Top 30 Rums Countdown # 23 – Flor de Caña Centenario 12 Year Old

Flor de Caña has a history of rum production which is dated to 1890 at the San Antonio Sugar Mill, in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua. The company was founded by Francisco Alfredo Pellas and today, over 120 years later, the company is still headed by the fifth generation of the Pellas family. It has grown to be not only one of Central America’s leading brands of rum, it is also one of the most recognized rum brands in the world.

# 23 – Flor de Caña Centenario 12 Year Old

“… In those breezes are lovely scents of walnut shells and pecans, sticky sweet caramel and honey, rich baking spices (especially cinnamon, cloves, allspice and vanilla), and a nice firm but mellow oakiness which is quite lovely. I receive a distinct impression of richness with nice accents of chocolate caramel, light dabs of cola and a moderately spicy tobacco which drifts upwards to add character to the overall aroma…”

I love this rum, and when my friends and I were doing are tasting sessions, I was quite happy to learn that the loved it too. Our affection translated to position number 23 on my Best Rums of the World Countdown!

Revisiting Flor de Caña Rum

When I opened my website, my absolute favourite rums were the 7 and 12-year-old rums of Flor de Caña. And my initial scores for these two rums reflected that love affair. When I want to kick back and enjoy a nice drink, either one fits the bill nicely. However; I have noticed that my yearning for each of these rums has dimmed lately. Other sexy new rums have come across my palate, and I reach for the Flor de Caña less and less.

This Autumn, (as a treat for the Canadian Thanksgiving) my wonderful wife picked me up a new bottle of each knowing how I had raved about each of them in the past, and that night I opened the Seven Year Old and had a nice drink over ice. I noticed then (but I did not mention it to my wife) that the flavour wasn’t quite as I remembered it. I do not know if the rum has changed, or if after three years of reviewing rum, my perceptions and standards had changed. There was only (in my mind) one thing to do. I revisited each rum in my private tasting room (and with my friends on another day), and I rewrote my tasting notes and scores. From these I cobbled together two new reviews for my website.

I should point out before anyone gets concerned, that despite the changes I found, each rum still pleases me immensely. The Rums of Flor de Caña are still amongst my favourites. Here are the links to each of the new reviews:

Review: Flor de Caña Grand Reserve 7 Year

Review: Flor de Caña Centenario 12 YR Old Rum

Review: Flor De Cana Centenario Gold 18 Year Old Rum

I published my original review of the Flor De Cana Centenario Gold 18 Year Old Rum almost three years ago, and as part of that review I published what I feel is one of my very best cocktails, the El Padrino. (My friend forrest helped me with the cocktail.)  As I do sometimes, I recently re-visited the Flor de Cana 18 Year Old to see if my opinion had changed any over three years. The result was perhaps a more rounded review with a slight difference in the scoring, although my overall opinion did not really change.

Flor de Caña has a history of rum production which is dated to 1890 at the San Antonio Sugar Mill, in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua. The company was founded by Francisco Alfredo Pellas and today, over 120 years later, the company is still headed by the fifth generation of the Pellas family. It has grown to be not only one of Central America’s leading brands of rum, it is also one of the most recognized rum brands in the world.

According to the company website all of the Flor de Caña rum is produced with molasses from sugar cane harvested in fields adjacent to the distillery in Chichigalpa. It is distilled in a continuous column still process, and then laid down to age in small American white oak barrels in traditional aging warehouses built without air conditioning in an undisturbed environment.

Here is an excerpt from the review;

“… The immediate nose is full of oak and baking spices, some zesty orange peel, vanilla, and dry fruit. The spicy oak makes the nose seem lightly harsh, and as the rum breathes, I begin to sense glimmers of toasted hazelnut and pecans wafting into the air. The oak builds bringing even more spice into the breezes above the glass… “

Here is a link to my re-visited review:

Please enjoy the review and the great cocktail provided.

Cheers!

Review: Flor de Caña Extra Dry 4 Year Old Rum

Flor de Caña has a history of rum production which is dated to 1890 at the San Antonio Sugar Mill, in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua. The company was founded by Francisco Alfredo Pellas and today, over 120 years later, the company is led headed by the fifth generation of the Pellas family. It has grown to be not only one of Central America’s leading brands of rum, it is also one of the most recognized rum brands in the world.

According to the company website all of the Flor de Caña rum is produced with molasses from sugar cane harvested in fields adjacent to the distillery in Chichigalpa. It is distilled five times in a continuous column still process, and then laid down to age in small American white oak barrels in traditional aging warehouses built without air conditioning in an undisturbed environment.

The subject of this review, the Flor de Caña Extra Dry 4 Year Old Rum is a clear aged rum meant for premium cocktails and mixed drinks. I was given a bottle for review by the local distributor, The Kirkwood Group.

Here is an excerpt from my review:

“… The initial scents rising into the breezes above the glass reminded me of a very light caramel molasses. I gave the glass a bit of a swirl, and this brought up a rush of astringency into the air, but once this initial astringency passed, I noticed some very nice complex aromas which included banana peel and butterscotch were left behind… “

You may read the full review here:

I have included a couple of nice cocktails recipes with the review, the Lemon Muddled Cuba Libra, and Red Sky at Night.

Please enjoy the review and the two cocktails provided!

Review Revisted: For de Cana Grand Reserve 7 yr old Rum

I mentioned at the start of the new year that I would be revisiting some of my first reviews. When I opened this website I initially published 26 rum reviews that I had previously posted or published on other websites. Some of these reviews were rather amateurish and as I have grown as a reviewer it seemed to me to more fair to these spirits if I would revisit them, and do another series of tastings based upon the knowledge I have acquired to date. This is the first of these revisited reviews.

Flor de Cana Grand Reserve 7 yr old Rum

First a little background on the company responsible for this great rum:

For five generations beginning in 1890, the Pellas family has produced rum in Nicaragua.  The first distillery in was built in Chichigalpa at the San Antonio sugar mill.

The  Compania de Licorera de Nicaragua was created in 1937 as separate company within the Sugar Plantation to market and sell the rum abroad and the Flor de Cana brand was born. Today the company boasts some of the largest aged stocks of rum in the world, and with its unique “slow aged” process produces some of the finest rums in the world.

There are a few reasons why I believe For de Cana has to some degree separated themselves from the field in the production of rum.  The first is the source of sugar cane which is in the fields next to their plantation. Having a ready supply of cane for molasses, which they control, means not buying from third parties who may or may not be consistent in their standards of production.   The second is the small white oak barrels used for aging the premium rums.  Smaller barrels give the rum fuller contact with the wood during aging allowing the oak to more fully impart its flavour to the rum.  These barrels are additionally topped up to full each year with stocks of rum which are the same age as the rum already in the barrel, again ensuring more rum to wood contact.  The third reason is the honest age statements on their bottles of rum.  Flor de Cana clearly label their bottles with an age statement which recognizes the youngest rum in the blend, not the oldest. This practice flies in the face of competing brands who like to place an age statement on the bottle recognizing the oldest rum in the blend.

I should point out that the Compania de Licorera de Nicaragua is also a leader in producing their products in a most efficient and environmentally friendly manner.  Carbon dioxide emissions from the production of rum are captured and used in the production of carbonized beverages; the plantation utilizes an extensive recycling program for cardboard, metal, glass and paper; and the plant produces electricity for other industrial uses in their processing of the sugar cane.

As for the rum itself,  here is my revised review:

Review: Flor de Caña Grand Reserve 7yr Old

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Note:  The research for this article utilized three major sources:

1) The Flor De Cana Website

2) The Paramous Post, Flor de Cana Rum of Nicaragua , written by Mel Fabricant, Feb 25 2009.

3) Wikipedia, Flor de Cana

Rum Review: Flor de Cana Centenario Gold 18

Sometimes it is really good to have friends!  In this case my friend is a chap named forrest who has a really nice blog of his own called “a drink with forrest“.  You see forrest and I talk a bit together on the Ministry of Rum Website.  We email a bit and chat a bit and to be honest I learn a lot more from him than he learns from me.  I’m pretty good at giving an honest review on a product, and have a some skill in writing it up, but when it comes to cocktails and such, sometimes I need a little help.  This is where forrest comes in.  I asked him  for on opinion of a cocktail I was building for the Flor de Cana 18.  Well, forrest tweaked it, and the El Padrino was born.  I have been enjoying them regularly ever since.   So I suggested to forrest that we should kind of do a write up on FDC18 and the cocktail at the same time.  Him on his site and me on mine.  He agreed and we now have the first of what I hope will be many joint ventures.  To read my review of Flor de Cana 18 just click the following link:

Review: Flor de Cana Centenario Gold 18 Year Old Rum

At the end of the review is the cocktail crafted by forrest and myself as well as a link to forrest’s write up on the same rum with his explanation of the cocktail.

I hope everyone enjoys the joint venture.