El Colon - excellent rum with many good edges - by Rum Blogger Jan Ohrt Ron Colon

Rum blogger Jan Ohrt recalls his trip to El Salvador last year and his encounter with surprisingly good rum that is definitely not like the others. Two new variants from this young rum house are currently being launched in Denmark and we can certainly look forward to them. Bienvenido a Sivar!

Post by Jan Ohrt
El Salvador is a small country in Central America, not much bigger than Jutland, with breathtaking scenery, a long sweeping coastline to the Pacific Ocean and a whole lot of sweet and friendly people. This is despite the fact that both they and the country have been plagued by a 12-year civil war and then a very high rate of gang crime, terror, violence and murder. However, these unflattering statistics are rapidly improving, perhaps due to massive new funding for the police that has resulted in thousands of arrests, many of them unfortunately somewhat random and on flimsy grounds. The result, however, is that many countries' foreign services have relaxed their warnings and believe that tourists can now travel reasonably safely. Of course, you still shouldn't flash your smartphone and gold watch too much when taking an evening stroll in some of the capital's more inflamed neighborhoods, but the same applies to certain places in Copenhagen and the surrounding area.

The country excels in two more areas, growing both coffee and sugar cane, which many believe to be world-class. Which naturally means that they also make rum. Salvadorans themselves are most proud of brands like Cihuatan and understandably so, they make excellent rum. But because the raw materials are so abundant and of such high quality, several new and quite funky producers are popping up around the country and one of the newest is called Ron Colon, named after the country's former currency, which was then named after the man who discovered America, Cristobal Colon. Those of us who don't speak Spanish call him Christopher Columbus.

It all started in 2018 when two good friends from California, Thurman Wise and Pepijn Janssens, went on a 22-day bar cruise to Central America, ended up in El Salvador and, like me, fell in love with what they saw and experienced. They were both already working in the industry at the time and when they were excited by the quality of the country's two most recognized commodities, they immediately thought, we need to make a rum with coffee. They contacted Jags Head Coffee Farms and the aforementioned Licorera Cihuatan and within a relatively short time, their first product was launched: Ron Colon Salvadoreno Coffee Infused Rum. It is available in two strengths, high proof 55.5% and a milder version of 40.5% and I love them both. Other new flavors have quickly appeared from Ron Colon, such as Rumzcal 33/66, which consists of 1/3 Mezcal and 2/3 Ron Colon and certainly another one they call RCS Red Banana.

And I have been lucky enough to be invited to a small sneak preview:

Ron Colón Salvadoreño Red Banana Oleo Rum 40,5%.
In El Salvador, a banana is not just a banana, they exist and are grown in a sea of varieties and one of them is called banana rojo, a little red cousin full of vitamins and antioxidants that is also planted on coffee plantations to provide shade for the beans. Since Ron Colon had been successfully playing with drink combinations of their classic dark rum and an oleo saccharum infused with banana rojo for a long time, they found it natural to go all out and create a finished rum based on these themes.

Firstly, don't be fooled by the purple colored bottle, I think it was chosen to stand out on the bar shelves. A little too Ibiza for my taste, but whatever. The contents are a beautiful amber gold with good viscosity and the nose is immediately hit by a captivating and sweet tropical aroma with fresh sugar cane and banana in the foreground. The taste is super-rich on banana and caramel, giving you a hint of coffee and sweet berries as well as a little funk from the traditional pot-still in the background. The finish is pleasantly long, sweet and distinct.

Ron Colón Salvadoreño Rumzcal 49.5%
Some of us have toyed with the idea of combining good rum with good tequila and it's not an easy exercise at all. The trick is to find the perfect balance so that the taste of baked agave doesn't become too dominant and overpower the fine and delicate nuances of the rum. Ron Colon seems to have succeeded. With a careful blend of their dark barrel-aged rum and the renowned Maguey Espadin Mezcal in the right ratio, they have achieved a unique expression of flavor and aroma, bringing together the best of El Salvador and authentic Mexico.

The color is slightly clear golden with a medium structure. The aroma immediately gives you a sense of where we're heading, rich with tropical earth and smoke from the baked agave without ever overpowering the fruity sweetness at the back of the nose.

On the palate, it continues with a fine balance of charcoal and a little smoke, rounded out beautifully with the natural and innate nuances of the rum. The finish is long, warm and pleasant with a good tropical feel.

Also try the Mezcaloni cocktail:
1/3 Ron Colon RumZcal
1/3Amaro Averna Bitter
1/3 Silvio Carta Vermouth

Relaterede produkter

Ron Colon Salvadoreno Coffee Infused High Proof Rum 70 cl 55,5%

EUR 45,50

Ron Colon Salvadoreno 33/66 Rumzcal 70 cl 49.5%

EUR 49,75

Ron Colon Salvadoreno Red Banana Oleo Rum 70 cl 40.5%

EUR 49,75

Ron Colon Salvadoreno RumRye 100 Proof Rum 70 cl 50%

EUR 48,50