I'm
confused! Now, I know it really doesn't take
much to confuse and befuddle me, but these bottles of rum
got me to thinking, and when I start thinking, the more I
think, the more confused I become. The first bottle I looked
at is the Cruzan Single Barrel aged rum. This is a mixture
of 5 to 12 year old rums finally blended in a single American
oak barrel. The color, as expected, is a beautiful dark amber.
On the other hand, there is the Cruzan Estate Diamond Light
Rum, which is a mixture of 5 to 12 year old rums aged in old
oak barrels and it is nearly the color of water with just
a touch of pale yellow. That's when I started thinking, instead
of continuing to read, shouldn't these both be about the same
color? That's when I finally continued to read and discovered
that the light rum is filtered to get that pale yellow color,
while the single barrel rum is not filtered.
The
Cruzan single barrel rum also confused me because normally
a single barrel spirit will have the barrel number it came
from affixed somewhere on the bottle. This bottle doesn't
have one of those. So I continued to read and discovered that
before it became a single barrel rum all of those 5 to 12
year old rums initially came from different barrels and are
finally blended into one barrel for the final ageing and consequently
it becomes a "single barrel" rum. Well, after all
this Sherlock Holmes snooping about, I have worked up a decent
thirst, so let's end the confusion and try these rums out.
Before
I get started, let me also say that there are three rum's
in the Cruzan Distiller's Rum Collection, the two I previously
mentioned and an Estate Diamond Dark Rum to accompany their
Estate Diamond Light Rum. I guess they just really wanted
to confuse the heck out of my by not providing that dark rum
for this tasting, so I will go with what I got.
As
mentioned previously, the Cruzan Estate Diamond Light
Rum is a pale yellow in color and comes in a squat
bottle with a long thick neck that would have made it very
easy for a thirsty pirate, back in the day, to grasp firmly
while quaffing a taste or three. The nose is very delicate
and lightly floral and ever so slightly oaky, with a hint
of vanilla yet no ethanol to speak of. The palate is sweet,
with the vanilla and oak stepping forward. There is the faintest
glow of spiciness; otherwise, this is a very smooth rum. The
finish is also sweet and slightly oaky and lasts a decent
amount of time. This is a rum that could be easily sipped
over ice or even straight up. It is not at all what one would
expect from a rum, which would be a darker deeper taste profile,
and I do believe, I appreciate that difference. This rum would
also make a nice mixer in lighter cocktails, as it would not
over power the other flavors, and it also works very well
in a rum and diet coke.
The
Cruzan Single Barrel Rum is a dark amber
and the nose is all rum with aromas of brown sugar, molasses,
maple syrup, vanilla and oak, with no ethanol to get in the
way. The palate is thicker than the light rum and even pleasantly
oily, with deep dark sugary overtones followed by the molasses
and caramel and then the vanilla and oak that finely balances
the sweet and tart aspects perfectly. The finish is smooth
and dark and sweet and leaves just a bit of spice on the tongue
for a fair amount of time. This is more like rums that I am
used to, that have presence and body and leave you feeling
like you've just had some damn fine rum. This rum can stand
up to an ice cube quite nicely and will definitely not get
lost in any mixed drink you might want to conjure up.
Both
of these rums are 40% ABV and sell for $35.00 per 750ML bottle
on the Cruzan website but can also be found for around $21.99
elsewhere.
By George Brozowski
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