Flor de Cana Extra Seco 4.  Flor de Cana are a rum producer from Nicaragua.  They are one of the most popular and recognised brands worldwide.

Flor de Cana recently overhauled the presentation of all their rums.  Not only did this update and modernise the presentation, it also saw the age statements removed.

“Removed?” I hear you say. “I can still see the 4 years old on the label!”.  You can’t actually. What you can see is a 4 on the label with “Slow” and “Aged” on either side.  Deceptive? Yes, especially as stockists of the rum will still note them as being 4 years old etc.  This is a long running problem in rum.  Misleading age statements.

Flor de Cana have stated that removing the age statements actually gives them more flexiibility with the overall blend.  I dare say it would have been more credible just to remove the numbers.  Having said that Flor de Cana’s rums are widely recognised by these “numbers” so I can understand why they didn’t.

I’ll also say from trying the old style 7 and 12 alongside the newer variants, I couldn’t notice much (I’d say any) difference. So either they were lying all the time about the age of their rums or they haven’t really changed the blends that much.

In addition to this Flor de Cana have also had to endure a bit of a scandal with regard their alleged mis-treatment of workers in their cane fields.  I’ve covered both these topics in greater detail in other reviews of FDC products.  So I’ll leave you to explore my other reviews should you require further information/comment. A number of reviewers have shyed away from reviewing FDC rums in recent years. I wouldn’t say I’ve been spending a fortune on their bottlings either.

Instead we’ll concentrate on this particular rum.  Extra Seco is “Extra Dry” in English.  I’m sure older bottlings of this rum did state Extra Dry on the label as well.  I presume that this is a filtered aged rum (previously aged up to or for a full 4 years).  Flor de Cana’s rums are all produced on column stills and they rely very much on the ageing process to impart the flavour.  They are a far more barrel driven spirit than distillate driven. The barrels they use are all ex-bourbon casks which are sealed with plantain leaves. They note on their own website that they do not use “artificial ingredients, accelerants and with zero sugar content”. Which is good to know.

Aged in ex-bourbon barrels Flor de Cana Extra Seco retails at around the £23 mark in the UK.  This is a reasonable price for a more “premium” white mixing rum.  It is bottled at 40% ABV.

The “extra dry” element of this rum interests me.  I would normally associate dry along the lines of Champagne whereby it means the product hasn’t been sweetened.  As far as I am aware Flor de Cana do not add sugar.  So the “Extra Dry” bit leaves me a little puzzled.

Which is fine as I would like to try something a bit different to the usual white rums.  Up to now I’ve found Flor de Cana to be a bit of a mixed bag – the 7 and the 18 I rate, the 5 I’m not so keen on and the 12 sent me to sleep.

So it’ll be interesting to see how this one fares.

In the glass they have definitely filtered this rum, if it is a blend of around 4 years. It is crystal clear in the glass.

The nose is familiar and not dis-similar to other rums in the Flor de Cana portfolio. It seems that Flor de Cana keep things fairly simple and they just age similar rums to different ages. Other than the age of the rums and the rather flat 12 year old I have noticed that the line up has a lot of similarities – just aged more as you go through the expressions.

The nose is quite alcohol forward to begin with. It’s on a part with the 5 in terms of booziness.

It does however, have a nice buttery profile. Vanilla, baking spices, sweet shortcrust pastry and toffee are definitely present. It is a light and reasonably sweet white rum.

It also has the familiar FDC note – tobacco and leather.

Sipped its not all bad – it’s a little on the rough side in terms of alcohol – plenty sweet young alcohol notes. That said its still pretty tasty. The “Extra Seco” part if certainly there as it is very dry and crisp on the palate. The finish is relatively short with this one as it dries out quite quickly from the initial sip.

The mid palate has notes of chocolate, vanilla and toffee. With some tobacco and oak spices.

It also has a nice fruity layer of banana and green apple.

Flor de Cana Extra Seco 4 works best in mixed drinks. It makes a really nice rum and coke which is similar to one made with the 7 but with a much drier overall profile. It’s quite sharp with some zesty notes.

It also mixed really well in things like Daiquiris and Mojito’s. It’s a really good mixing white rum. Pretty inexpensive as well.