The Rumrunner's Relish

More is more.

Exotic, aged, blended, creatively finished. These drams are doing a lot & pulling it off! Take your sweet time meeting the who’s who of decadent & complex Rums. 5 super-premium, diverse expressions fit equally for dedicated sipping and cocktail mixing. For many reasons, Ron Colón Salvadoreño, Dictador, Diplomatico, Highball Express, and Larga Vida are the pinnacle of tropical luxury. Taste them all!

Sorry, Coco, not sorry. We might be willing to put down multi-coloured flower shirts, but complex Rum? Never. This one is for the maximalist, hedonist adventurer in love with the finer sips in life. Every sample from the box of layered luxury is a play on sourcing, blending, aging, and finishing the best of what sugar cane has to offer. From unique stills to additions of exciting fruit distillates, every selected sip pulls from the (sometimes sordid) but rich Rum history of the Tropics, and spins it toward a bright future 1 tasty elixir at a time. 

Ron Colón Salvadoreño Red Banana Oleo Rum: It’s usually the other way around, but a modern craft cocktail inspired the creation of this fruity tipple. Distillate of dry and fresh bananas, sugar cane syrup, and, of course, Dark Aged Salvadoreño makes for a superb sipper as is, but the Banana [insert your fave tiki cocktail] will be especially off the charts. Make one!

Dictador 12 Year Old Solera System Rum: And it feels like fermented sugar cane honey. This 12-Year-Old is a merger of younger oak cask-aged Rums and older Rums, distilled in copper alembic and partly in a steel continuous column. It’s aged in solera-aged in pre-loved oak barrels and totally opulent at 40% Abv.  

Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva Rum: Another one! Award-winning and layered blend –that is. Every delicious Rum in this decadent union was separately distilled and aged to achieve a harmonious blend. The 12-year rest in ex-bourbon and scotch whisky casks took a tasty toll on the juice, and what came out is this Venezuelan liquid masterpiece full of flavour. Treat your taste buds, and thank us later. 

Highball Express 23 XO Blend: Inspired by the 1920s ‘booze trips’ from ‘dry lands’ to the ‘wet islands’ and thoroughly opulent, this exquisite Rum has a 23-year-old heart aged in Guyana that’s later master-blended with some of the best Rums from Panama and Barbados. It’s rich and chunky on the palate, with cinnamon, oak, and spice notes. Prepare to be cask away. 

Larga Vida XO Rum 2019 Edition: Can't stop cherry-picking the finest of Rum from Barbados, Dominican Republic, Guadalupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Jamaica, Mauritius, Panama, Trinidad, and Colombia to blend meticulously. Won't stop ageing said blends in oak barrels for 15 - 24 years before finishing in an opulent combination of used casks like Ex-Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon & Sherry. F*, yeah!

[*Flaviar says]

Hear that rumble in your home bar? That's your sign to take decadence seriously. Take this tropical trip, and find a new favourite to proudly display on your top shelf, trophy-style. You might not return as a better person. But a more sophisticated Rum lover? Definitely. 

Smartass Corner:

1) Rum is often used for cooking and baking/making desserts. Many famous recipes include sweet Dark Rum, but one seems historically important (and delicious). The Caribbean/Jamaican Rum Cake is believed to be a result of colliding British and Caribbean cultures during the colonial era. It’s your fruity cake with the addition of Rum, but it also symbolizes the friction between cultures and the inevitable struggle for freedom. 

2) The most common types of Rum you’ll stumble upon are White, Golden or Amber, Dark, Spiced, and Age-Dated.

3) Ron, Rom, and Rhum are all synonyms for Rum. 

4) The oldest running Rum company in the World, dating back to 1703, is Mount Gay Rum from Barbados. 

5) Rum was used as currency in the late 1700s Australia, then a British colony with devastating consequences on the local economy.  

6) The main ingredient of Rum is sugar, mostly from molasses. Molasses is over 50% sugar but contains minerals and other trace elements, making up the final flavour.