Coruba White Rum.  They are a brand of rum with mixed origins.  Coruba Dark is popular and widely available in the US and New Zealand. Coruba are a Jamaican rum brand (the rum used is understood to come from Appleton Estate).

The brand itself also seems to have some Swiss roots.  It is for the US market owned by Campari.  Coruba have a number of young “mixing” style rums in their portfolio.  They have also branched out into the cheaper flavoured market.

On the flipside of this Coruba also have a number of aged “Cigar” rums.  Presentation wise they appear at first glance to be unconnected.  They are however all part of the same brand.

Coruba White Rum is bottled at a stingy 37.5% ABV and is a young (no older than two years) white rum.  Marketing material state it is made in the traditional “planters” style.  Coruba White Rum comes housed in a traditional bar style bottle.  The label is best described as Tiki.  It’s a little gaudy and very OTT.

You don’t get a great deal of information on the bottle.  When you can find a bottle of Coruba White in the UK (distribution is sporadic) it should cost you no more than £20 for a 70cl bottle.

In the glass a typical clear white rum.  Filtered no doubt and no signs of any “yellowing”.

On the nose – not a typical white rum.  Certainly not a typical white rum bottled at only 37.5% ABV.  This is a very funky Jamaican style rum.  I’m getting a lot of Jamaican Overproof type notes despite the much lower ABV.

Very grassy, vegetal notes with big hits of banana and aromas of tar and varnish.  Strong defined funk with just a slightly gentler odour of light spicy oak in the background.  It’s not quite as intense as a Jamaican White Overproof but it is pretty similar.

As a sipper it is just a little too sharp.  The big funky notes get lost on the tongue to a harsh, overly sweet alcohol hit.  Which fades very quickly into a short, sharp and very dry finish. It’s pretty neutral tasting for most of the brief journey it takes you on.

As a mixer it also seems to get a bit lost.  The promise which was so evident on the nose just seems to fade away no matter what you try and mix this with.  It does add a little Jamaican funk but it all just seems so short lived.  It’s almost as if it gives up as soon as you get a little taste for it.  It ends up pretty much like slightly sweeter vodka.  It really doesn’t have a lot to offer.

I can only really blame the low ABV for this becoming so non-descript.  I can’t really understand otherwise how a rum can disappear as quickly as this one seems to.

Bit of a shame really as this was a reasonably priced and quite fun looking white rum. Maybe a higher ABV would be more satisfactory?

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