Don Q Cognac Cask Finish
Image courtesty of Jensen’s Liquors in Miami, Florida.
When it comes to mass market Spanish style rums in the United States, the two primary market faces that come to most consumer’s minds are Bacardi and Don Q. For most Americans, due to tenuous politics which will I get into with a future article, Havana Club is not accessible by any usual means due to an embargo on Cuban goods. Hence, for the longest time, the two aforementioned rums were the baseline for this subgenre. It is clear betwixt these two who is more transparent with their production details and quality. Bacardi’s lineup has never been too promising, even with the higher end stuff they have offered in recent years like the Ocho Sevillian Orange Cask, a review of which is in the works, did not offer much and I infer that it was most probably dosed like most in its series as the base Reserva Ocho is dosed at around 12 g/l of additives per hydrometer tests. On the other hand, none of Don Q’s core lineup appears to be from what I have seen, of course excluding the spiced or flavored rums. (But Don Q’s spiced is also good, at a decent 45% ABV).
In the past few years, Don Q has come out with rums in their double cask series, starting with a vermouth cask finish in 2018 and a sherry cask finish in 2019. In our case, the use of “finish” here is perhaps a bit of a misnomer, as the cognac cask was utilized for an extra two years of maturation after a blend of rums aged 5-8 years in ex-bourbon American white oak. Hence, we can reasonably infer the final product is a blend of rums aged at least 7 years all the way up to 10. Although by more rigid standards, it would be considered a 7-8 year old rum moreso. The cognac cask finish intrigued me the most as it was bottled at 49.6% ABV, practically 50% ABV, which is a bit of rarity for this subgenre of rum. Most of Don Q’s standard lineup, excluding the 151, is bottled at a measly 40% ABV. Even the others in the double cask lineup were bottled into the early 40s, as well as the USA release of the 2009 Single Barrel, also bottled at 40% ABV. Interestingly enough, the European release of the 2009 was bottled at 49.25% ABV, which goes to show how Don Q perceives the North American market when it comes to rum.
But even within the wider world of Spanish style rum, we only have Havana Club Selección de Maestros, bottled at 45%, which is the legal maximum in Cuba and is also not easy to get for most Americans as mentioned before, and while not from Latin America but in the same style, the Thailand Shakara 12 and 15, which are bottled at around 45% and 46% ABV, respectively. There are independent bottlings out there that can get quite higher, but I am simply discussing what is accessible to most consumers. It is then no surprise that Don Q’s cognac finish intrigued me so much when I heard my fellow rum colleagues singing praises about it. It is a rarity for this style of rum, and mind you, I have a soft spot for Spanish-style rum. They are not the most complex or mind-boggling funkadelics, but what they do bring to the table are some precisely controlled and optimized sets of flavors. And in the case of this one, it’s damn good.
Consider the nose: we are presented with a mild orchestra of gooseberries, sweet and sour molasses, ash, flint, cinnamon, and a cigarette ash or a naive Swisher Sweets characteristic. Oh, and there’s a deeply caramelized chocolate covered orange peel with a dab of salted caramel aspect as well, which is lovely considering oranges are my favorite fruit. As someone who appreciates the taste and smell of tobacco, this is definitely up my alley. Two words always come back to me as I continuously imbibe and perceive this rum: cigarettes and oranges, two flavors I quite like. But think a bitter orange essence or extract moreso than a sweet orange dessert, laced with some citrus zest and a slight touch of thorny flowers and the flesh of stonefruit. There is also pencil shavings, rubber, and sweet leather, like a dirty pencil eraser. On top of that, I get a strong ginger presence, as if one dumped a lot of ginger powder into their ginger biscuit mix. This accompanies that sour note from before, and does a dancing interplay with the the woody ash like presence of the rum. When I initially poured this rum, I also got a wine-y or cognac grape element, similar to the Vietnam rum from before but nowhere near as overpowering or clouding, but that grape note disappeared with subsequent pours. It may also perhaps have been reminiscent of vino de naranja.
I presume the fleeting sourness descends from the fermentation process, as this rum is a blend of two different rums: a light rum distilled to a high proof with a multi-column still, and a heavier rum distilled on a 1934 Vendome single column still (the aguardiente). Both rums utilize a special strain of yeast that descends from a strain cultivated in either the late 1940s or early 1950s; however, the lighter rum is fermented for only 40 or so hours; whereas, the heavier rum is fermented for around at least 60 hours. All in all, there is more emphasis on precision, balance, and targeted notes than a feral, heterogeneous motley of funk or hogo. You can tell this is a Spanish-style rum; it is one in every classical sense. It’s simply better than most of the others out there,
Once the rum finds its way onto your taste buds, you are presented with a lot of dried fruit, like raisins soaked in rum, bitter burnt orange marmalade, dried oranges and apricots, some heavily fried to the point of burning plantains, etc. I don’t get much of that signature Spanish-style Rum RC cola note per se, but it’s perhaps hard to scour out here with the strong woody charcoal and tobacco everywhere. There is an astringent, tannic quality to the experience, with a strong orange essential oil or orange extract layer permeating the mouthfeel, accompanied by a leathery, dry presence and a port wine aftertaste, both of which I appreciate. That presence quickly sublimates into the potent after-draw of a mildly salty, iodine-y cigarette combined with walnuts, unsalted pistachio shells, dark chocolate, and a burnt blonde coffee that has been infused with a touch of heavily roasted and charred dark coffee or espresso. Picture being at a campfire with a leather jacket, and you are smoking a cigarette as a cool sea breeze passes by. And then the dryness of the experience hits you. But I actually appreciate drier spirits, especially with some sips of water on the side to cleanse my palate in between. It makes for a pleasant hot summertime evening experience on the patio, drinking the night away.
The mouthfeel and finish don’t spread out much, but what is there lingers for quite a bit. It’s a sharp tobacco note tangoing with an overall, rounded gingeriness and an ashy fruit and ashtray effect. It’s not the most viscous, but it is not thin or watery either. It has plenty of staying force and is quite assertive, especially with all the cigarette tobacco and moderate darker Virginia tobacco. Those walnuts also intensify and burst into a fleeting cinnamon toothpaste esque character, with enough smoke almost reminiscent of a lighter mezcal or high quality molasses based charanda (but not quite). God, is it lovely. I love tobacco, nutty, and leathery notes in rum, and this hits all the right feelings. This Don Q is not that fruity or confectionary like, perhaps at an angle it can deviate into so though, but it doesn’t need to be for me. I love its dry, rustic nature. This is damn good Spanish style rum. Perhaps it is not the most complex funkatronic monster, and is more rather delicate, but it doesn’t need to any more that. It is a vessel for optimizing the simple, and with such a busy world we live in, I quite appreciate that. It’s similar to how simple, elegant 1990s east coast bomb bap hip-hop can be optimized well enough, and it doesn’t need to be Funky Worm levels of funk from 1972 to be good.
Before I do my closing thoughts, I must offer my thanks to Silvia Santiago, Liza Cordero, and Roberto Serrallés. Silvia is the Master Ronera, who is in charge of master blending and is the senior vice president of manufacturing. She was Puerto Rico’s first female master blender and she has been with Destilería Serrallés, the founders of Don Q, for 53 years, since 1973. She is the leading figure of the Don Q Double Cask series. Working alongside master blender Liza, the two helped bring the project into full motion. Liza became the master blender in charge of quality control and production in March of 2022, right around the time the cognac cask was being finalized before releasing in fall of that year. Finally, we have Roberto who is the vice president of rum at Destilería Serrallés and represents the sixth generation of the Serrallés family. I must offer my thanks to him as without his family we would not have Don Q to begin with. In the future, I would love to make a company dedicated article regarding Destilería Serrallés in full depth, but this shall suffice.
Don Q may not have been the first rum brand in Puerto Rico (that would be Ron Del in Barrilito in 1880) but since their inception in 1932, they certainly have shown to us they are capable of making high quality, transparently produced and marketed rum. Even though their core lineup is too low ABV for my liking, I still admire what it represents: a non-dosed high quality Spanish style rum. In the case of the cognac cask, I am driven to give a lot of accolade for what Don Q has done. My score might change in the future as I am continuously recalibrating my scale, but a general 86-87 is perfect for this bottling. It hits all the right notes and rhymes for me, as a lover of high quality Spanish style rums. I can’t give it anything too high, of course, as 90+ I generally reserve for quite exceptional, once in a blue moon rums. This is getting there, but we have to be careful so as not to stumble over ourselves. Besides, it doesn’t matter as this is one hell of a good rum either way that would not disappoint any rum enthusiast.
I do hope Don Q makes more of these stellar bottlings. It is a shame this was a limited release, as I would not mind having a crate of these bottles. However, I do want others to have a chance to try this one out, so I must not get too greedy with myself here.
\textbf{Final Rating: 87+/100}
Final Score
87+ / 100