Angel's Share Intro and Credit
Over the past decade it has been interesting to watch the evolution of the Don Q rum brand grow from three expressions to its current range of 18 different expressions. The distillery and aging facilities are located in Ponce, Puerto Rico. This year the brand has released two new products: the Reserva and Reserva Especial. The Reserva rum is a blend of column still rums aged in used bourbon barrels for a minimum of five years and blended to 40% ABV before bottling.
Appearance
The 750 ml bottle is in the standard custom design that the brand uses for its core products, sealed with a screw top. The front and back labels are loaded with information about the brand and the rum.
The rum has a light golden amber color in the bottle, and it lightens slightly in the glass. Swirling the liquid creates a thick band that releases a single wave of fast-moving legs, then additional waves of slower-moving legs.
Nose
The aroma of the rum leads with caramelized vanilla and is quickly followed by notes of dried fruit and light oak tannins.
Palate
The first sip was solidly balanced between the vanilla notes and the light astringency of the oak notes. Additional sips reveal notes of brown sugar, raisins, prunes, and a hint of baking spices and salt. As the rum begins to fade, the caramel notes drift in, followed by the oak tannins that linger on the palate in a light peppery finish.
Review
The flavor of the profile revealed a well-balanced rum that successfully bridged the gap between Don Q Gold and Don Q Reserva seven year old expressions. The price point is in line with other rums of this age range, but the blenders avoided the flavor profile having the raw oak and strong ethanol notes usually encountered with a five year old blend. For cocktail makers who use Don Q Gold, this rum provides a solid bump in flavor and is a hearty substitution or replacement as an ingredient.
