Earlier this year, I enjoyed Navazos Palazzi Brandy, a sherry aged brandy that was a joint project between spirits importer Nicolas Palazzi and sherry bottler Equipo Navazos. Nicolas Palazzi recently sent me a new Navazos Palazzi rum finished in sherry casks.This rum was distilled in the Caribbean from molasses on a column still. It was aged at the distillery for five years and then shipped to Spain, transferred to Oloroso sherry casks and aged for an additional ten years. It was bottled in July at cask strength. They are planning on releasing 1,500 bottles per year for the next four years.
Ron Navazos Palazzi, 51% abv ($150)
The nose on this is a deep sherry with just a hint of brown sugar at the end. The palate begins with a thick sherry with fruit; it goes on to reveal the sweetness of the rum which creates a candy-fruity melange like candied, dried fruit. The finish is back to a pure sherry.
At first taste, this is very similar to a Spanish brandy, but beyond the sherry notes in the late palate, you can pick up the molasses. I'm not generally much of a rum drinker, but this is excellent stuff. The rum and sherry combination is really gives this a rounded, full flavor. I bet it would be great on the rocks as well.
3 comments:
First!
Sorry, the lack of comments had me worried. But seriously, sherried rum? What's next, sherried vodka?
It's such a singular concept, at least from the point of view of a whiskey drinker, and I must not be alone or someone else would have chimed in by now. Keep on covering products like these, Sku, and in 5 or 8 years I'm sure you will have helped to create enthusiasts of this sort of thing.
Dos Maderas has been doing this for a while. Given your tasting notes, I'd probably start there, since even the most expensive one in their line, 5+5, is a third the price as is similarly very sherry-driven.
I'm no purist, I suppose, because I love sherried whisky, assuming we are talking about subtle sherry influence and not some of the ham-handed, in your face bottlings that seem to be the rage. As for the Equipo Navazos rum, I confess to being a fan of their sherries - and sherry generally, so again, mea culpa. All that said, I love this rum. I'm not a regular drinker of the stuff, and my benchmark is Barbancourt 15, if that tells you where I'm coming from. I do not find the sherry influence here overbearing and do find the final product to be exquisitely well-balanced. An ounce or so in a Zalto Universal glass, slightly chilled, and awakened with a teaspoon or so of cool spring water: The color is a burnished deep amber. The nose is smoky, with notes of dried fig, a bit of caramel, some leathery and woody notes - 'rancio' might be the word. As it warms a bit, there are floral notes as well. Very complex, very alive and ever-changing. On the palate, despite the 51% ABV, quite light on its feet and soft in the mouth. Velvety and a bit glycerine - not sugary or sweet, this is a matter of texture. The finish is elegant - more cognac than rum -- with a long tail and persistence.
Call me a sucker but at $100 a bottle -- the current shelf price from a number of U.S. retailers -- I'll go for it any time.
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