Santiago de Cuba is a Cuban rum brand named after the city of Santiago.  A green mountain range named “Sierra Maestra”, the golden sun and the Caribbean Sea characterise the landscape around the city of Santiago.  The landscape can be found in the brands logo.

The Cuban rum distilleries came into existence in the middle of the 19th century. One of the largest distilleries is located in Santiago de Cuba.  The secrets of producing rum are passed on from generation to generation through the “Maestros Roneros”.

Cuban rum has long been well represented here in the UK, in the form of Havana Club.  Santiago de Cuba has been sporadically available here via a variety of importers.  There has never been what you would class as a steady stream of Santiago de Cuba rum though.  JBE Imports have recently began importing three Santiago de Cuba expressions along with the Ron Cubay brand they were already importing.

Santiago de Cuba Carta Blanca is a 3 year old white rum.  The rum retails at around £22 per 70cl bottle and (as many younger “rons” are) is bottled at 38% ABV rather than at 40%.

Santiago de Cuba is column distilled rum and is primarily to be used as a mixer.

In the glass the Santiago de Cuba Carta Blanca is clear with no signs of any “yellow” tinges – this suggests it has been filtered quite a bit if it is a 3 year old rum.

The nose is quite pleasant it is sweet and clean.  It’s not a huge nose but whilst their are scents of sweet young alcohol it is not at all harsh.  Maybe a little banana on the nose a touch of those banana shaped foam sweets.

Sipping the rum is a surprisingly smooth if slightly underwhelming experience.  It has a little bit of tobacco or leather but it is mainly just a very neutral tasting spirit.  It’s not rough or harsh.  You could almost mistake this for a vodka albeit a slightly sweet one.

Mixing the rum with cola gives a smooth, very easy drinking, slightly buttery, light and fresh tasting drink.  On the exit surprisingly is a pretty strong leathery finish which gives a little extra bite to the drink.

Despite the plus points to this rum I still feel that overall it is all just a little bit to light and to clean.  The only real evidence of “rum” comes in the finish which is slightly leathery with a note of tobacco.  I really enjoy more fruity white rums such as Chairman’s Reserve White Label and Appleton Special.

This is probably handy for a bartender needing a more easy going rum. From my perspective though it is very average.