Click here Helena Tiare Olsen of 'Cocktail & Spirits Online Writers Group' ~ Fabulous Review
Ron Los Valientes 20 year old, Mexico.
Sometimes it's just a joy to be sitting here doing this, today is one of those days. I have in my maw a healthy
slug of Ron Los Valientes 20 year old, charged as I am with telling you about it..
From within the province of Veracruz in eastern Mexico, the Villanueva family has been producing fine spirits for
three generations. Veracruz, and specifically the town of Cordoba, has been famous for it's sugar cane for 500 years
and it's both the juice and molasses from this local cane that goes into the small batch production of the Los
Valientes range...The slow fermented juice from the Veracruz cane is double distilled in pot-stills, with only the
corazon taken from the second distillation, this is then blended with column distilled, fast fermented, molasses from
the same crop. The 70:30 juice to molasses ratio should tell you something of the delights that await..
The 20 year old, numbered and signed by the cellar master, is a deep copper red number with soft, distinct legs that
seem to ooze down the glass where other spirits simply adhere to the laws of gravity...A nose of sweet, mellow
pungency, rich in oily phenols, hints at dried fruits, treacle, chocolate and nutmeg. The extended barrel ageing on
the Caribbean coast is reminisced with a strong liquorice backbone and nutty char...If the nose is a valiant one,
a brave fighter of 1910, then the palate is a different animal altogether. The 43% abv is immediately evident as an
intensely unctuous and spirited spicy clove and bitter almond flavour dominates a medium sweet body. It's a sharp
bite that drives a complex character and the Greek is a big fan of adding a splash of spring water to placate the
eugenol driven spice. Uprising quelled there are beautiful dark chocolate and hazelnut notes to savour...The
surprisingly restrained and refined palate is thanks to a counter-intuitive approach to ageing whereby much larger,
180 gallon, white oak barrels are used to avoid exaggerating the ageing influence and afford the finished spirit a
more sophisticated, lighter, dare I say ethereal quality than many Caribbean aged counterparts...There's a strong kick,
as you might expect, from Los Valientes, but it's balanced and well structured, perhaps a result of the charcoal, cotton and
compacted cellulose filtration and almost certainly courtesy of the exclusive selection of the beating Mexican heart of the
cane juice distillate...With a 10, 15 and 20 year old in the range (a 25 year old has been hinted at) there may be more
evolution than revolution going on in Veracruz these days but Los Valientes rums are enough to make you want to fire off a
Springfield and grow a moustache. I may be some time.....Los Valientes is available from Bibendum. for more details contact
wlowe@bibendum-wines.co.uk
For three generations, the Villanueva family has hand produced fine spirits from in the town of Cordoba, within the coastal province of Veracruz.
Since the middle of the XVI century Veracruz has been famous for its sugar cane plantations, first introduced to America by the Spanish Conquistadores.
Rum was one of the most popular beverages that were consumed in the XVI century although production and consumption was prohibited during the Spanish Dominion, a few did secretly carry on the art of Rum production...
The name Los Valientes (the Valient Ones) is in honour of the brave fighters of the Mexican Revolution ...
This unique Rum is made from a blend of Veracruz sugar-cane juice mixed with the finest molasses and natural yeasts selected from the Veracruz region. The Rum is then double distilled in pot stills in small batches, followed by charcoal filtration & finally aged in American white antique barrels, in the humid tropical Caribbean climate.
The 10-year and 15-year are produced at 40% vol, and the 20-year is produced at 43% vol. Each 20 y.o. bottle is numbered and hand-signed by the Cellar Master, to denote his responsibility and pride in his work.
'Los Valientes' is a range of rums emanating from the Mexican Coastline of the Caribbean.
Of course stocks of aged rums are not unlimited and by definition, the 20 year old rum is especially rare.
Salud y Suerte !
(PS for those with a care for the natural world, it may please you to know that $1 US is donated by us to the Save the Great White Shark Fund which is actually in grave danger, due to over fishing of this much maligned species of shark. )
Nick of the I P Bartenders Group
