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
PhatCupcake 