Rum Club at Revolucion De Cuba with Angostura Rums

Another week and another rum club at Revolucion De Cuba! You may remember us tasting the El Dorado range a few weeks ago (you can read about it HERE) This time we went along to the Angostura tasting. You would be forgiven for thinking Angostura was just about bitters. Aromatic bitters are the companies flagship product with a tightly kept secret recipe that only 3-4 people know. I bet they travel like the royal family so it isn’t wiped out in a freak accident! It is thought the aromatic bitters have healing qualities thought to ease stress. I’ll take a few drops in my cocktails from now on please… in fact, Simon Rimmer is currently working on recipes using the bitters, even more excuse to sample their healing qualities.

What you might not know is that Angostura is one of the largest rum suppliers with their own Angostura named range as well as production for other suppliers such as Sainsburys Taste the Difference and Kraken to name but a few. The rum used to be made in a little village called, not surprisingly, Angostura which is on the banks of the Orinoco river in Venezuela. The lush land meant it was excellent for sugar cane production. The village has since been renamed Ciudad Bolivar and the rum production has moved to Trinidad and Tobago. They say the cane is ready to be picked when the butterflies settle, such a lovely story and the butterfly symbol features on most of the Angostura bottles.  The rum is matured in ex bourbon barrels containing vanillin making for a sweeter, smoother tasting rum.

The 5 year old rum contains a blend of rums aged between 5 and 7 years. This smells of gingerbread, vanilla and caramel with a lovely smooth taste on the tongue. It has caramel tones and a light Christmas cake flavour at the back of the throat. The perfect ‘starter’ rum if you are new to the spirit without any punchy or spikey notes.

The 7 year old rum contains a blend of rums aged between 7 and 10 years. You can tell this rum has spent longer in the barrel as it takes on more burnt oak and deeper caramel flavours on the nose. Heavy and syrupy on the tongue it has lots of caramel flavour and leaves a lovely warming sensation in the mouth that doesn’t linger as long on the palate.

The reserva is the white rum of the range with a wonderfully light and floral nose. It tastes incredibly smooth with a light vanilla taste and liquorice notes at the end. We were given a traffic light akin cocktail made with this rum that was incredibly sweet, even for my taste! It tasted better stirred as the cranberry juice added that bit of tartness to tone down the sweet flavours.

My favourite rum of the night was the 1919. This lingers on the palate making it an excellent choice for mixing in cocktails. It’s very sweet with lots of vanilla flavours and, not surprisingly, is one of the most popular rums in the range. Angostura are also responsile for one of the most expensive rums in production… the 17-25 year old blend has a handmade wax seal and will set you back £25,000… unfortunately this one didn’t feature in our tasting.

Last, but certainly not least, we tried the 1824 which blends rums no younger than 12 years. This rum has more whiskey type flavours with a spicy nose and a mellow yet spicy aftertaste. I wasn’t a fan but then I’m not a spiced drink fan.

Another fabulous tasting and more rum education for us. I can’t wait to continue the journey around the globe with Revolucion De Cuba and the next brand to showcase their wares.

*Photos courtesy of Charlie

Rum Club at Revolucion De Cuba with El Dorado Rum

On the trail for decent rum Charlie and I decided to venture to Revolucion de Cuba for their first rum tasting. They are planning to host a number of rum club nights over the coming months and the first to showcase their amazing product was El Dorado.

Alec from Love Drinks presented us with a daiquiri before talking passionately about El Dorado rum. It is over 300 years old and made in Guyana, South America where the land is fertile and lush. This fertile land means amazing sugar cane can be grown here leading to even better rum. My favourite fact of the night is that the co2 trapped at fermentation creates bubbles which are then used to make a popular cola fizzy. I have now converted to this brand of cola in the hope that some of the yummy rum goodness will have sneaked in.

The first rum of the evening was a 3 year old which is aged in once used Jack Daniels barrels and charcoal filtered to remove any colour. This white rum is better known for mixing into cocktails but is really drinkable neat thanks to white chocolate flavours. There are also citrus notes of lemon and lime left on the palate. I could quite happily have this drizzled over good quality ice cream.

This was then mixed for us into a coconut daiquiri. I even did a bit of shaking myself; you would think all this cocktail drinking would mean I could shake a damn good cocktail. Unfortunately my technique leaves a lot to be desired, I think I need lessons if anyone is offering to help? Don’t be fooled into thinking this was a sickly sweet and creamy cocktail, oh no, it packed a punch with the white chocolate flavours of the rum giving it a lovely roundness.

The next rum we tasted was the 5 year old. This is a blend of 5 year old and 9 year old rums with dark chocolate qualities and a lovely spiciness that tasted like those in a Christmas cake. At this point Alec explained how El Dorado use the last remaining wooden stills on the planet to make their rum. The photos passed around showing the process were fascinating!

This rum was mixed into a Ting-ito which has lime, bitters, rum and Ting. A fantastic balance between a mojito and a mai tai this is sweet and fruity. It goes down far too easily and this is certainly a drink that I could drink all night.

Next up was the 12 year old rum. At this point Alec doffed a virtual military cap to the British Navy and explained how the shape of the bottles made the rum easier to handle and stopped it rolling around on board the ship. This rum tasted similar to the 5 year old for more with a slighter more intense chocolate kick. This was stirred up into an old fashioned called El Matador that was created by our bartender for the evening Marcin. It turns out he won a national competition with El Dorado and his creation is now available on the Revolucion De Cuba menu. Charlie showed her stirring skills this time with sugar, bitters, orange and rum with the added ingredient of amaretto to bring out the sweetness in the rum. Not being an old fashioned fan I was amazed how easy to drink this cocktail was. A much bigger fan of something long, this really is a tasty option and I think the addition of amaretto helped its case where I was concerned.

The last rum of the evening for us to try was the 15 year old. The most awarded rum has an ABV of 43% with a dry and spicy tone. The orange bitters attack the back of your mouth, in a good way, with the after taste being slightly liquorice based. This was a bit much for me but perfect for those of you who prefer something boozier.

A brilliant tour of Guyana and El Dorado was had by all and I, for one, can’t wait for the next Rum Club. You can come along too! The next event is Tuesday 20^th August with Angostura. Contact Revolucion De Cuba for more details and I’ll see you at the bar.

*As always, thanks to Charlie for some of these photos!