Review #70: Angostura No. 1 Oloroso Sherry
It’s always fun to try interesting cask finished rums, although with the exception of Foursquare, I can’t say that I’ve been a huge fan of the unusual cask maturation. The Angostura No. 1 sounded excellent – I love Oloroso Sherry finished whiskies, and I figured the same would carry over to rum. The rum was released in late fall 2018, joining the Cask Collection of first fill bourbon 2013 and a French oak in 2015. 16,200 bottles were made.
The press releases for the rum have been pretty superlative: “[it is] a masterwork, a one-of-a-kind rum that reaches the highest achievement in the rum world – an exquisite roundness and smoothness without sacrificing personality,” says Angostura’s Chief Executive Officer, Genevieve Jodhan.
- Score - 6.5/106.5/10
Overall
Tasting Notes
Nose: Funky oloroso, pickled raisins, rich demerara syrup, molasses, unmistakably Angostura
Palate: Soft vanilla oak note, mahogany juice, vanilla extract, reminds me a bit of Kavalan, dark prunes, blackberries, salty, gingerbread cookies, limes, sugary demerara
Finish: Dry raisin at back palate, black pepper at the end and salt
Summary
Overall: 6.5/10. We wished there were less dosage – and more time aging in the Oloroso sherry casks. 9 months is NOT enough.
Bought for: $34/pour ($106.50 MSRP)
Quick overview of our scoring system. Note that we try to give a “5” for an average whisky, which is lower than standard whisky scoring guides (typically around 80).
Additional Information
- Column still
- ABV: 40%
- Cask: Oloroso sherry
- Age: 9 months
About Angostura
- Trinidad and Tobago distillery famous for its bitters and is the only remaining distillery in Trinidad
- The company moved from Venezuela to Trinidad in 1875 due to taxes
- Started ageing sourced rum sometime after originally being founded to produce bitters (their bitters are 44% alcohol and distilled from cane sugar, so it is basically a rum) before starting a distillery in 1947
- Uses its own yeast (same strain since 1947)
- Is also well-known for its famously tall stills (its standard distilling process goes through all 5 of its tall stills, which are up to 5 stories tall)
