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Flor de Caña 4 Añejo Oro
About Flor de Caña 4 Añejo Oro
Flor de Caña 4 Añejo Oro is produced by Flor de Caña, a family-owned company based in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua. Founded by the Italian-Nicaraguan Pellas family in 1890, Flor de Caña runs it’s production process at the base of the San Cristóbal volcano – a particularly fertile area of land. Their marketing boasts of a sustainable operation, and they’ve certainly got the certifications to back it up! Their rum is carbon neutral certified due to a number of measures that are too numerous to list out here (but you can read more about on the official website). They are also Fair Trade Certified, and seem to go above and beyond on labor issues – even going so far as to provide free healthcare and schooling for employee’s families.
All of their rums are produced from sugar cane juice from sustainably sourced sugar cane, distilled five times, and aged in white oak barrels. The final products are all made without any added sugar. This particular 4 Añejo Oro is aged 4 years prior to bottling.
Bottle Specs
❖ ABV: 40%
❖ Distillery: Flor de Caña Distillery
❖ Aging: 4 years
❖ Price Point: Low priced
Tasting Notes
Nose:
❖ vanilla
Palate:
❖ toasted coconut
❖ wood
❖ dry finish
My Tasting notes
As I began to sniff out the nose notes, I found that the woodiness came out strong at first. As I continued, the aromas became sweeter with a hint of vanilla. Overall, the nose notes are very vibrant and dynamic. It felt like the aroma was changing every second – but altogether was sweet, fresh, and woody.
I took my first sip and found it to be very strong, with a finish of vibrant vanilla. Surprisingly, I found that the next few sips didn’t really mellow out or make it easier to detect flavor notes – something that usually happens during tastings. It was a bit difficult to pick out any flavor notes other than the vanilla. Overall, the most prominent flavor note was alcohol. This rum was a bit too strong for my taste to drink straight or on the rocks.
Cocktail
For my cocktail, I was in the mood for something a bit tropical. I decided to try out a classic Painkiller, which has a nice balance of fruity flavors.
PAINKILLER
❖ 2 oz gold rum
❖ 4 oz pineapple juice
❖ 1 oz orange juice
❖ 1 oz cream of coconut
❖ garnish: grated nutmeg
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- Add the ingredients to a shaker with ice, and shake until chilled.
- Strain the mixture into a cocktail glass filled with crushed ice.
- Garnish the top with grated nutmeg.
Inside of a cocktail, Flor de Caña was very smooth and virtually undetectable. It was difficult to even pick out the flavor notes of the rum against the pineapple juice.
I had mixed feelings about my cocktail. On the one hand, not being able to taste the alcohol in a drink is a huge bonus in some circumstances. However, I would also expect a gold rum like this to add a little more depth and flavor.
Bottom Line
RATING: 3/5
This bottle of Flor de Caña 4 Añejo Oro didn’t really wow me, even though I have generally positive feelings about it. At the end of the day, I think the main selling point of this rum is the smooth tastelessness. It excels at being undetectable inside a delicious cocktail, which is great for people who don’t really like the taste of alcohol. As much as people make fun of folks who cover alcohol flavor with mixers in this way, I personally think it’s a perfectly valid preference.
That said – for a gold rum aged for this long, I would expect a bit more depth of flavor. I would only recommend this rum for cocktails, and certainly not for drinking on the rocks.
Regarding Flor de Caña as a company, I was very impressed reading about their efforts towards environmental sustainability and labor rights. Seeing how far ahead of the curve they are on these issues really did affect my feelings about the Flor de Caña 4 Añejo Oro. If you’re someone who prefers the taste of your liquor to be covered up by mixers, why not choose a bottle with a carbon neutral footprint? You’ll probably be paying a few extra dollars compared to the ubiquitous cheap rum brands such as Bacardí. But – if you stop and think about all those employees who are actually getting proper benefits from producing the rum, the price doesn’t seem that bad at all!
At the end of the day, this rum is amazing for the niche audience described above, but will unfortunately not be for everyone.
As always, drink responsibly.
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