Planteray Spain 11 Year Single Cask Rum

A rum from Spain? That's a first for us at Bitters and Bottles, but it should hardly come as a great shock. The southern Spanish province of Andalucia, home to flamenco, sherry wine, and some of the most beautiful architecture of the Islamic Golden Age, was also long home to a robust sugar producing industry. Azucarera Del Guadelfeo, a former sugar factory and rum distillery, was started by Joaquín Agrela y Moreno in 1860, and became one of the first and most successful in an industry that began thriving in Andalucia after the Spanish Empire began experiencing its final death throes in the late 19th century, especially with the loss of Cuba, its cash cow for sugar, in 1898. These days, Andalusian sugar fiefdoms are a hazy memory, but Azucarera Del Guadelfeo survives as a distillery, quietly growing cane and churning out rums made from both cane juice and molasses without much fanfare just steps from the Alboran Sea.

This cask, distilled from molasses on a column still in 2012, was first aged for 11 years and 4 months in ex-Bourbon casks, and then, most unusually for a Planteray rum, it was NOT further aged in a Cognac cask, the first instance we know of that signature of the brand being cast aside. Instead, it was placed into a cask that had been used to age another signature product of its sunny Andalusian home - Pedro Ximenez Sherry. It sat in those barrels for 8 months before being bottled at 42.6% abv, without any added sugar, or "dosage". 

The nose shows the PX influence straight away, with a rich sherry note, fig, chocolate covered raisins, Swiss Miss hot cocoa, tobacco, a wisp of smoke, and slightly funky blackstrap molasses. The palate follows on with great texture for a rum at 42.6% - toasted coconut, sweet plantains, fresh vanilla pods, raisin, maple syrup, buttercream frosting, and espresso beans. The finish takes those coffee notes and reveals the toasted oak element behind them, drying out the palate nicely, leaving those dark savory elements with just a hint of vanilla. Delicious rum to sip on, and though the PX finish is assertive, it is well managed and creates a unique dimension without burying the experience in sweetness. We'll be enjoying this neat, but you'll also forgive us for mixing up a few Rum Manhattans with this one.