Ron Colon Salvadoreno Dark Aged Rum and Coffee Infused Rum – August 2020

For our second Rum of the Month, we have an absolutely exquisite double pack of premium rums never before seen in Australia. You are not going to believe this…

– Two (yes 2!) pack of matching rums for the price of one
– Gold Medal Winner at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition
– Never before released in Australia

We are very proud to be the first in Australia to introduce a new premium rum brand to our members and for the first time in our history deliver a Rum of the Month that is a package of 2 matching rums. Presenting the Ron Colon Salvadoreno Dark Aged Rum and the matching Ron Colon Salvadoreno Coffee Infused Rum from the only distillery in El Salvador.

Ron Colon Salvadore is a collaborative project by a team of producers, distillers, flavour experts and marketers. A love for EL Salvador and it’s people drove the imagination of the Ron Colon crew. The rum begins its life from local sugar cane that is gathered and then run through a 100-year-old sugar cane mill to be turned into molasses. From molasses, it undergoes fermentation with proprietary yeasts for 36 hours before being distilled by a modern multi- column still. After distillation the rum is aged in white oak ex-bourbon barrels sitting alongside rums that The Licorera Cihuatán distillery has been producing since 2004. The rum aged in Licorera Cihuatán have around 8% angel share per year. The Master Distiller and blender is Gabriella Ayala.

Ron Colon Salvadoreno Dark Aged Rum

• 70 % 6-year-old column stilled Salvadoran rum pro-duced by Licorera Cihuatán distillery.

• 15 % unaged pot stilled Jamaican rum produced by Worthy Park, Hampden and Monymusk distilleries.

• 15 % 3-year-old Jamaican pot stilled rum produced by Worthy Park estate.

Our Tasting Notes:

Overall a rich, complex and fruity rum with a long satisfying , luscious finish.

Colour: Dark brown with glimpses of red.

Nose: Red berries, stewed fruit and hints of coconut with a subtle floral note floating over the top.

Palate: Sultanas and raisins, dark chocolate, vanilla and mixed peel. A pleasant sweet note reminiscent of Botrytis skirts the edges but doesn’t over-sweeten.

Finish: Long, warming and sweet. Lots of fruit and oak, with wafts of chocolate.

Ron Colon Salvadoreno Coffee Infused Rum

Ron Colón Salvadoreño Dark Aged Rum is cold macerated with whole coffee beans for 48 hours. This allows enough time for the coffee beans to release their rich cherry, chocolate, honey flavors, before the bitter notes begin to impart on the liquid, the maceration is finished.

The lack of sweetness on the palate makes this a fantastic rum for cocktails – allowing you to sweeten with other ingredients.

Our Tasting Notes:

Nose: Sweet espresso coffee, vanilla and crushed nuts. A hint of Keens curry powder lurks in the background.

Palate: Complete contrast to the sweetness of the nose. Not quite bitter – but definitely dry. Dark… DARK chocolate, nutty unsweetened coffee tones but tropical fruit notes underneath it all.

Finish: Long deep finish. Warming, fruity and more coffee notes. Lingering mellow spiceyness as it slowly fades.

  • PRICE : $149


  • ABV : 55%


  • BOTTLE: 700ml + 700ml


  • REGION: El Salvador/ Jamaica


FROM THE CREATORS

Ron Colon Salvadoreno Dark Aged Rum

The rums that we have chosen for our blend create an unusual flavor palate. The Salvadorian rum on its own brings a fruit-forward tropical nose with a light, dry finish. In addition to this we wanted an earthiness, with a fiery warm flavor, to create the perfect liquid. The small amount of Jamaican rum completed this flavour profile and created the perfect balance.

Nose: On the nose, the aromas of tropical fruits are most apparent with fresh banana and sticky pineapple. Adding to this there is a deeper aroma of rich raisins and prunes.

Palate: The palate brings the same tropical fruit notes, but with a developing toasted-warm, spicy caramel fl avor. Balanced with creamy milk chocolate, roasted almond and dried chewy apricot notes.

Ron Colon Salvadoreno Coffee Infused Rum

The coffee infused Ron Colón Salvadoreño is made using bourbon coffee beans from the El Ciprés region, grown at 1700m next to El Salvador’s famous Santa Ana volcano. Bourbon coffee beans have a beautiful, buttery sweetness. The beans are processed using the natural method – a slow process, the beans are consistently turned by hand to ensure they dry equally.

Nose: On the nose, notes of toasted almonds and woody spice are most apparent – with dark rich fruit and warm vanilla bringing a sweeter note.

Palate: The coffee infusion brings notes of dark chocolate and dried sticky plums. A medium to dark roast gives the rum a rich, warming, nutty flavor with a tiny hint of bitterness. This is balanced from the notes of the aged rum of fresh banana and juicy pineapple.

ABOUT RON COLON

Firstly, about that name. The El Salvador Colón was the official unit of currency in El Salvador until they adopted the US dollar in 2001. The El Salvador Colón was lost but Ron Colón pays homage to El Salvador’s history by using it in the name as well as designed a coin to put on the bottle. And, the coin can be popped off the bottle and collected.

Ron colon’s story starts in 2018 with two befriended colleagues, Thurman Wise and Pepijn Janssens, venturing on a crazy 22-day-16-country-latam-barhop. It was during this adventure that little El Salvador (“sivar” in slang) captured their attention. If googled, this place comes up as “the murder capital of the world”. However, once the team arrived, they were dazzled by the coun-try’s pristine beauty and true grit. That cut right through any google search.this trip sparked an obsession to create a product that would showcase the honest yet rich and colourful “sivar”.

Licorera Cihuatán Distillery is a part of Ingenio La Cabaña of El Salvador, one of the largest and oldest sugar producers in the country established in 1920. It is the only rum distillery in El Salvador and was built in 2004. Rum from this distillery makes up 70% of the Ron Colon blend.

The rum begins its life from local sugar cane that is gathered and then run through a 100-year-old sugar cane mill to be turned into molasses. From molasses, it undergoes fermentation with proprietary yeasts for 36 hours before being distilled by a modern multi- column still. After distillation the rum is aged in white oak ,ex-bourbon barrels sitting alongside rums that The Licorera Cihuatán distillery has been producing since 2004. The rum aged in Licorera Cihuatán have around 8% angel share per year. The Master Distiller and blender is Gabriella Ayala.

The other 30% of the Ron Colon is produced Worthy Park, Hampden and Monymusk distilleries (Jamaica) in traditional pot stills.

The Coffee Infused Rum is a collaboration between Ron Colon and Jags Head Coffee of El Salvador. Grown in the El Cipris at 1700m altitude. The slow, natural process of drying the beans by hand allows for the bean to interact with the natural sugars from the cherry over a long period of time, giving the final bean a more fruit-forward flavor. It can also bring more funky fermented flavors, perfect for pairing with rum. Roasted by Jag’s Head Coffee in North Carolina to a medium roast to bring out the rich chocolate and cherry notes without too much bitterness.

Licorera Cihuatán, a part of Ingenio La Cabaña of El Salvador, is one of the largest and oldest sugar producers in the country established in 1920.

Foursquare Sagacity Mk XI – July 2020

Please make way for our very first ‘Rum of the Month’… the Foursquare Sagacity Exceptional Cask Selection Mk XI.

The Foursquare Exceptional Cask Series have received worldwide acclaim and each release sees them more popular and thus, harder to get.  In fact – only 100 bottles of the Sagacity have been allocated to Australia… and we get first dibs for our members!

The Sagacity is a blend of rums from the same distillery – FourSquare. Spirit from both their traditional pot still, and a 2-column Coffey still is combined then divided again and aged 12 years in ex-Bourbon and ex-Madiera casks before being re-united and bottled. There is no sugar added, nor any flavour additives. It’s all about the spirit and the wood.

We know that more than a few of you have been eagerly awaiting our initial offering – probably for longer than you’ve been a member of the Tribe! It’s such an eagerly anticipated release we thought it fitting we should both offer it as our Rum of the Month – and organise it so the Rum Tribe will be the first in Australia to taste it! So please make way for our very first ‘Rum of the Month’… the Foursquare Sagacity Exceptional Cask Selection Mk XI.

The head distiller (and 4th generation distiller of R’L Seale & Co.), Richard Seale hand selects each cask to be blended for the Sagacity. Each Sagacity expression is a one-of-a-kind rum, with Richard selecting and blending only barrels that he deems to be of exceptional quality.

Foursquare Sagacity

  • PRICE : $149

  • ABV : 48%

  • BOTTLE: 700ml

  • REGION: Barbados

Foursquare Sagacity

FROM THE DISTILLERS

A blend of 2 distinct 12-year Single Blended Rums, one aged for 12 years entirely in Ex-Bourbon barrels, the other aged for 12 years entirely in Ex-Madeira barrels. Bottled at 48% ABV. No Color. No Sugar. No Additives. No Filtration.

ABOUT THE DISTILLERY

The Foursquare distillery is owned by R.L.Seale & Co which is a 4th generation family-owned rum trading company dating back to the 1920’s. Now run by David Seale and his son Richard – they oversaw the expansion of the family business to include distilling in 1995 with the purchase of an abandoned sugar refinery. After restoring, refurbishing and installation of fermentation tubs and custom-made distillation equipment, the distillery opened in 1996.

Richard aims to bring authentic Barbadian rums to market and prides himself on the purity of the rum he produces with no sweeteners added throughout any of his bottlings. Pushing boundaries and lifting the global perception of quality of rum, Richard often releases products that would surprise and delight any single malt connoisseur out there.

All Foursquare rums are made form a combination of pot-still distilled spirit and continuous column distilled new make. Their continuous column still is a technological marvel that operates under vacuum to allow distillation temperatures to be decreased.

A two-step fermentation process is used in all Foursquare rums, using a specific yeast imported from South Africa. This 2-step process is computer controlled with the temperature increased slowly and the molasses gradually added over 20 hours.

The majority of maturation at Foursquare is done in ex-bourbon casks. However, Richard loves to experiment with casks so Sherry, Port, Zinfandel and (in the case of the Sagacity) Madeira. They fill their casks at 65-68% alcohol to allow greater interaction between the spirit and the wood. The majority of producers not filling at less than 70% and many cask their spirit at levels approaching 80% abv. Foursquare age all their rum for a minimum of 2 years and pride themselves on never using flavouring additives in their rum.