O Reizinho Aged 3 Years. Today we are reviewing another rum from the Portuguese island of Madeira.

Although this is not the first O Reizinho bottling I have reviewed it is the first distillery bottling. In that it has been bottled and released to the market by O Reizinho themselves rather than an independent bottler.

The previous O Reizinho rums I have experienced were from That Boutique-y Rum Company. Coincidentally one of those was also a 3 year old, with quite a similar ABV. The other bottling was unaged. I wasn’t too stuck on the unaged version but enjoyed the 3 year old.

Now if you are in the UK or pretty much anywhere outside of Madeira you might struggle to find this rum. I don’t think they have brokered much of a distribution deal outside of the island as yet. I certainly couldn’t find their rums available online. Other than the That Boutique-y Rum Company bottlings. After some searching I found that Excellence Rhum has a few of their rums but not this particular bottling. It would seem that other French retailers should also have stock as well.

O Reizinho Distillery is ran by Pedro Ferraira and his family. It has been around since  1982 under the gudiance of Pedro’s father. Though it was not a commercial operation. He distilled rum for friends and family. Pedro moved back to the island in 2012 from South Africa and began expanding the distilleries operations and “legalising” it. In 2012 only 1,300 litres of rum were produced. By 2019 14,000 litres.

Production at the distillery is “artisanal” in the true sense of the word and very much in keeping with Artisanal Cachaca from Brasil or some of the smaller Rhum Agricole producers.

The cane is pressed as soon as it arrives at the distillery, during the harvest season. The harvest season runs from March to May. Pressing of the sugar cane is done without adding water, unless the sugar concentration is greater than 18 brix, which would be too high to start fermentation. Fermentation lasts around 3 to 4 days. The result is a “cane wine” with an ABV of  around 12%.

Distillation is carried out on a traditional Portuguese Hybrid Pot/Column still. The still is very similar to those used in the production of Armagnac. The resulting distillate has an average ABV between 60 and 70%.

I’ve not been able to find a bottle of this available for sale, sadly so I don’t know how much it would retail at. It will likely be cheapest found on Madeira. I would thoroughly recommend a visit to the island, if and when we can all travel again!

In the glass we have a golden to dark brown liquid with a yellow tinge. It looks a little older than you might expect of a 3 year old rhum.

The nose is bright and fresh with some notes of red wine, walnuts and a slightly briny olive aroma. On top of this I am getting a little nail varnish and some grassy sugar cane sweetness.

O Reizinho Aged 3 years is slightly tannic but quite sweet with it – lots of juicy sultanas and raisins and some very ripe juicy plums.

Sipped it is quite punchy with the ABV of 52.1 % ABV. It is still quite sweet though particularly on the initial entry. Still lots of rich dark fruits and a kind of dessert wine feeling to it. It reminds me very much of an aged Port. Further sips reveal the red wine and more tannic bitter notes as well as a really nice chunk of rich dark oak spices and a lot of ginger and a touch of cinnamon.

Despite its overarching richness and “dense” fruity flavours I am still getting plenty sugar cane sweetness and some fresh “grassy” notes as well as some sea salt and a touch of brine. Black Olives and some lemon peel and a zesty citrus note to the rum as well.

Despite the ABV you don’t need water for this to get it to open up – it has a lot going on. Further sips reveal a slightly mineral like note which you notice more in the finish as the rum fades out. This takes some time and the finish is long and very satisfying. There is a mineral and herbal like note as well as some fruity and spicy notes. The fade out of tannic red wine and oak spice is really nice.

This is a rich full bodied rum which has a very wine like quality to it but has enough agricole like character not to stray to far into that territory. A very interesting and enjoyable sip for a relatively young rum.

I seem to have enjoyed this slightly more than the That Boutique-y Rum Company offering, I reviewed previously. That said I would always suggest that my scores can easily move with a half star (or more sometimes) over time. I would imagine both rums would be pretty similar. Maybe this was a touch better. I don’t have them both available to test the theory unfortunately.

Good stuff – if you can find it. Madeira is lovely………