Rum: Zaya Gran Reserva, 12 year
Price: $35
Region: Trinidad
Proof: 80
I by no means consider myself a Rum Connoisseur, even less so than I can call myself a scotch or wine snob - which is saying a lot, considering as how I'm barely a dabbler in either of those. My usual experience with rum involves something cheap and coconutty meeting equal proportions of coke.
And then I met Zaya.
Now, I'm assured that the latest batch of Zaya (from Trinidad, rather than its original Guatemala) is inferior, but I find that hard to fathom. Honestly, if it were any more delicious, I'd be in a bit of trouble.
The rum itself is a really gorgeous dark honey amber color, much darker than even the spiced rums I've seen. Certainly darker than any of my scotches. The scent is overwhelmingly of brown sugar and vanilla - it seems like there's something else hiding underneath, but these two scents are overpowering enough that I can't quite put my finger on it.
The flavor is much like the scent, if more heavily weighted towards the vanilla. It goes down with no sting whatsoever - very warm and smooth. The aftertaste is a little woody with some nice hints of cinnamon.
I tried the Zaya both neat and with a little ice, and I decided the ice is a bit of an insult to it. It waters down the flavors and really detracts from the overall taste. With no ice included there's a bit more sharpness and sting going down, but that's made up for in richness of flavor.
So that's my glowing review... because I really needed to get into expensive rums, in addition to exepensive scotch.
1 comment:
Note to self: I disagree with Lisa on the ice. The smoothness that a chill gives it is worth a little watering down of the flavors... My "whisky face" was getting worse the more I had neat, as opposed to scotch where it usually goes away after the first few sips.
Post a Comment