Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/72473
CATEGORY REPORT Flor de Caña Centenario Grab your snifter and be prepared to be wowed. Made at a family-owned distillery in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua, this añejo is handcrafted from estate-grown sugarcane, which is rendered down into high-grade molasses and distilled in con- tinuous stills. It is matured for 12 years in charred American white oak barrels. Flor de Caña does not blend rums of various ages together; each marque is aged for the exact amount of time stated on its label. CAMPARI AMERICA Flying Dutchman is a sterling silver spirit distilled in Holland at the family-owned Zuidam Distillery. The first rum to be produced entirely in Europe, Flying Dutchman is slowly fermented, triple-distilled at low temperatures in small copper pot stills and aged for three months in small oak barrels. The result is a brilliant silver rum with a voluminous fruit and floral bouquet and an elegant, flavorful finish. DOUBLE EAGLE IMPORTS Flying Dutchman Privateer Recently released Privateer rums are micro-distilled at the Privateer International Distillery in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Production is overseen by Margaret Campbell, one of the first female master distillers in the Boston area since Prohibition. The portfolio currently includes two classy, small batch rums distilled from local molasses: Privateer Silver Reserve (40% alcohol) and True American Amber (45% alcohol). PRIVATEER INTL. Plantation Rums Handcrafted Plantation Rums showcase the many styles of Caribbean rum with releases hailing from Barbados, Trinidad, Jamaica, Guyana, Panama and Nicaragua. They are blends of pot-distilled and column-distilled rums made from local sugarcane molasses and aged in small oak barrels in the warmth and humidity of the Caribbean. After the rums have matured sufficiently, they are shipped to France, to the Cognac Ferrand estate in the Grande Champagne district of Cognac. There the rum is transferred to small French oak barrels and further aged in the estate's cellars. Often vintage-dated, Plantations rums are an affordable luxury. COGNAC FERRAND 114 / the tasting panel / july 2012 Back in the U.S. after a brief hiatus, Don Q Gran Añejo is a singular blend of rums aged from six to 12 years in American white oak. The rum then undergoes further maturation in sherry casks according to the Solera aging system, which the Spanish have made famous in the production of sherry and brandy de Jerez. When the rums have reached peak maturity, those selected for the Gran Añejo are rendered to 80 proof with spring water. Here's an alluring añejo that punches well above its weight class. Serrallés Don Q Gran Añejo SERRALLÉS USA