Of all the ridiculous marketing “vacations,” one of the few I can take is next week’s National Rum Day (August 16). This is because I love rum, but also, despite the many advances among liquor connoisseurs, rum is still overlooked. through many, although as a category it has much more complexity, variety and nuances than many more popular strong liquors (vodka, gin and tequila, for example). Rums are at most similar to whisky in their breadth and complexity, highly dependent on the quality of raw materials, the wide variety of woods for aging, blending and the duration of aging. Rum is also an excellent selection in hot climates, whether you’re drinking natural aged rum, drinking it with ice, or preparing tropical cocktails. Good rums are only made in places where it is hot, and are born to be tasted in summer. The good news is that there are more high-quality aged rums on the market than ever before.
Most years I offer new or exclusive rums to try at that time, but today I pass with an old pass. Ron Botran’s line disappeared from shelves in the U. S. it spins, and that’s a very smart thing for rum fans.
Although far from being a familiar call here, Botran is the best-selling aged rum in Guatemala. In the 3 years since its last sale on those coasts, it has gone through a logo change focused on sustainability. It looks new because all the packaging is new, yet not only is it aesthetically pleasing, but it also highlights some key certifications that the spirit has achieved. The new labels come with a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) seal for “Rum from Guatemala”, and the PDO is the highest point of legal coverage granted to products that have the terroir and regulated production strategies connected to an express location, the same quality coverage presented from French champagne or the famous Prosciutto of Parma. The new labels also bring ISCC Plus (International Sustainability) accreditation
Let’s communicate the rum now. Botran was founded more than 80 years ago by five Botran brothers, and is still a circle of family businesses, led by the second generation president, Don Jaime Botran. All Botran rums are hacienda products made from only fresh premium quality sugar cane juice (most rums use less expensive molasses) with two types of cane harvested at the hacienda on Guatemala’s southern Pacific coast. It then undergoes a slow batch fermentation (4-5 days) with pineapple yeast before distillation in sectioned copper pot stills. Botran rums never involve added sugar and the distillate is aged in the mountains of the highlands of Quetzaltenango at 2,300 meters above sea level. Botran uses a derivative of the Spanish Solera approach used for sherry called the Dynamic Aging System. Botran stacks its vintages in columns, with each column featuring other barrel types, and as the rums are blended, the barrels are repositioned, over and over again, to ensure that all the variables at play in aging the spirits , which equalizes the range by type of wood, individual barrels, even of the same wood, and even small diversifications in location within the winery. Just as the Solera formula continually helps keep some of the older liquids in play, the concept here is that, over time, Botran’s younger rums take on the ambitious flavors and distinct personalities of the older rums in the column.
The meeting is the key to the brand, and is composed entirely of blends of other breeding strains, selected jointly through a trio of Master Blenders, the 3 “Maestros Roneras”.
There are five versions in the family, one white and 4 dark. While white rum is often used for cocktails, Botran Reserva Blanca Rum is smart enough to be natural and well-aged, a 3- to 8-year-old rum mix. Tropical heat, rums age faster than spirits produced in more northern climates, and age is usually equivalent to diversity of 1. 5 to 2 times Scottish years, so an 8-year-old rum roughly equals a 12, plus a one-year-old whiskey. Although it may be self-contained, it is still preferable for cocktails, but it is a white rum of impressive quality and will have to be carefully combined. I would use it for lighter, more colorful drinks, like a rum tonic ($25).
The other 4 are all brown rums that vary according to the diversity of ages of the rums in the mix:
Ron Botran No. 8: uses a blend of antique American oak whiskey barrels and Spanish sherry barrels, has a lighter golden color, vanilla and remarkable nuts. Ideal for tropical rum cocktails, adding Mai Tais, rum punch, anything I juice. (5 -8 years, $20).
Ron Botran n°12: Same combination of barrels, a darker touch, more tropical culmination and wood roast in addition to vanilla and nuts. Alone or by cocktail. (5-12 years, $25).
Ron Botran #15: Add port barrels to the more complex whiskey and sherry adds caramel and a very spicy note to tropical fruits, nuts and vanilla. Intriguing tropical touch to an Old Fashioned, as it pairs nicely with an orange topping (5-15 years, $33).
Ron Botran n°18: Same combination of Spanish and American barrels as n°15, but the abundant aging gives it the darker brown color with red reflections, adds more sweetness and cocoa to the complex flavors. Dry and full-bodied, just good to drink clean, as I like, but in Guatemala they drink it with ice (5-18 years, $45).
Botran rums are top quality, well made and with consumers focused on sustainability, a very welcome addition to our shelves. spectrum. Still, the most expensive bottle, the No. 18, sells for the same price as an entry-level malt Scotch whisky.
So far, Botran Rums has been relaunched in 12 states: New York, Florida, California, Texas, Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. as Drizly. com and Totalwine. com.
Bless you!