Ron Aldea Maestro 2006. Ron Aldea are a rum producer from the Canary Island of La Palma. They have been producing rum since 1936. Originally based on the island of Gran Canaria, the concern moved to nearby La Palma in the 1950’s.
If you have ever travelled to the Canary or even the Balearic islands around Spain you will have come across Ron Aldea in the Duty Free. It is also present in most mainland Spanish Duty Free outlets. Quite often they have tasters available – which to be honest never exactly blew me away but we won’t pre-judge based on that.
Mount Gay XO Triple Cask Blend. For once in the rum world new packaging does 100% mean a change in the blend. It is not just the work of conspiracy theorists, who can remember exactly, what a rum tasted like 20 years ago and immediately notice tiny little differences to the blend – but only I hasten to add once the bottle shape and/or label have changed……..
Hampden Great House Distillery Edition. It is always good to see producers such as Hampden putting out their own bottlings of aged rum, rather than selling bulk rum for others to profit from. It seems the distillery has grown in confidence and they now have a commercial bottling of the rum they drink on the estate.
Independent Bottler The Duchess have begun a line of Hummingbird inspired r(h)ums, with artwork, as always from Dutch artist Hans Dillesse.
Rum Exchange Guyana Port Mourant. Rum Exchange are a importer of fine spirits and are now an independent bottler of rum. This is their fourth release, following on from some very impressive rums from Jamaica and Belize. Today we are in familiar territory with an independently bottled Port Mourant rum from Guyana.
Worthy Park Single Estate 2006 Aged 12 Years. Today we have an official release from the rising stars of Jamaican rum, Worthy Park. This is their longest aged official release to date. It is taken from the second year of the revived production at the distillery.
1931 St Lucia Distillers – Chairman’s Reserve. This is a rum which is both new and familiar. Iterations of “1931” have been available since 2011. The rum was originally released to celebrate 80 years of rum production on St Lucia. For 6 years a different blend of rums were put together to commemorate another year of rum production on the island.