Cubaney Grand Reserve XO 25 ans Tesoro comes straight from the Dominican Republic. It's an aged rum, matured for 25 years in oak barrels using the solera method (a system imported from Spain which combines older and younger rums in the same barrels).
Nico's tasting notes
In brief: fine - pastry - woody - sweet - vanilla - caramel - spices - cane
The nose opens with a fine, relatively light rum, with pastry notes of raisins and a fairly pronounced woodiness. Vanilla and caramelized nuts emanate from this toasty woodiness. The whole seems rather sweet, with cane sugar syrup and fruity aromas of flambéed banana.
Aeration reveals a bouquet of spices and dried orange peel, where cinnamon and wood intermingle to support the structure. Butterscotch still covers the whole, like a comfortable mattress.
The entry into the mouth is soft and easy, then quickly followed by a surge of spice. Cinnamon and clove hook the rum on the palate and see it fall back on the tongue in notes of sugarcane and citrus, almost in the manner of an agricultural rum. Caramel and vanilla, as well as woodiness, are full and present on the mid-palate.
The finish is sweet and sticky, with caramelized brown sugar soaked in white rum.
