Angel's Share Title
While visiting one of my local shops, I came across this rum, and while familiar with other Vizcaya releases, I had not tried this one before and decided to purchase it to review it for the magazine. Research revealed that the rum is produced in the Dominican Republic using fresh-pressed sugarcane juice as its base using a Cuban formula. After the fermentation process, the rums in the blend are aged up to six years in used bourbon barrels. The rum is blended to 40% ABV and bottled and corked by hand. Several sources attribute this rum to being manufactured by Oliver and Oliver, but it does not appear on their website as one of the rums they officially produce.
Appearance
The short neck 750 ml bottle has a heavy base, and that makes it a bit unwieldy to pour. The bottle is sealed with a plastic capped synthetic cork that is wrapped with a clear security wrap. Foregoing a back label, the bottle has an informative neck wrap and a front label with the most basic information about the rum. The rum has a light amber straw color in the bottle and lightens slightly in the tasting glass. Swirling the liquid in the glass creates a medium band that expands and drops several fast moving waves of legs down the sides. The band evaporates quickly, leaving a large amount of residue around the tasting glass.
Aroma
The rum leads with a strong sweet vanilla note, followed by notes of sweet cacao, honeyed dried apricots, with a hint of baking spices and oak.
Palate
The rum leads with the expected swirl of caramelized vanilla, followed by equally sweet milk chocolate, with a sting of alcohol around the palate. There is a maple syrup note that lands right before a long, astringent oak finish forms and lingers quite a while on the palate.
Review
As I mentioned in the opening, this rum was an impulse buy. As I evaluated the product, quite a few red flags popped up that this product was heavily dosed. The sweetness of the aroma and flavor profile, after the sipping experience, left gritty sweet remnants on the teeth and tongue. I did a tactile test and found that the liquid was quite sticky, and even after the liquid evaporated, my fingers were still sticking together. By design, imbibers are encouraged to use this in cocktails, and I can agree this is probably the best way to use the product. However, I would note that if the cocktail recipe calls for simple syrup or other sweet ingredients, you may need to dial those ingredients back accordingly to avoid creating an undrinkable sugar bomb. Personally, I find the overall sweetness of the rum to be problematic but can see where consumers might enjoy it.
