Tag Archive for: 2021

Mezan Chiriquí – February 2021

What? Another fantastic rum making it’s Australian debut with the Rum Tribe this month? Yep…presenting the Mezan Chiriquí. This is the very first time Mezan has made it to our shores – and once again, only the ‘Tribe’ has it straight off the boat. And let me tell you – we didn’t leave one bottle in that container! Rum Tribe Gotta RUM!

All the way from Panama – this rum is crafted to an exacting standard. Distilled at an unnamed single distillery from molasses ‘beer’ in modern, multi-columned stills, aged in white oak ex-bourbon casks and finished in Moscatel Casks – the Mezan Chiriquí is a sensational rum to be enjoyed both neat, and in your favourite cocktails.

Mezan’s motto is ‘The Untouched Rum’ and they mean it! Unsweetened, uncoloured, un chill-filtered and aged in oak casks until they reach their optimal maturity. Mezan represents the purest and most authentic style of the Caribbean’s rums.

In fact, we are so impressed with the Mezan collection, we’ve got another from Mezan coming up in a couple of months as well. When I said we plundered that booty – I mean we really wiped it out! Apart from Rum Tribe members and a few of our favourite bars – the rest of Australia is going to have to wait and hope more Mezan makes it’s way here… someday!

The Mezan Chiriquí is single origin, small batch rum, distilled in multi-column stills in Panama. It is aged in ex-bourbon casks and finished in Moscatel casks. In case you’re wondering about the ‘Chiriquí’ name – it’s rather simple, Chiriquí is a province of Panama that features a variety of climates, from hot and humid lowlands to the cool and moist highlands. The district is home to the Fortuna Forest Reserve. The intricate design on the bottle label and box features art motifs and designs of the local rainforest tribes.

The Mezan Chiriquí label states a ‘tropical ageing’ time of 3yrs. This means that the rum was aged in ex-bourbon at the distillery in Panama (ie ‘the tropics’) for 3 years prior to it being shipped for further ageing and finishing in Mezan’s London bond-store. Once in London, it was re-casked into new ex-bourbon casks, aged some more and then transferred to moscatel casks for finishing.  They don’t specify how long it was aged or finished once out of Panama.

Our Tasting Notes:

Nose: Alcohol up front on the nose, but pancakes with icecream and maple syrup not far behind!

Palate: Much gentler than I was expecting based on the nose – the alcohol certainly doesn’t upstage the delightfully creamy mouthfeel. Caramel milkshake notes with little if any pepper. And is that ‘Strawberry & Cream‘ lollies on the side – I think so!

Finish: Sees a mellow warming develop. Fruit notes (raspberries?) swirl in and out.

MEZAN Chiriquí

  • PRICE : $119


  • ABV : 40%


  • BOTTLE: 700ml


  • REGION: Panama

  • No Added Sugar/ No Added Colour/Non-Chill Filtered


MEZAN Chiriquí

FROM MEZAN

The Chiriquí is a single-distillery, soft molasses-based rum. The distillery it comes from grows its own cane for the production of both aguardiente and rum and also cultivates historical yeast cultures which add character and individuality. The rum in this small batch have been aged twice in separate sets of white oak American Bourbon casks, to give added structure to the spirit.

MEZAN Chiriquí is a true Panamanian rum, luscious and round, finished in a moscatel cask adding depth to it. A must try! Chiriquí can be enjoyed neat, as well as in sophisticated cocktails. The powerful aromas will give your most refined cocktails excellent structure and a distinctive character.

A nice golden tint. An intense nose of spices, vanilla, pepper and light oak notes. Backed by stone fruits and coconut aromas. The palate is subtle, round and elegant, lightly woody which develops into spicy and refreshing peppery notes on the finish.

MEZAN Chiriquí

ABOUT MEZAN

The first thing to know about Mezan is that they aren’t a distillery. In fact they are not even involved in sugar cane or any aspect of rum production – other than ageing, blending and bottling.  Headed by Master Distiller Neil Mathieson, Mezan seeks out and buys single-origin rum casks from all over the Caribbean. Each cask is hand-selected and then shipped to the UK for further ageing.

Once in the UK, each cask of rum is then re-casked into ex-bourbon barrels. Mezan sources most of their bourbon casks through Heaven Hill distillery in Kentucky. They age in the UK due to the lower temps causing less interaction with the wood. “The UK” says Neil, “gives a very slow development of the spirit in comparison to the Caribbean and lets us manage the cask influence to a greater degree.”

Neil says he looked to the Scotch, Armagnac and Cognac industries and felt he needed to begin aging rum in a similar way to see how its character developed. “We are targeting rum drinkers—not necessarily those who would turn to Bacardi—and also those who enjoy other brown spirits.”

Oliver Exquisito 1985 – January 2021

Our first rum off the rank for 2021 is a rum we’ve all been waiting to hit our shores for a while now. The Oliver and Oliver Exquisito.

A 1985 vintage Solera rum from one of the world’s premium rum powerhouses, it’s only fitting ‘The Tribe’ kicks off the new year with such an exclusive Rum for Connoisseurs – Oliver Exquisito 1985.

The last release of the Exquisito to make it to Australia was waay back in 2016 – and sold for ten bucks shy of $300! Well, the power of the Tribe being what it is – we’ve not only bought some into the country – we’re able to offer it at half the price it previously sold for out here! This is an extremely limited release with only 1000 bottles produced in this release for the entire world market and we actually have more members than bottles available.

Oliver Exquisito 1985 Sistema Solera is an ultra-premium rum in typical Cuban / Spanish style from the family business Oliver & Oliver located in the Dominican Republic and who also owns other well known brands such as Quorhum, Opthimus, Cubaney and Presidente.

The ‘Ron Cubaney 21yo’ that our members loved so much earlier this year was from the same producer. That rum was made from rum distilled by Oliver and Oliver (from sugar cane juice – not molasses) whereas the ‘Exquisito 1985’ is aged and blended by Oliver & Oliver from molasses-based rums produced outside the distillery. The Exquisito 1985 is a blend of  rums from Guatemala, Ecuador, Trinidad and Tobago – aged in American Oak barrels in the Solera Method for 21 years. 

The Solera method used in the production of the Oliver Exquisito 1985 happens in 4 stages. All three stages use American oak barrels. Firstly each of the rums are aged alone in American oak. Once the blender is happy with their progress, they are blended and re-casked in ‘Layer 1’.  This layer (or ‘Criadera’ in Spanish) is then aged for around 4-5years. This layer of casks is then used to ‘top up’ what the ‘angels share’ removes from the second layer. The liquid in the second layer is known as ‘Ron Carta Solera’ and is aged for another few years. When ‘ready’ – this second layer is then used to top up the bottom or ‘Solera’ layer and aged a further year. This final stage is known as ‘the Mother Rum’ and this is what is bottled after around 4 years aging. Well – half of this is used to bottle – and then topped up with contents from the second layer. This continuous process of topping up older casks with younger rum slowly increases the average age of the rum in the solera layer.

Our Tasting Notes:

Nose: Nutty Fruit Salad, vanilla, sweet black coffee and a musty oakiness.

Palate: Pleasantly warming (not too much) with rich fruit mince, school fete toffee and jaffa notes.

Finish: Fades out with more sweet fruit and hints of orange.

Oliver and Oliver Exquisito

  • PRICE : $149


  • ABV : 40%


  • BOTTLE: 700ml


  • REGION: Aged in Dominican Republic – from rums from Guatemala and Ecuador , Trinidad & Tobago


Oliver and Oliver Exquisito

FROM THE PRODUCERS

Powerful notes of caramel, banana, vanilla, deep oak and a hint of black pepper on the nose.

It is smooth and full bodied on the palate, creamy yet  caramel and raisin characters, there is that black pepper again also a hint of vanilla & tobacco – you’re left with an after taste of Aged oak

Oliver and Oliver Exquisito

ABOUT OLIVER & OLIVER

Cuba has always enjoyed a reputation as one of the world’s foremost producers of rum. In the late nineteenth century some of the finest examples of Cuban rum were being produced by the Oliver family.

Juanillo Oliver, a Catalan and Mallorcan, arrived in Cuba in the mid-nineteenth century as a Spanish soldier, establishing his family on the island. After finishing his military service, Oliver decided to settle, in an area that later became known as Oliver, near the town of Las Placetas.

It was here that he and his family began to cultivate tobacco and sugar cane. The Oliver family soon began handling, storing and selling their traditionally grown products. They soon the built a mill to grind sugar cane for the production of sugars and alcohols, and Juanillo soon found himself creating local, artisanal rums and brandies.

The Oliver family’s name was soon synonymous with the finest central Cuban rums and cigars. That was to change as revolution gripped Cuba.

During the War of Independence, separatists attacked and burned farms and destroyed the famous Oliver family distillery.

After independence was achieved in Cuba, the Oliver family abandoned its sugar cane production business, instead focusing on the cultivation and production of tobacco and other businesses and agricultural activities. They continued peacefully until 1959, when revolution again struck Cuba.

In the years following 1959, many members of the Oliver family fled Cuba and their descendants spread throughout Europe and the Americas. It wasn’t until, in the late nineteen eighties, a member of the new generation of Oliver descendants returned to Cuba.  Pedro Ramon Lopez Oliver’s curiosity led him to explore his family’s history. While poring over the family archives and papers, Pedro discovered the original formulas developed by the Oliver’s for the production of unique, hand-crafted Cuban rum.

Encouraged by his discovery, the descendants of Juanillo Oliver committed themselves to reviving the rum brand that had disappeared in the violence of revolution. In the early nineteen nineties Pedro and the wider Oliver family began to develop their rums, this time in San Francisco de Macoris in the Dominican Republic. It was here that Ron Cubaney – named after its rediscovered Cuban ancestry – was born.

The Dominican Republic shares many of the same characteristics of climate, topography, and geology as Cuba and was chosen as the ideal country in which to resume the manufacturing of this previously lost Cuban-style rum. The family operated distillery sought the advice of a group of Cuban Maestros Roneros who were living in exile in the Dominican Republic at the time. These Maestros Roneros Cubanos brought with them decades of experience in the production of Cuban rum, and became the ideal artisans to help reawaken the Ron Cubaney name.

Cuban experts were hired to help create the new plant for the production of rum in the pure, traditional Cuban style. The Oliver family had recreated the same process, heritage and formula used in the nineteenth century.  Those techniques are still used by the present Maestros Roneros Cubanos and technicians and go into making the Oliver and Oliver Exquisito.

The plant began by purchasing 100,000 litres of distillates and malts that had been aged for 15 years from a Demeraran source, forming the first stock produced under the new Cubaney name. This was the basis of their mother rum and the single point of origin for the rums being enjoyed today.