I don’t think it is a secret around these parts that I enjoy rum. By no means do I consider myself a rum aficionado, but I do appreciate all of its incarnations. So, recently, when I was offered the change to try a new rum, I thought, “Self, you should try this new rum.”
What I received was a bottle of Rubi Rey Reserve Rum. It is a white rum, clocking in at 86 proof. The main characteristic that sets Rubi Rey apart from other white rums is that it is a “single barrel finished white rum” being aged in white oak barrels.
Before going further, I think this “single barrel finished white rum” language is very important to parse and distinguish. The language the producers are using conjure up images of single barrel whiskeys and bourbons; Fine old spirits that are bottled from a single barrel after years of interplay between the spirit, the wood and the angels. Rubi Rey is aged in white oak barrels for two to three years before being blended into a final barrel. This is an important distinction because, truth be told, I cannot consider this to be a “single barrel” rum in the way their marketing touts. In my mind, a “single barrel” rum would be a rum that was aged in the white oak for two to three years, then cut to a desired proof and bottled. In contrast, Rubi Rey ages the rum in barrels and then blends them. This blend is placed in a barrel. The length that it stays in this finishing barrel is no where mentioned. This language concerned me because with the packaging (a pretty cool bottle - see picture below) and high-falutin’ single barrel talked screamed “expensive bottle ahead.” After a little internet searching, I found that Rubi Rey retails for about $20 per 750ml. Whew! That’s a price I can live with! But all this aside, how does it taste?
I first sipped the rum straight. It had a nice smooth mouth feel with a bit of viscosity with a bit of a tingle going down. The nose was of cut grass, caramelized sugar, vanilla and bannana with a bit of alcohol. The flavor was of a mellow white rum with a little spice, a hint of the vanilla and pepper and on the back end, that mellow oakiness I can only equate to a chardonnay wine. I then added a little ice and let the the rum cool down. This brought out the “rum” aroma much more than before but also took away the slight alcohol burn exhibited when drank straight. The oak was still there, but it too had mellowed.
On to a cocktail! I had just recently found the recipe for a cocktail called the Nacional. It called for white rum and apricot brandy. Well, I had the Rubi Rey, but alas no apricot brandy. But I did have pear brandy. So I made a bit of a substitution that looked like this:
1.50 oz white rum (Rubi Rey)
0.75 oz pear brandy (Rothman & Winter Orchard Pear)
1.00 oz lime juice
0.75 oz simple syrup
2 dashes peach bitters
Shake everything with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
I really liked this drink. The Rubi Rey gave a nice backbone to the delicate pear brandy and the lime juice gave it a nice bracing tartness. The peach bitters brought out the citrus I was detecting in the rum and highlighted the pear very nicely. It was a really nice drink. But there is a downside. Using Rubi Rey, the oakiness that is one of the hallmarks of the rum disappears completely. The oak flavor in the rum simply isn’t strong enough to withstand other strong flavors such as lime juice. My buddy Luke, who also tried the rum and really liked it, made a cocktail with lemon and lime juice, simple syrup, orange bitters and soda water. The Rubi Rey was very tasty in his experiment as well, but again, the oak was completely washed out.
So, enough jabbering Marshall, what’s the verdict? I do have reservations about the use of “single barrel” as a marketing ploy, as I think it leads to the wrong conclusions. But overall, I think Rubi Rey is a nice white rum. It seems to be too mellow and nuanced for a mixing rum though. There are other white rums on the market that provide a bigger flavor at the same price point (or cheaper) for you to use in mixed drinks. That said, I think Rubi Rey is much more suited as a sipper rum. If you haven’t tried sipping rums straight, Rubi Rey would be an excellent choice for the price - especially for a white sipper.
