
According to the front of the bottle (translation provided by Fabio Rossi):
” Rum Nation Panama 21 years is a blend created from the expert hands of Don Francisco (Pancho) Fernández, Master Blender born in Cuba, with 40 years of experience in production of aged rums in central and south America. Rum Nation Panama 21 years is made from sugar cane molasses, distilled in continuous column and aged in American oak barrels (Quercus alba) for 21 years in Panama.”
Here is a link to my review of the #77 entry in my 2015 Rum Howler Top 100 Spirits Countdown.
#77 – Rum Nation Panama (Aged 21 years)
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You may follow my Countdown list of the 100 Best Spirits here: The Rum Howler 2015 – Top 100 Spirits
Angostura 1824 pays homage to the company’s humble beginnings in Angostura, Venezuela. It is a premium rum produced from molasses. All of the spirit within the blend has been aged a minimum of 12 years in charred American oak bourbon barrels, after which it is hand drawn from the barrel, filtered and then bottled at 40 % alcohol by volume.
A few years ago (in 2013) Travellers changed the name of their 5 Barrel Rum, to Travellers’ One Barrel 5 Year Rum. (Apparently the name was changed due to trademark issues which arose as the brand began to penetrate new markets.) I would suggest that if you manage to get your hands on the older bottles of the rum (Travellers’ 5 Barrel Rum), you should. This is because, the older version which I sampled and reviewed in 2012 seemed to have more depth and complexity than the newer version (Travellers’ One Barrel 5 Year Rum) which I sampled and reviewed only one year later after the name change.
A 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.
The Ron Bermudez Anniversario carries no age statement, however it sits atop the ladder of the Bermudez Rum line-up. Carrying heavy oak accents, it was suggested to me by the local distributor that the rum would be comparable to a fine oaky cognac, full of character and flavour.
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