Panama sits steaming between two oceans, and inside the warehouses the heat never clocks off. No cold winters, no pauses. Here the rum moves from barrel to barrel in a pyramid of casks where the oldest layer is never emptied and the youngest never stands alone. What comes out sits in a heavy decanter with a postage stamp drawn onto the glass.
Expert's description
Rum Nation Panama Release Solera 18 Years is a Panama Rum aged in a sistema solera of ex-Bourbon casks and wine casks and bottled at 40%. It belongs to Rum Nation's Single Domaine range, where the country appears on the label but the distillery never does.
The rum is distilled from molasses in a column still, and the age should be read as a solera figure. In a sistema solera the casks are topped up from below, so the oldest rum in the system has spent up to 18 years in wood while every bottle holds a blend of vintages. The method is best known from Sherry and Brandy de Jerez, and it gives a different consistency batch to batch than a straight age statement does.
The ex-Bourbon casks lay down vanilla, coconut and light caramel. The wine casks pull it towards dried fruit, orange peel and a gentle tannic edge that keeps the sweetness from running away with itself. At 40% it is soft and easy-going, and tropical maturation has given it more colour and wood than the years alone would suggest.
Rum Nation was founded in 1999 by Italian Fabio Rossi in Treviso, who already ran the whisky bottler Wilson & Morgan. The idea came to him in Scotland, where he kept stumbling over old rum casks in whisky brokers' warehouses. In 2018 the brand was bought by Danish Mac Y. This expression later arrived in the angular decanter with its pale blue gift box.
Tasting notes
Nose
Honey and vanilla first, then dark chocolate and a little roasted coffee. Behind it sit orange peel, dates and a dry woody note from the casks.
Palate
Soft and light in body. Molasses sweetness, caramel and coconut, then chocolate and a touch of liquorice. Orange and raisin arrive late, alongside a mild peppery spice.
Finish
Short to medium. The sweetness drops away and leaves oak, a hint of bitterness and a dry spiced tail.
Specifications
Name: Rum Nation Panama Release Solera 18 Years Rum 40%
Bottler: Rum Nation
Region/Country: Panama
Type: Panama Rum
Age: Up to 18 years
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Cask type: Ex-Bourbon casks and wine casks in a sistema solera
Distillation method: Column distilled
Edition: Single Domaine
EAN no.: 8033749406316
Serving suggestion: Neat at room temperature in a tulip-shaped glass, or over a single large ice cube
Flavour profile
Sweet · Cask-aged · Chocolate · Vanilla · Soft
Did you know?
Fabio Rossi collected postage stamps as a boy. That is why the entire Rum Nation range carries a stamp motif from the country the rum comes from, and on the Panama release it is drawn straight into the glass of the decanter.
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