Ron Los Valientes Aged 15 Anos Anejo Especial. This is a rum hailing from Mexico. In Mexico rum is often referred to as Charanda. I’ve previously reviewed Mocambo which also hails from Mexico. I also have a few other samples of Charanda lurking about that I need toLico find time to write about.

Ron Los Valientes is produced by Licores Veracruz who also produce the previously mentioned Mocambo. Ron Los Valientes is named after the fighter of the Mexican Revolution. They have rums aged for 10,15 and 20 years in the range. So this is the middle brother if you like.

For some reason the Ron Los Valientes rums seem to be cheaper than the Mocambo range. This rum will set you back £33 which isn’t bad for a 15 year old rum. That said the tall “pistol” style bottle is only 50cl. Presentation wise the rums aren’t quite as striking as some of the Mocambo range but its nice enough. Sadly for me all the information on the bottle is in Spanish. Which isn’t terribly helpful.

Ron Los Valientes Aged 15 Anos Anejo Especial is made up of a pot and column blend. The blend is 70/30. However the rums produced in the pot stills are made using freshly pressed sugar cane. The remaining 30% is produced from molasses and distilled on a multi column still. Licores Veracruz produce other spirits such as Mezcal and Tequila.

The rum is then charcoal filtered before being aged for 15 years in ex-bourbon casks.

In the glass Ron Los Valientes 15 is a very dark brown with red/orange flashes. The nose is quite sweet and very rich. It’s a very spicy with notes of Tumeric and Curry Powder. It’s got quite a lot of dark chocolate and fruity notres – hints of Cabernet Sauvignon and maybe even notes of Port.

I’ve tried a few Mexican rums or Charanda as they call it and they all seem to have this very rich and very intense profile.

On the sip Ron Los Valientes is very peppery. Again lots of hot spicy notes a bit like a spicy Chilli con Carne in a glass. I don’t mind the occasional sip of this but it is not a rum which you can drink a great deal of straight. Just too intense and OTT.

It’s not a greatly balanced sipping rum – you don’t get many lighter notes such as vanilla or milk chocolate. It’s got a very spicy curry heavy finish with a lot of spice and oak and to be honest not a great deal else. Its pretty much just a very spicy rum with not a great deal else really going on. That said I don’t find it particularly offensive – although some of the people I have given this rum to have it to be completely repulsive.

It’s quite a strange rum all in all. It mixes reasonably well but it can be a bit overpowering even with something like cola. The finish is not particularly long but like the rest of the drink its very spicy.

It’s a relatively inexpensive rum its strange taste makes me wonder what might have been added to it – its from the part of the world where it s likely to have some. I wouldn’t really recommened it but its not a terrible drink per say.

I know of at least one rum enthusiast who really doesn’t like this.

Me I don’t mind it, though it is a bit weird.