There are lots of places across the world known for their booze. England has a great gin based history, as does Holland. South America and the Caribbean for it’s rums, vodka is something more Eastern Block.
When you mention Columbia, I have to admit gin didn’t immediately spring to mind, let alone aged gin. But Dictador, whilst originally known for it’s rum, also has two gins made in its distillery in Cartagena de Indias.
As you can imagine, when Hammonds arranged a tasting at Guilty By Association, I was rather excited, and intrigued – both about the gins and the rums. We were about to become some of the first people in the country to try their 100 Month Aged rums, only just launched in the UK.
All in all, we had a stonking 9 forms of alcohol to sample and we’d already had a little gin and tonic on arrival. This could get messy…
As we had already sampled the gin in our welcome drink and, as even aged gin is lighter than rum, gins were first on the boozy agenda.
Though the family behind Dictador are known for their rum, the gin was made for them, based on the formula of former company president of the company, and gin lover, Dario Parra. He discovered gin in the 1970s during his travels to the UK and Europe and, having the alcoholic blending skills, put them to use. Even more intriguing is one of the botanicals, present in both the gins, the limon-mandarino. As it’s name would suggest, this fruit is a hybrid, combining flavours of both the lime and mandarin into one fruit and when blended with the other 11 botanicals, including mint, angelica, juniper, ginger, black pepper and rosemary, go to make a rather unique gin.
There are two gins – both aged in rum barrels and it was the Ortodoxy, the lighter of the two that we delved into first.
On the nose, a hint of juniper, and an unusual sweetness, presumably from both the casks and from the fact that this gin is made from sugar cane, just like the rums. A good hint of citrus across the top. In the mouth it’s lovely, more oily in texture than some gins, a little liquorice, a little pepper, lots of angelica too. It’s a soft, perfumed style of gin with a background herbal note coming from the rosemary.
The second gin, Treasure, is just that. The botanicals are the same, but the levels are different, leaving a fantastic sipping gin, with lots of citrus, ginger and vanilla on the palate. Would work brilliantly with ginger beer, but for me, it’s a solo gin. It needs nothing bar a chilled glass – a Martini, Churchill style.
Tastebuds now wide awake, it was time to move onto rum and our tastes of the 100 month aged rums. As mentioned above, these are brand spanking new in the UK, only having had their launch a few weeks ago in London.
The first of these is the Claro. This has been filtered to produce a white rum, that in the glass smells reminiscent of coffee buttercream (there’s a cake waiting to happen there). It smelt so good that Steven and I kept the glass to one side so we could keep shoving our noses back into it for fun. On the palate, it’s vanilla, chocolate, a little maple syrup. Delightfully drinkable.
The Amber is a little darker in a colour and flavour wise, packs a little more punch – vanilla fudge, coconut, more chocolate and some tobacco notes sit in there too and it’s lovely and dry finish wise.
Two of the rums are infused with flavour, the Orange and the Cafe.
The Orange was always going to be a favourite with me – anything citrus tickles my fancy and this was no exception, with hints of orangeflower and a dry finish. So good, my notes simply say ‘YES!’.
Finally the Cafe gave us soft vanilla, lots of cocoa and, of course, coffee – with less of the buttery flavour of the others, but perfect for an espresso Martini.
After a break, a palate rest and a little water, we moved onto the main rums from the distillery and those for which the brand is more known. We had three ages of the rum to sample, each is made from sugar cane, distilled in both copper alembic and column stills and each is aged in oak barrels.
The first, the 12 year old is the youngest of the three rums sampled, and on the nose is all tropical fruit – banana and pineapple. In the mouth it’s that, plus a touch of coffee, maple syrup and milk chocolate.
The second was the 20 year old. Soft banana and brown sugar, honey – it reminded me of a maple and pecan Danish pastry. A hint of cigar smoke flitted around the back of the buttery texture and this one lingered beautifully afterwards on the tongue.
Finally, we had the oldest and most curious of the three. The rum contained within the XO is 25-32 years old and has been finished in three different casks – port, sherry and bourbon. Understandably, the rum is something a little bit special.
Raisins coffee and a little marmalade bitterness play with leathery flavours, tobacco, dark chocolate and liquorice. It’s a big boy of a rum and the flavours linger in your palate afterwards in a way that means this is a true sipping rum. I my mind I wanted to be sitting on a terrace under the stars, warm breeze, cigar smoke tickling my nose from a smoker nearby (as an ex smoker cigars are the one thing I do miss), this glass warming gently in my hand, in quiet contemplation.
Perfect.
All in all, a fascinating afternoon and, as we chatted with Cesar and sampled an Old Fashioned made with Dictador, I was rather won over. When aged gin works it really works and these gins are good examples of both an unusual base spirit and aged gins.
The rums too are fascinating and I have to say, I want to use both the Claro and the Cafe in some sort of cake, but that’s a plan for another day.
If you spot any of these in a bar, I’d definitely recommend having a sample. Personally? I’m still dreaming of that terrace and the XO…
