Havana Club Union was the third in a flight of rums I recently had the fortune to try as part of a “Twitter Tasting”.

Four of the more “upmarket” Havana Club expressions were included in the flight.  This rum the Union is the most recent addition to the Havana Club range.

The rum is a collaboration between Havana Club’s Maestro Ronero Asbel Morales and Cohiba Cigars Master Habano sommelier Fernando Fernandez Milian.

It is to be paired with quality Cuban cigars such as Cohiba.  It has yet to hit the UK as yet but online prices of the Havana Club Union seem to be around the £200 plus mark.  So its not cheap!

“A premium cedar wooden box houses the expression, and features the logos of Havana Club and Cohiba together in an elegant combination of black and gold colours, bringing the luxury character of the expression to life. The bottle’s clean and round design is in line with the distinct shape of Havana Club’s award-winning Icónica Collection.”

At this stage I must point that I don’t actually have in my possession a 700ml bottle of this rum or the presentation box.  All I have is a 50ml sample of the rum.  Hence why the above paragraph is in ” ” marks.  That’s Havana Club’s story not mine!  I’ve every confidence the presentation is very impressive though and it should be at the price of the rum!

So how did I find the rum? Obviously I will advise caution with this as my opinion has been formed as a result of a very small sample, tasted over two occasions, though nosed on a good many more.

Nosing this rum was indeed a pleasure, even for a non smoker such as myself. It has that familiar Havana Club nose of tobacco, tar and aged oak found in all the Iconia Collection.  It also has an added sweetness, chocolate and a little toffee.  There is surprisingly a fair hit of citrus as well.  It’s quite rich.  Still slightly less intense and fragrant than the Maximo.

The rum is very sweet initially with an almost orange like flavour.  This gives way to a lot of oak at the back of the palate.  Its not as dry as I was expecting.  It’s quite smoky but the citrus and the dried fruit flavours balance that out and the finish is quite long, leaving a distinctive tobacco-ed Havana Club like taste behind.

In terms of the Iconica Collection it is the second best by a nose from Seleccion de Maestros.  I really didn’t care for the 15 Year Old.  It isn’t as good as Maximo but then neither is it anywhere near as expensive.

It’s a very good rum but probably a bit too expensive for me to really justify buying.  It’s not that much better than the much cheaper Seleccion de Maestros.

Close but no cigar……