An early tasting of Quimbaya with the Real Rum Experience

I spent Wednesday evening with Real Rum Experience for their first event of the year, and I can’t believe it’s now heading into its third already!

We were given an early look at the Quimbaya Rum range, tasting through several expressions months before they are expected to arrive in the UK later this year.

Quimbaya is described as the first rum to be entirely grown, distilled and aged in Colombia. The distillery brings more than seventy years of experience in brandy production, with the past eight years focused on rum following changes to the country’s sugar monopoly laws.

The evening began with an Old Fashioned made using the Quimbaya Artesenal while everyone arrived and settled in. From there, Nathan Picciotto spent some time unpacking the impact of the “Ley de Panela”, which allows producers to work more directly with traditional sugar mills. Tasting both panela and its syrup alongside the rums helped ground the conversation, particularly as he spoke about Quimbaya’s work with five local mills, with the aim of returning more of that value to the communities involved in growing and processing the cane.

We started with the Silver at 38% ABV. Aged for 5 months before being carbon filtrated.

The nose was very bright & floral with some creamy vanilla and spices. Whilst the palate was very soft (almost muted) that slowly developed to give citrus and a medicinal note.

Next up was the Gold – a 4 year, molasses, column still rum (also 38%)

The nose offered foam banana sweets, almonds and some caramel. The palate had a smoothness I associate with being sweetened (despite no dosage) with caramel, vanilla and almonds. Personally this was too sweet and too low ABV for me.

The Artisanal followed (the last of the bottles due to hit the UK market this year). This is a 40.7% ABV rum aged for 18 months in new French oak.

Nose: Incredibly whisky-ish with light smoke, mash (not the potato), peaches, limes and honey.

Palate: Initially honey sweetness that is cut through with a sharp, bright fresh note. There’s a very pleasant richness and depth to this that made it my favourite of the 3.

The standout for me was a 23 month old rum, bottled at 60% ABV, aged in casks that had previously held brandy before being used for wine and, finally, rum. It showed a moreish, complex profile with notes of dark roast coffee, a gently wine-like texture, and hints of plum and date.

It was a really enjoyable evening, and a good opportunity to spend some time with something still taking shape, while catching up with familiar faces.

More Real Rum Experience events are due to be announced very soon, and having had a sneak peak at what’s coming up, there are definitely quite a few worth keeping an eye out for.