Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/735312
october 2016 / the tasting panel / 101 Don Q Signature Release Single Barrel Rum, 2005 (SRP $39.99) is assuredly what aficionados are searching for in a world- class rum. The brand is made at Distilleria Serrallés, one of the most successful family-owned and -operated rum distilleries in the Caribbean. It has achieved an international reputation for excel- lence producing molasses-based, continuous-distilled, aged Puerto Rican rums. The recently released 2005 vintage single barrel rum is one of Don Q's finest expressions to date. The unblended rum is aged ten years in American white oak casks. The Don Q 2005 vintage has a lustrous, golden/copper appearance, a lightweight body and more enticing aromas than your neighborhood bakery, a wafting bouquet of roasted coffee, caramel, vanilla, allspice and brown sugar. The rum has a warm ini- tial entry, and then at once the flavors pour through with a tempting offering of cinnamon, vanilla, honey, molasses and toffee. Its long, lingering finish is dry and spicy warm with slightly fruity and smoky notes. "The 2005 vintage Single Barrel is our opportunity to present whiskey drinkers with our finest expression of rum," notes John Eason, COO and Executive Vice President at Serrallés USA. "The aged rum category is certainly creating the most buzz! People are looking for alternatives. I'm personally excited about the consumer interest in the more aged expressions. For us, this is the future and where we will make our mark." And with the 2005 vintage being marketed at a value- laden price, what more can you ask for from a rum and reasonably expect to attain? SERRALLÉS USA An Upscale Value WITH DON Q Ernest Hemingway (left) on his boat, named the Pilar.