Don Q Vermouth Cask Finish Rum

     Don Q and the Destilería Serrallés has done it again with a barrel aging technique that has aided in the raising the image of rum to new heights, emphasizing the importance of barrel aging to the rum industry.  More and more rum producers are trying different ideas in their aging and finishing.  This is not a new idea, but it is raising the image of rum showing its remarkable versatility of the spirit.  The result is that cask finishing is likely to be around for quite some time.    Plantation was one of the earliest companies to use the casks from cognac and other wines and spirits to finish the rums they sourced from around the world, today the process is being used by most all of the producers.

     Puerto Rico’s Don Q, has released its first official cask-finished rum: Don Q Vermouth Cask Finish last February.  Master Blender Jaiker Soto blends rums aged for five-to-eight years in American white oak casks before resting the final spirit for four-to-six weeks in Mancino Vermouth Vecchio barrels. Crafted from Italian white oak, these casks carry aromatics of the fortified wine they once held, as well as botanical flavors synonymous with vermouth.

     This is a rum of golden amber color. With inviting aromas and flavors of cinnamon-pumpkin loaf, pecan pie, castelvetrano olive, ginseng, mace, thyme, and violet with a velvety, crisp, fruity light-to-medium body and a tingling, complex, medium-long Manzanilla sherry and grass clippings finish. A complex and lengthy rum with a unique style and spicy-salty allure.

     This blend of rare rums first aged for 5 to 8 years in American White oak casks, followed by 4 to 6 weeks in Mancino Vermouth Vecchio casks, crafted from Italian white oak.     This is a rum that is of real interest to me, because of the consistent quality of all of Roberto Serralles led introductions of the past.  It will be priced at $49.99 and presented at 40% ABV.