Enough Already: Whisk(e)y Does Not Get Better In The Bottle

Collecting whiskey can be a fun pastime. Snapping up limited edition and rare bottlings is part of the American way when it comes to how we do high-end booze in this country. No matter your motivation for establishing a collection, whether to enjoy later to nerd out, save it for a special occasion, or even turn it around for profit, it’s all good. Do what you like…it’s your whiskey.

However, there is something that continues to drive me crazy when it comes to whiskey. Over this past weekend I was doing some research on new whiskeys that were arriving in the U.S. market, seeking out some commentary and determining if they could be fits in upcoming programs I am leading (shameless plug: March 14th Irish Whiskey class!). During my personal recon mission, I came across this review of a whiskey that read like fingernails sound on a blackboard:

Aside from providing good beverage recommendations and getting you plugged into various aspects of the industry, I find the most important service I can provide is steering you clear of bad information and outright nonsense. If you ever see a review of a product that says, “I will give this a few more years to age and try it again…” or anything else of that ilk, you should immediately ignore the review of the product. The fact is, whiskey (and other spirits) do not improve in the bottle.

Say it with me again, whiskey (and other spirits) do not improve in the bottle.

Adding a whiskey to your collection should NEVER be done with the thought that the 1964 Macallan Special Selection Bottled in 1981 is going to suddenly turn into some otherworldly unicorn blood that will drink better than it did 38 years ago. No matter when you open the bottle, whether it is the day you purchase it or at any point in the future, it is still a 17 year old single malt Scotch whisky.

Unlike the long-lived wines of the world, spirits are missing important components that lead to ageability. With time, natural tannins from red wine grapes integrate with intense fruit concentration, alcohol, acids, and where applicable residual sugar to have molecular reactions leading to a softer texture and more fulfilling experience than you would have if those bitter, mouth-drying elements were younger. In the case of ageworthy white wines, acid, alcohol, fruit concentration, and residual sugar all work in tandem to preserve the wines and add a honey-like texture and flavor with time in the bottle.

Above: It doesn’t matter if you spend your money on an everyday workhorse for $19 or a custom-made luxury bottle for $170,000, both are ready to drink now…and neither is improving with further aging.

All of whiskey’s flavors are developed during fermentation, distillation, and barrel aging. Whiskey has plenty of alcohol to keep itself stable in the bottle, but nothing else mentioned above to help it evolve into something different the way wine does. The same goes for brandy, rum, and Tequila. As a matter of fact, the only thing time does to your spirits is add a threat of deterioration. You have to keep your spirits stored in a cool, dark place. Heat and light can make flavors and natural colors fade and prolonged exposure to either can lead to more rancid flavors in whiskey, too much earthiness in gin (all citrus and floral aromas dissipate completely), soapy flavor in Cognac, or a vinegar and shoe polish-like compound in rum. All bad.

Remember that all spirits are bottled ready-to-drink the day you buy them. If you open another bottle of the same whiskey you didn’t like a few years ago, the only reason you would like it today is because your palate evolved, not because the spirit did. If you are considering starting a collection, do it for any reason other than hoping the contents of the bottles are going to improve with time, because it is just not going to happen.

Rum vs. Rhum: The Great Sugar Cane Battle

When I first started this whole wine school thing back in the day, I spent an awful lot of time diving into wine. I wanted to know everything about it: where it comes from, how it is made, introduce myself to new grapes...I couldn't get enough. Later, I realized that I can nerd out about spirits, too. This was a whole other world to me. All I knew about spirits was that I liked whiskey, and couldn't stand the hangovers a well-known spiced rum brand used to give me every time I drank rum.

Eventually, thanks to time, research, and study, I gave rum a second chance; mostly because I had to if I wanted to pass the spirits components of my exams, but I became genuinely interested in how this stuff gets made and ends up on store shelves. Little did I realize the variety of rums available to us was through the roof (and now roughly a decade later, American craft distilleries have added another layer of choices to the mix).

This is a post that can easily get out of hand, so let's get to some nuts and bolts. Rum is made from sugar cane. It can be made from either the juice directly crushed/pressed from the cane, or it can be made from molasses, the thick, sweet residue that is left over after heat cane juice to extract sugar crystals. The latter is the most popular base material; add water to molasses to allow for proper fermentation to make a base "wine" that gets fed into any number and type of distillation pot or column. The common link here is that the resulting distillate is very aromatic and exotically fruity. Rums made from cane juice can be fermented without water addition and gives you a leaner, grassier, and "greener" flavor and aroma profile. From here, the distillate can be bottled unaged or sent to (typically large, neutral barrels) for aging prior to bottling.

Simple right? Wait...we have culture and historical connections that really dictate rum styles: the British, French, and Spanish Caribbean islands dating back to the colonial period all have vastly different profiles. How about some examples, you say? No problem. Generally speaking...

British colonies: the Navy was given rations daily all the way up until about 1970, which would be diluted with water, sweetened, and maybe a squeeze of lime. The following three locations offered high-intensity rums to help stand up to those additional ingredients. Pot stills are the main reason this character is retained in the rums.

Jamaica: very intense aromatically, fruity and floral. Think of very ripe bananas and wildflowers. Appleton Estate VX ($22) is a fine example, consistently delivering on the Jamaican style for such a good price.

Guyana: Rich and full-bodied, not as pungent as the Jamaican style. Its deep flavors and weight are valuable in blends, but can stand alone as well. El Dorado is the easiest one to find; if you can taste the 3 Year ($18) and the 12 Year ($32) side by side, you will get to know both the style and the effects of aging.

Barbados: softer and more understated than the previous two, and is often used to either reduce the impact of a pungent rum from Jamaica or give some body and flavor to a lighter rum. Mount Gay Eclipse ($26) should illustrate this with its combination of apricot, banana, brown sugar, and baking spices.

French colonies: rather than use sugar cane to extract sugar crystals, the French used sugar beets instead for that commodity. In turn, this led to the use of cane juice for their rhum agricoles, a term that may only be used when this style is made in Martinique or Guadeloupe. Pot stills are responsible for retaining the intense flavors, but there are column-distilled examples that lighten things up to a degree.

Rhum agricole is even more intense and pungent on the nose than a Jamaican rum. The overall category seems to go over very well with Scotch and Cognac drinkers (an observation made by our friendly attendant at the Strong Water Tavern on a recent trip to Orlando) as there is a drier finish to these spirits than the examples from the British colonies above. Rhum Clément has an outstanding range: try the Canne Bleue unaged white rhum and the VSOP aged rhum, each running you somewhere in the $30-$35 range.

Spanish colonies: this style patterns after the Cuban style. These are light and smooth-textured rums, where column stills help make high-strength, delicate rums suitable for bottling unaged, or lightly aged  and bottled after filtration. This is where you think of the Bacardi brand, whose main facility is in Puerto Rico these days. The golden rums from places like Nicaragua and Panama are often middle-of-the-road in style, and in a good way. Not too strong, not too delicate (aromatically and flavor-wise), and very little fire when compared to other rum styles. Flor de Caña 4 Year golden rum ($16) and Ron Abuelo 7 Year ($25) give you great aged examples of this style.

Cachaça is a Brazil-specific style of rhum agricole. If you need an in-depth discussion on that, see last week's post where I broke down a tasting with a visitor to the store.

Craft: Let me give some love to a local Connecticut company, The Real McCoy, who I have mentioned about a year ago in a post. Their 12 Year rum is released in Bourbon cask-aged and Madeira cask-aged examples. These retail for about $60 each, but if you love aged rum to sip neat you should absolutely see if these are available in your local markets.

So there you have it. A crash-course in rum vs. rhum. It is obviously not this simplistic, but hey...it's summer. You want to enjoy your weekend. Use this as a guide to get you steered in the right direction with r(h)um and may the best style win you over!

The Obligatory Wine With Halloween Candy Post

It's that time of year! Get ready for (if you haven't seen them yet) the blitz of articles about pairing wine and other booze with Halloween candy.

Before I get into the meat of this topic, let me start with this: Halloween is quite the production in my neighborhood. Everyone around here understands we have a window of time to celebrate and generally just have a good time. When it's done, it's done; people have jobs to get to and life to deal with the next day. During that time, however, the neighborhood has fire pits and music. Some houses have some tasty beverages for the adults to sample while kids get the traditional range of "fun size" candies, along with a sprinkling of full-size confections from the really awesome houses.

So whether you end up enjoying Halloween with the neighborhood for a few hours, or end up coming back from trick-or-treating with the kids to knock down a beverage or two, there's always one thing to remember if you are going to pair your booze of choice with candy:

Make sure your drink is (or seems) sweeter than the candy you are eating.

I can't stress that point enough. Dry wines and light beers are going to taste very thin and harsh with just about any type of candy, whether it is fruit flavored, chocolatey, peanut buttery, or anything else. Sorry, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, and many Italian white wines...you are out. IPAs and (Insert macrobrew here) Lite? So are you. High-tannin or light-bodied red wines? Brutal. Your beer and wine will just taste astringent and tart. These are all mighty fine adult beverages and I love them all...just not today.

However, there are some ways to get around this rule of thumb when it comes to drinking with candy, especially if you just don't like sweet wine or other alcoholic beverages. Sometimes playing around with flavor composition, illusions of sweetness, and texture can help make a pairing work.

Less than an hour away from home, Two Roads has always delivered on just about any beer I have had from them. The Oktoberfest is no different.

Let's start with the beer-drinkers. While most beers aren't necessarily sweet, there is a component of a brew that can give you the impression of sweetness on your palate: malt. That's right...most malty beers feel full-bodied and creamy with a caramel/chocolate/toffee flavor profile. These are all the aspects of a malty beer that can play nicely with your Twix, Kit-Kats, and Butterfingers. Newcastle Brown Ale and other English Brown Ales work nicely with these candies. Additionally, go for what is readily available at this time of year: Oktoberfest/Märzen style beers. These are a little lighter and not quite as malty as a Brown Ale, but has some of the sweet fall baking spice notes. Whether you go with the ubiquitous-but-steady Sam Adams or a local craft brewery, you can't go wrong (assuming you like the style, of course). If you prefer to steal the fruity candies like Starbursts and Skittles from your kids, try a Fruit Lambic; Lindemans tends to be the most readily available of this style and finishes sweeter than other producers.

Now, what do we do about wine? If you are not a sweet wine lover, then we need to find wines that are full-bodied, fruity, and assertive. Oaked Chardonnay does the trick with the bold, tropical fruit flavor, butterscotch and cream (the byproduct of malolactic fermentation), and sweet spices. Look no further than the outwardly named "Butter" by JaM Cellars. It's going to have all of that for about $15. Great for popping the candy corns or even milk chocolate.

Fruit-forward, full-bodied reds can work wonders with candy.

For a "dry" red, Australian Shiraz and California Zinfandel can be so ripe, full-bodied, and jammy, the wines will leave you with a sweet sensation on the finish. Yalumba Y Series Shiraz ($15) or Bogle's Old Vine Zinfandel ($10) keeps things simple and straightforward. The red fruit bomb that is the Zinfandel and the raisiny/figgy/peppery character of the Shiraz will each give you what you need for dark chocolate candy.

A little off the beaten path, but worth trying if you find it. Alvear offers terrific value with all of their products.

For the sweet wines, Port and dark chocolate has long been an essential pairing; the complexity of each feeds off of one another. You can also consider the syrupy, chocolatey, and mouthcoating Pedro Ximinez ("PX") Sherries; PX can be poured over ice cream for some serious indulgence if rummaging through Halloween candy isn't good enough. It will just overwhelm any confection you throw at it, though it will play well with a Snickers or Reese's since Sherry generally has a nutty character to it. Bodegas Alvear's Solera Cream ($18) is made with 100% PX grapes in the region of Montilla-Moriles, a production area more inland with a hotter climate than the traditional Sherry regions. As a result, the wines are less expensive.

We haven't touched on enough wine to drink with your fruity candies. Go big or go home, I say, with the Hungarian sweet wine known as Tokaji [toe-KYE]. Royal Tokaji Wine Company Red Label Tokaji is peachy, citrusy, and full of honey. There is always Ice Wine from Canada, the Finger Lakes, and Austria that are delicate, fruity, and sweet, but with plenty of acid to prevent the wine from feeling sticky sweet on your palate. Inniskillin is a well-known Canadian producer as is Nigl of Austria. If you are willing to spend $40 for a 500mL bottle, dive in (then save whatever is left in the bottle to enjoy with fruit tarts and cakes on a later date).

A mere ounce of this stuff instantly boosts the flavor of any beverage. Feel free to go inexpensive on the vodka. I won't tell.

Now, what if you are into spirits? Well, one of the easiest things you can do is hook yourself up with a flavored vodka of choice, mix with lemonade, and be on your way to gorging on Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, Jolly Ranchers, and Gummi Bears/Worms/Other Creatures. One concoction we enjoy in the summer is blueberry vodka with lemonade, and honestly you can get away with that year round. Or, grab the magic Cognac and raspberry liqueur known as Chambord ($35-ish) and add that to your flavored vodka. No Twizzler stands a chance.

Here are some others you can work with as well in the spirits department: Bailey's Irish Cream and a Milky Way, El Dorado 12 Year Rum with any caramel candy (or even those banana Laffy Taffy things), and Champagne and pretzels (there will be pretzels in the candy bag, I promise you...and that's a good reason to drink Champagne).

Hey, have fun with this. I have seen some posts out there on the topic that give zero explanation as to why any of the pairings work. Hopefully, I make some sense with my line of thinking, but I would also love to hear what you enjoy with the Halloween haul. Just remember this: alcohol and sugar dehydrate you. Consume both for long periods of time without some water or other food in-between shoveling in the sweets can lead to some wretched hangovers. Enjoy the evening in moderation and, of course, be safe!

Build Your Bar: A Dozen Essentials Help You To Get Started

As much as I love to dive into wine, distilled spirits has dominated my beverage landscape as of late; it comes with the territory of running classes in this category at the store. As a result, I have managed to build up a bit of inventory in my home bar over the past year, all while understanding some of the differences among the huge range of options available to us all.

For those of you who are attempting to build your own inventory, my guess is there are mixed feelings out there. There is the camp of people who have brands they love and will always go to with ease, while others don't know what to seek out and spend hard-earned money on. It can be difficult for the latter group; you want to have a complete set of bar staples for guests or mixing cocktails, but you may not be sure what to drop $20-$40 on that will deliver for you.

Wine lovers, you may remember when we built a case of wine together that goes easy on the wallet; our task was to keep the case to $120-$150. If you were to buy the spirit essentials you need, you will easily spend more since the average price per bottle of quality spirits are high than it is for wine. Fortunately, you can do this for about $250. That's right...a full bar that gives you versatility, enjoyment, and outstanding value for roughly twice what we paid to get the wine inventory started.

Let's do this thing. I find that as long as you have one of each of the following spirits/mixers, you can make most classic cocktails, plus give yourself some things to sip straight if you like. In no particular order: Blended Scotch Whisky, Bourbon Whiskey, gin, rum, vodka, Tequila, Cognac, sweet vermouth, dry vermouth, orange liqueur, bitters, and tonic water. Yes, I know tonic water is non-alcoholic, but there are some great artisanal options for you to choose from these days and can be a major component in cocktails. Pick up some lemons, limes, and a small bottle of hot sauce, and you are in business.

Now for specifics on the Big Twelve bar essentials. You will be able to get away with spending no more than $35 on any of these bottles. These are all solid. Please note that spirits pricing can fluctuate depending on where you live, how much your retailer can buy to keep costs down, or depending on whether a category is generally trending up or down.

For your whisk(e)y:

Famous Grouse or Johnnie Walker Black Label blended Scotch whisky ($35 ea.)

If you are a fan of the Rob Roy or Rusty Nail, then you need some good blended Scotch whisky. Alternatively, each option can be enjoyed as-is. For my fellow Scotch nerds and newbies alike, Famous Grouse is a blend made from the malt whisky of Macallan and Highland Park, two distilleries owned by the same company as Famouse Grouse: The Edrington Group. The red grouse on the label is Scotland's national game bird, and Famous Grouse is the top selling blended Scotch in Scotland. This is gentle and well-balanced.

Johnnie Walker is the top selling blended Scotch in the United States and worldwide, with 40 different whiskies making up the blend. The peated portion of the whisky comes from Caol Ila and Talisker, and all whiskies used in the blend were aged at least 12 years. Johnnie Walker is notably smokier than Famous Grouse. Despite Scotch being incredibly popular with prices on the rise, both Famous Grouse and Johnnie Walker Black remain solid values and you can't go wrong with either.

Bulleit or Larceny Bourbon Whiskey ($28 ea.)

I once again present two options. When it comes to Bourbon, there are two fairly distinct groups: low-rye and high-rye. Consider this to be similar in a way to peated or unpeated Scotch. The higher the rye content, the more aromatic and assertive its flavors will be. Less rye means corn's soft texture and sweetness will come out.

Bulleit has a citrusy and spicy character, and bottled at 90 proof, it can withstand the addition of other ingredients that will tamp down some of the rye in your Old Fashioned or Manhattan. Larceny, a new product getting a lot of play out on the market has not only a lower rye profile, but also some wheat, making for a gentler Bourbon. Larceny has more of a honeyed, toffee-like character that is definitely suited for sipping.

For your brandy:

Camus VS Cognac ($30)

Hennessy is very popular, and has the skyrocketing price to match. I know it wasn't that long ago that I wrote about it, but it should be a bar staple.

For your Tequila:

Cazadores Silver ($25)

Am I being lazy? Maybe, but again it will deliver on the price for you as I wrote in my classic cocktails post on Margaritas.

For your rum:

Plantation 3 Stars White Rum ($20)

Created by well-respected Cognac producer Maison Ferrand, Plantation 3 Stars is made up of rums from Trinidad, Barbados, and Jamaica. Some components from Jamaica and Trinidad are aged, while other Jamaican components and Barbados are unaged. Ferrand uses a "proprietary filtration process" to strip out color from barrel aging without stripping away flavor (which can happen in many instances with charcoal filtration). The result is a full-bodied and complex white rum that you can mix or drink straight with a little chill on it. This is one of the best bargains I have seen in any spirit category and is worth the extra $3-$5 over the better-known Bacardi.

For your Vodka:

Tito's Handmade Vodka ($23)

Tito Beveridge (a name that seems destined to be in this industry) created this Texas-based pot-distilled vodka that is now the top-selling spirits brand in the United States. Pot-distilled vodkas have some body to them (a la Ketel One), making this a vodka you could sip neat if well-chilled. I can also testify that this made a killer base for a Bloody Mary during a football tailgate party! Despite the brand's overwhelming success, Tito's is still very reasonably priced.

For your Gin:

Gordon's London Dry Gin ($20)

For the traditional, juniper-forward gin drinkers out there, this should fall right in your strike zone. Tanqueray is another option as well, which is bottled at a higher proof (great for not losing delicate citrus and floral aromas/flavor when mixing cocktails), but you may spend a few more dollars. Gordon's is the top selling gin brand in the world with its mass appeal and easy mixability.

For your vermouth:

Martini & Rossi Sweet ($11) and Dry ($11) Vermouth

There's no need to get too fancy here. If you are on a limited budget, the M&R products are the way to go. They do the job just fine when you are getting started. Sweet vermouth works for your Negroni, Manhattan, and Rob Roy, while the dry vermouth will mix fine with your Martini or act as a flavor-booster in your cooking (a fine addition in Carbonara pasta, for the record).

For your orange liqueur:

Agavero Orange ($23) or Caffo Solara Triple Orange ($25)

This comes down to what you like to do with your cocktails. If you are REALLY into Margaritas, the Agavero is a Tequila-based orange liqueur that meshes nicely with Tequila (thanks, Captain Obvious!), also costing you less than the Patron version. If you seek versatility in cocktails, where many of them call for triple sec/orange liqueur, the Caffo from Italy gives you good, fiery orangey flavor. As a reference point, Cointreau (as much as I adore it) hits the $30 mark in some markets. Again, we are seeking value, so either of these will do a solid job for you.

Additional mixers:

Angostura Bitters ($6)

This is a staple that can't be overlooked. Yes, it is everywhere and readily available, but for good reason. It is solid. As you continue progressing in building your inventory, we can talk about that...and we will (how's that for a tease?)!

Fever Tree Tonic ($6/4-pack)

Here's your "splurge" product. I can't say enough about the clean flavors Fever Tree provides. Aside from the flagship tonic, they have flavored versions such as lemon and elderflower that will add extra depth of flavor to your Gin (or Vodka) & Tonic. Don't believe me? Taste Fever Tree alongside Schweppe's or Canada Dry and you will become a convert!

So there it is! This is an outstanding starting point for building up your personal bar. These twelve items will help you get the ball rolling and serve as your baseline for branching out...and we will cover that sooner than later!

Kicking Off A New Season Of Drinking

From urban revitalization to quaint villages, there is a stark contrast between the two regions of Western Missouri and Coastal New England. Image credits (L-R): Lawnstarter, MysticSeaport.org, VisitKC, Wikipedia

Editor's Note: The author is a huge professional football fan and is about to make mention of this sport in a new weekly series. Fear not, non-football fans; the focus is on the aspects of drinking delicious alcoholic beverages from all across America.

I am entering my favorite part of the year: the humid summer weather will be going away, my kids are back at school, and the football season is getting underway. When the calendar flips to September, the big red wines become more frequent than white wines, and the spirits cabinet morphs from Tequila and rum to Scotch and brandy. My beer preferences change from the refreshing wheat ales to hearty stouts. Despite all my efforts to convince you that there is no need for "seasonal" drinking, guess what? I still do it...and I don't care. With that in mind, today I debut a new series revolving around the teams playing on NBC's Sunday Night Football. Since Week 1 has kicked off every year on a Thursday night since 2002, I will be including the Thursday night game in my opening post. 

Gillette Stadium: the site where the opening conflict gets resolved.

2017's opener gives us the Kansas City Chiefs and the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots. Aside from outstanding barbecue, some of my favorite items coming out of Kansas City is the beers of Boulevard Brewing Company. The founder of the brewery, John McDonald, was a carpenter by trade, but he drew inspiration for what he was about to build from a European trip in 1984. After sampling many Belgian-style ales from overseas, he was ready to turn his dream into reality. McDonald built his brewery in an old brick building on Southwest Boulevard (where the brewery takes its name from). By 1989, the first keg of Boulevard Pale Ale was ready. 

Thanks to word of mouth, beer-lovers soon discovered how good McDonald's beers were. The company flourished so much, Boulevard outgrew that old brick building by 2004. An expansion of the brewery and addition of state-of-the-art equipment was part of the revitalization of this Kansas City neighborhood. Today, Boulevard boasts an impressive lineup of brews, whether they are available year-round or in limited releases.

For the New England beverage of choice, well I have many states and cities to choose from, with anything from New Haven north and east all the way up to Maine. I do realize that the craft brewing scene is unbelievable throughout New England, but with the weather still a bit muggy and warm lately I will give you a rum to enjoy!

Back when I did some events for a private club in New London, I remember being introduced to filmmaker Bailey Pryor, who produced The Real McCoy: The Legend of Bill McCoy and the Rum War at Sea. In a nutshell, it was the story of a rum-runner during the Prohibition Era, constantly beating the authorities in the spirits trade, all while gaining such a well-regarded reputation for providing uncut spirits, the buyer always knew he was receiving "The Real McCoy." It's a fascinating piece, and if you have about an hour to check it out, you should click the link above.

Pryor worked with Richard Seale, Master Distiller at Foursquare Distillery in Barbados, to develop a rum that could live up to the name "The Real McCoy." While the distillery is down in the Caribbean, the company operates out of Mystic, Connecticut, offering a range of rums that includes 3 Year, 5 Year, and 12 Year age statements. Certainly great for mixing cocktails, I chose one that I really enjoy sipping on its own. 

So who do you have...Kansas City or New England? No matter who you root for, you can't go wrong with either of these two beverages. Stay tuned for Part 2, which includes what to drink for the Giants-Cowboys game. Cheers!

Boulevard Brewing Company Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale ($13/4-pack): When I went to Florida on vacation this summer, it seemed as though all of the restaurants in or near the theme parks had Boulevard's Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale. So after spending a week in Disney World passing on Tank 7 every time, we went to Universal Studios Orlando only to see this beer on our lunch menu at Cowfish. I was happy to have finally tried it; citrusy and lively, Tank 7 has some body and richness (at 8.5% abv) to it, but it finishes bone-dry and made me want to eat everything in the restaurant. Boulevard also has a "Great Eight" variety pack, which includes Tank 7 and three other beers from the Smokestack Series (The Calling Double IPA, Tell-Tale Tart Sour Ale, and the Imperial Stout) that should cost you about $20 if you can get your hands on it.

The Real McCoy 5 Year Old Rum ($26): A tasty range of dried fruits (mango, pineapple, papaya) on the palate are complemented by the flavors from the ex-Bourbon casks used to mature the rum. Vanilla and brown sugar come through, but the finish is nutty and spicy...it's like drinking French toast!