Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva Rum, 70 cl, 40 percent

Product Information

On the front is the label, sporting the illustrated portrait of a fabled noble Venezuelan adventurer and rum aficionado named Don Juancho. The man is a complete fabrication — a legend — but the image is striking and appealing, looking with the rest of the label like a large postage stamp. It’s a great design that I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere else, besides maybe something similar from Few Spirits in Chicago. Directions: Pour lime juice into a glass with ice cubes, then add ginger beer. Add rum to create layered effect. Stir if desired and garnish with a lime.

Moreover, DUSA has a treatment plant of more than 4 hectares, with two Anaerobic Digesters with 9 million m³ each, where the vinasse is processed. The vinasse from cereals after its fermentation is turned into feed for cattle due to its high level of protein.

Closing Thoughts

Tradition range: Planas (aged up to 6 years and bottled at 47% ABV), Mantuano (aged up to 8 years and bottled at 40% ABV), and Reserva Exclusiva (aged up to 12 years and bottled at 40% ABV). This big family of more than 800 employees is also led by what they named as the “perfect triplet”: José Ballesteros, President of DUSA and the head of the internationalization of Diplomático Rum; and two of his partners, Rolando Díaz and Humberto Arispe, both involved in the spirits business for many years, mainly focused on the technical and organizational tasks for the development of the brand. On this matter, Monsalve highlighted, “our most valuable capital is the human resource”. We tried five different iterations of the rum and lived to tell the tale. Without further ado, behold the ultimate Diplomático Rum taste test! Drink #1: Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva Rum (alone)

The Physical-Chemical Laboratory is the heart of the analysis of all elements involved in the production process. Raw material, alcohols, products in-process, and finished spirits are subjected to analysis in this laboratory where the quality standards established for each element are verified. Once approved, they pass to the Organoleptic or Tasting Laboratory where the sensory standards established are certified. On the other hand, the barrels are categorized by code, not by-product, which will be part of a specific formulation that will grant them the profiles to make each spirit. In this case, Monsalve said, “we do not age rums, we age formulas or codes to maintain the sensory profiles.” So while we may not have been our most eloquent selves at the end of the night, one thing was certain: we had finally found a rum that we all liked. Congratulations, Diplomático: you have five new rum fans on your hands.Once the alcohols have aged and different types of rums are born, blending begins. A group of award winners Maestros Roneros hand in hand with Maestros Catadores put their creativity to work to create the original recipes that are going to be used in the blending process. They are also the ones who guarantee their quality and reproducibility over time. Purple Ivy: The chartreuse is a little strong for me. I could use a really big ice cube in a square or a circle or a cylinder – wait, I mean a sphere. A sphere? Once the alcohols are in barrels, wood will act on the congeners that are part of the alcohol, and it will make them react. This is the exact moment new nomenclatures begin to form that eventually produce the smoothness, aromas, flavors, and color of rum as such.

On the nose: A persistent and pronounced punch of ethanol. It gives way to medium scents of pepperiness, canned peaches, honey and orgeat. Behind those are light scents of apricot, candied orange and banana syrup. Those sugary substances are added to water and fermented using a proprietary strain of yeast that is only used at this one distillery. The newly created alcoholic liquid is then distilled through a combination of column and pot stills to produce the raw white rum. At the plant, their Cogeneration System combines thermal and electrical energy, and compared to a normal distilling one, it considerably reduces fossil fuel consumption. In the Hacienda Botucal, they conduct a breeding project with more than 1,500 buffalos of the Murrah and Mediterranean breeds, including 550 breeding females for the production of milk and cheese. They also have a select herd of pure Brahman Cattle for breeding to offer quality alternatives to the breeders of the region. What has been explained so far answers us where the complexity of Diplomático comes from and what makes it unique. Considering the five distillation systems, different types of barrels, plus different years of aging, in the end, they obtain a nomenclature of more than 150 rums, from the lightest and youngest one to the darkest and most complex. BlendingAt DUSA, there are five distillation systems from where they obtain the alcohols that will be used as a base for rums and other liquors: On the nose: Medium scents of sweetened pimento dram, vanilla, muscovado syrup, cinnamon, maple syrup, oranges, milk chocolate, toffee and blood orange. The brand is also conducting specific actions nationally and internationally to extend its “ Distilled Consciously” program to teach how to create a more sustainable rum with Zero Waste in the production process. They are working with NGOs that fight against food waste, as well as to promote food collection, fundraising, and training workshops campaigns in the main markets they operate. Rum is becoming an increasingly interesting category. Super premium rum has grown at an annual rate of 17% over the last five years. In the late 1950’s, the Seagrams company managed to wrangle all of the production and distribution of spirits within the country of Venezuela into a single entity named Licorerias Unitas S.A. (LUSA), of which Seagram’s owned a 51% stake. In 1959, the Venezuelan company opened a new combined distillery that would be able to produce whiskey, rum, and other spirits to support this business.

I have nothing nice to say about the Barbet. Dull yet expensive. Avoid buying a full bottle at all costs. In comparison to toasting, which is a slow process that involves gently heating the barrel’s interior over an open flame, charring is a “fast burn”. It gives the barrel a burnt interior that confers darker colors and sweeter flavors to the rum. This cookie is set by Rubicon Project to control synchronization of user identification and exchange of user data between various ad services.

Drink #5: Bee’s Kiss

Everything this gives off is just sweet flavors. If I wanted to die of a sweetness overdose, it would be cheaper to chug maple syrup. Paying almost €41 for this one-dimensional, adulterated rum sounds ridiculous to me. Foursquare’s RL Seale 10 and the Appleton 12 are much better buys. They’re honest, cheaper and simply better. Score: 3/10 Diplomático’s Batch Kettle Still was shipped to La Miel (Venezuela) in 1959 by Seagram’s Int of Canada who was the owner of the operation until 2002. A generational work where different generations of local families have been part of the plant for decades, putting passion and heart into making rums. At this time, DUSA employs about 90% of the population of La Miel. At this point, there is no way to intervene or accelerate the process, it is only controlled in two ways: physical-chemical and sensory. Through an inventory survey conducted periodically as long as an aging curve analysis, they will know when the alcohol is ready to be extracted and blended, always following their aging criteria.