The Angel's Share title
Flor de Caña Centenario 12
During our travels in the Caribbean we found this bottle on sale in a Duty Free store and decided to pick it up. I thought it was long past time for me to sit down and give the rum a try. All Flor de Caña products have been produced at the Chichigalpa, Nicaragua sugar cane plantation since 1890. Located at the base of the Chichiglapa volcano the distillery is 100% self-sustainable. The rum is created by distilling fermented molasses using a continuous column still. They state that the 12 year old rum is distilled five times. After distillation the rum is aged in used American White Oak barrels and the 12 is blended down to 40% ABV.
Flor de Caña 12
Appearance
The front of the squat short neck bottle has a stalk of sugarcane on the left side with the blue and gold label covering the center and right side. A natural cork is secured to the plastic cap and wrapped with a clear security seal. The mahogany rum lightens slightly when poured into the glass and agitating the liquid creates a medium band that spins off fast moving legs. The Rum evaporates fairly quickly (under two minutes) leaving a ring of beads behind.
Nose
The aroma of the rum is an interesting swirl of toasted oak, caramel, dried orange peel, apple, light buttery toffee and baking spices.
Palate
The heat of the astringent alcohol envelops the tongue as notes of caramel and toasted oak set the palate up for what the next sip brings. Subsequent sips reveal red apple, dried orange peel, cinnamon, milk chocolate, sweet vanilla and bitter oak tannins. The finish begins with a sweet buttery toffee from the aroma, but then becomes bitter and terminates rather quickly.
Review
I wanted to provide a quick note about the age statement. Nowhere on the bottle does it state that this is a 12 Year old rum. However when I met with the brand representatives they insisted that it was a 12 year old rum blend. So for this review it was evaluated with that metric in mind.
If I had to sum this rum up in one word, that word would be: Quick. The aroma was fun to explore, but the sipping experience is an explosion of flavors, that like the flame of a match, lights quickly and then is gone. The brevity of the flavor experience is a bit off putting as I expect much more from 12 year old rum as far as lasting flavor and complexity. With rum this age I would usually recommend a classic cocktail like a Rum Old Fashioned, but I feel the flavor gets buried by the other ingredients. If you want a sipping Rum from this line, I would recommend going with one of the older rums and I know from experience the seven year old is better for mixing in cocktails. Sadly this one may be the weak link in the portfolio.
