Comandante Fidel Ron Anejo del Caribe. Spain is quite an interesting place to visit when you are on the search for rum. First up it’s cheap as chips compared to the UK, sadly though they do seem to prefer (funnily enough) the Spanish style of rum. So you are faced with an endless supply of Cuban, Venezuelan and Guatemalan rum.

To be honest I’m mostly in the British resorts when I am in Spain. So we are talking about the likes of Benidorm, Salou and Torremolinos. In terms of islands it will be Mallorca or Tenerife. So perhaps the available rums aren’t the best representation.

However, Comandante Fidel Ron Anejo del Caribe seems to be pretty well distributed as I have seen it in a few resorts including Barcelona. I finally decided to get a bottle as I was leaving Salou, earlier this year.

To be honest it was dirt cheap €7.90 for a 70cl bottle, which unsurprisingly comes in at the bare minimum for a rum 37.5% ABV. Standard practice for “domestic” spirits in the UK so no big deal.

Comandante Fidel Ron Anejo del Caribe is a rum which is not identified as being from any particular place in the Caribbean. I guess the fact Fidel Castro suggests at least some of the rum in this bottle is possible from Cuba. Then again this is the rum world so maybe not………maybe a mix of Cuban an cheap Trini rum.

Beyond this I have little information on the rum. The label is in Spanish an I doubt it will fill in many of the blanks anyway, even if I do a translation. The bottle is a 3/4 stubby style affair with a rounder base and a short neck. The neck has a diffuser in the bottle to prevent any other rum being poured into this as a cheaper replacement. It is imported into Spain and I’ve not seen it anywhere else.

In the glass we are presented with a straw coloured rum. It’s light and doesn’t appear to have been coloured. The hydrometer also agrees with the ABV coming in at between 37 and 38% ABV, when tested. I won’t get involved in the politics of this rum or the choice of person used to promote it. So we’ll just move along and see how it tastes.

Taken neat this is best described as entirely lacking any merit whatsoever. It tastes like an ash tray that has had warm lager spilled into it. With maybe a shot of vodka added for a bit of a kick. It’s repulsive. Huge, sickly flavours of sweet cheap nasty cigarettes.

It’s thin and boozy and just completely disgusting. Raw, smoky. unbalanced and just down right awful. Easily one of the worst undosed rums I have ever tried. It’s bitter and almost tastes like Marajuana smells. Urgh, its truly repulsive muck. No matter how cheap this foul tobacco water is do not buy it.I’d buy anything over this even cheap Tequila doesn’t taste this bad.

To be fair I wasn’t expecting a sipper but even as a mixer this is god damn awful stuff. Unlike a lot of rums the flavours and aromas when sipped, do not disappear. In fact they almost become more pronounced when mixed with cola. Making for an absolutely disgusting rum and cola. I’m not exaggerating, unless you enjoy chewing tobacco I doubt you will get any enjoyment out of this rubbish.

Avoid no matter how cheap it is – even if they are giving this away. The novelty value is not enough to rescue this nonsense.