Style: Column distilled, aged rum
Age: Undisclosed
Proof: 90 (45% ABV)
Region: Dominican Republic

Brugal has just released their latest premium rum, the first edition of the Colección Visionaria. To craft this rum, Brugal took French oak barrels and used a unique process to season them with a heightened chocolate aroma. The barrels were filled with cacao beans and then charred, imparting the barrels with the essence of roasted cacao. The rum is first aged in ex- bourbon casks in the warm, Caribbean climate of the Dominican Republic and is then finished in these treated barrels. So how does the toasted cacao barrels actually affect the rum as it ages? Find out below.

Tasting notes

On the nose, the Colección Visionaria presents a bouquet of vanilla, and mango with a hint of dark chocolate. The cacao used to toast the barrels definitely doesn’t overpower this rum. The palate is creamy with rich notes of vanilla, a bit of ripe banana, dried fruit, and as expected, more chocolate. The finish is a bit short, but satisfying with cacao, vanilla, and caramel being the most prevalent flavors followed up by a hint of mango juice and cinnamon.

Final thoughts

The unique barrel toasting technique may suggest that this rum might taste like a chocolate-infused spirit, but that is not the case at all with this edition of Brugal’s Colección Visionaria. The essence imparted by the chocolate-seasoned barrels is present throughout this rum, but it never dominates and is rarely in the forefront. What it does is add a satisfying degree of complexity to the spirit. This sipping rum stands on its own. The chocolate nuance would likely become lost in any cocktail other than perhaps an Old Fashioned, but it would pair beautifully sipped neat with some fresh fruit, dark chocolate, or perhaps even a fine cigar.