Tasting Notes: Ron Abuelo 12 Year

This is a 12 year aged Panamanian dark rum, which is surprisingly not terribly expensive for how great or old it is.  Keep in mind that aging in the Caribbean, the angel's share can be up to 10-20% annually.  So in addition to the time, rum tends to be expensive to age because you lose a lot of the original product!

Appearance:  Dark but translucent caramel brown.

Aroma:  Melting brown sugar, very mild alcohol aroma.

Mouthfeel:  Feels light, but does linger a little bit.

Flavors:  Brown sugar, caramel, but not overly sweet or syruppy, a little vanilla and a slight oakiness, warm finish.

Overall:  I am not a rum drinker.  And when I do, it's usually with cola, or poolside in a Miami Vice in Vegas or Mexico.  This rum is the exception.  It is sweet enough, but not overly sweet.  It manages to pull some of the heavier flavors that give burning caramel or melting brown sugar their flavors and smells and set them apart from white sugar, without becoming too sugary.  The oak and vanilla are there enough to give a little more complexity to what I usually think of as a fairly simple sugar and booze bomb of a spirit, but not so much as to muddle the sugar-based flavors.  Overall, this rum has a great balance, and a lot more going on than most other non-spiced rums.  It also warms you up quite a bit for a spirit which comes in at 40 proof.  This is a nice drink for a cool or cold day, by itself, neat or on the rocks, something I would rarely say about a rum.