Don Q Double Cask Finish Puerto Rican Rum Finished in Sherry Casks. Snappy little name for it eh? Maybe not but at least it goes some way to describing the contents of this bottle.

Which is a lot more than can often be said for the lighter latin style of rums from Central and South America. This is the second Double Cask Finish rum Don Q have released in recent times. The Vermouth Cask finish, I have yet to review. I’ll get round to it though don’t worry.

Don Q Double Cask Finish Sherry Cask (I’ll make the title a little snappier eh?) comes in a 3/4 stubby style bottle with a rounded base and short neck. The front and rear label are free of any gimmicks. The presentation is topped off by a very chunky cork stopper with the Don Q logo emblazoned on it. All in all its a very classy slightly understated package.

In terms of the actual juice Don Q have provided some great information on the front and rear label. Don Q Double Cask Finish Sherry Cask is a blend of rums which were distilled from October 2009 to August 2012. These rums were blended together in November 2017. They were blended together in Spanish ex-Oloroso Sherry Casks. Prior to this they were aged in small white oak barrels (ex-bourbon). The rum was bottled in 2019. So we have a blend of rums aged between 6-9 years in total. The Sherry maturation was 1 year.  As with all Don Q rums the rum was distilled on a column still.

A bottle of this rum will set you back around £35 and it has been bottled at a rather unusual 41% ABV.

As far as the lighter latin style rums Don Q are amongst my favourites. As well as producing flavourful, well aged and blended column distilled rums, they have also gained favour in parts of the rum world by being against additives. This is one Latin rum brand that do not seek to deceive anyone.

So let’s see what this latest offering from them is all about.

In my glass I am presented with a nice golden to dark brown rum with a reddish/orange hue to it.  Nosing the rum, the sherry influence is very apparent. Especially for someone familiar with the regular Don Q releases.

It’s a sweet, perfumed nose with lots of juicy fruits and some really floral notes. Juicy plump raisins, floral gums, fruit pastilles, perfume and some slightly tannic red wine notes all put in an appearance.

Oak, spice and vanilla are more subdued on the nose but they are present. It isn’t the biggest most powerful nose but it does have good balance and a fairly decent amount of complexity.

Sipped as I’ve found with Don Q in the past the nose is slightly understated compared to the flavours contained in the rum. Often it is the other way around. Fortunately, not so with this Don Q Sherry Cask rum.

Sipped, initially you get a drier more traditional Don Q profile – spicy ex-bourbon notes, vanilla and some dry spices – a touch of ginger and a little chilli and black pepper. Further sips as the palate adjust reveal more of the sweet notes from the nose. Whilst the Sherry notes aren’t overpowering or cloying as we have found with rums such as Dos Maderas, they are very much in the mix.

Raisins, red grapes and rich plums all mingle alongside deeper dark red wine notes. Which add both sweetness and a touch of bitterness. There is a slightly sharp note on the mid palate, which I actually quite enjoy alongside the sweetness.

Despite all this, we still have a very nice base rum beneath all this with some really great spicy notes – ginger, cinnamon and a touch of fennel. The sherry cask finish has worked as you find with the Foursquare ECS bottlings – it adds a layer without taking anything away from the base rum.

Finish wise again this isn’t a huge finish never at any point is this what I would call a big rum. It’s balanced and nuanced and well put together, its not here to take your face off. The finish is a good length and I get a nice fade of the sweet notes which rubs alongside the wonderful spicy notes from the oak ageing. It’s long lasting and leaves a really nice flavour in the mouth.

At £35 I don’t think there are all that many rums in this kind of style that can beat this effort. Personally, I would say Don Q have as much if not more in common with Foursquare as they do their country mates Bacardi. Yes it’s “light” rum but boy is it a tasty drop of rum. Paul Senft over at Got Rum! also agreed in his review.

All managed without any nasty additives.