Don Q Gran Reserva Añejo XO Puerto Rican Rum – Review

 No Responses »
Jul 282025
 

It’s a peculiarity of the Don Q Gran Reserva Añejo XO, one of the last un-messed with editions of the Serralles Collection issued by the Puerto Rico firm of Destilería Serrallés, that the more specific details of the components aren’t actually on the label – one has to check the website to find out what makes it so special. Though it may just be so in the eyes of the producers, in this case they might actually be on to something.

Now, further up the line we start running into various finished editions (like the Vermouth, Cognac, Zinfandel and so on, plus stronger single barrel releases), but here we have a rum that plays it straight and doesn’t bother with any tweaks to make it different, or better, or unique.  It’s just a rum devoid of frippery, and had it been slightly cheaper, I would have seriously considered making it a Key Rum. 

It would seem that Destilería Serrallés took a look at their line and felt that to make the original a shade more premium they had to go a bit further than the 7YO or the original Gran Reserva (see below), and since they didn’t have a 12YO handy, this is what they come up with.

The original Gran Añejo is a rum that I tried and reviewed back in 2018 and scored 81 points based on a sample I had bought, but for my money, that one was an essay in the craft before they came up with the XO. For one thing, there was the upscale bottle design; too, it was simply called the “Gran Añejo” without further qualification, and back then it was a blend of rums aged 6-12 years old, with a smidgen of a 50 year old solera rum added in for depth. Fast forward a decade and now it’s the “Gran Añejo Reserva XO,” a bend of rums aged 9-12 years (still with some of that 50YO solera, however), and the bottle is not quite as elegant, though still quite nice. In both cases the rum is a column-still distillate from molasses, issued at a comfortable 40%. 

We’ve discussed the company and other background matters before in the recent Don Q reviews, so I won’t rehash them here. Let’s just proceed to the tasting notes right away.

What’s immediately noticeable about the nose is how perfumed, how fruity and floral it is. Ripe red cherries, grapes and dried cranberries meld seamlessly with light traces of lavender and citrus zest. Behind that lurk more traditional notes: vanilla, cinnamon, caramel and burnt marshmallows, with the whole thing also giving hints of crushed walnuts and a sort of salted butter aspect that’s far from unpleasant. It’s not quite leaps and bounds above the 7YO – both are hamstring by the easy proof point…but it is better.

The palate is no slouch either. Soft and well behaved, yes – we would hardly expect a face-ripping leopard to leap out of the glass at 40% – and also both briny and sweet, with the same fruity flavours of dark cherries, ripe red grapes and squishy Thai mangoes. We can also sense vanilla, those burnt marshmallows again, caramel, toffee, perhaps some used coffee grounds, harsh oversoaked black tea, all somehow tied together by a soft citrus zest that I for one, quite enjoyed. The finish is a real weak point, though – it’s just gone too quick, and most of the aforementioned notes, while discernible, are really too faint

It’s recognizably a Spanish (or Cuban) -style ron, a fine rum of softness and depth and good tasting chops, priced reasonably well.There’s enough going on inside to appeal to a more seasoned rum drinker, while pleasing those who are now getting into the game and are looking for something non-threatening to the tonsils and the purse. I have no reservations recommending it, whatever my issues are with standard proof (I really believe it wouldn’t hurt to bump it up to, say, 45%).

Still: of late I’ve been coming around somewhat to re-appreciating a swathe of such rons that stronger indie bottlings from other parts of the world have previously displaced from my mental map of the rumiverse. With several recent rums of the Spanish style (Bristol Spirits’ recent DR and Venezuela rums, for example, even if indie bottlings, show the potential), perhaps its time to give them some more love, a re-assessment, and some more appreciation. The XO is one reason why that statement can absolutely be said, and be meant. 

(#1125)(84/100) ⭐⭐⭐½

Other notes

Key Rums of the World: Destilería Serrallés Don Q Reserva 7YO Rum

 No Responses »
Jul 192025
 

Five years after its introduction, the Don Q Reserva 7YO rum from Puerto Rico has established itself as something of a quiet underground rum that is not usually recognized for its quality in the online rum fora – most of the time people skip over it to try the slightly older Gran Anejo, for example, or the single barrel release. And yet, it comes up for discussion quite often – rarely by itself, as itself, but usually as a comparator, something looked at with other rums of its kind (like the Bacardi Ocho, for one). 

It flies under the radar for most people, I think, perhaps being seen as a single digit rum that is best for a cocktail … but which I argue has a quality that is equally suited for an affordable sipping experience. Even at 40% ABV, and even with a (somewhat surprising) dearth of online reviews, the rum punches well above its weight, and if perhaps it does not make “best-of” lists as often as its more upscale, finished or single-barrel siblings, it is a rum that I genuinely believe is a quiet classic that deserves a revisit… at the very least more appreciation: for a home bar, a back bar, or, for that matter, just about any bar that stocks good rums.

For those who like a brief introduction, this is a rum made by Destilería Serrallés of Puerto Rico, which is the biggest seller of rums on the island, even if elsewhere it always seems ot be overshadowed by the brontosaurus of Bacardi, which is also located there (along with several other smaller distilleries, like Club Caribe and San Juan Artisan Distillers). And yet, the distillery has been around since 1865 and is a well regarded rum brand around the world, with its main and best known product being the Don Q series first issued in 1934 (others are Boca Chica, Palo Viejo, Ron Llave, and Granado, though these are much less famous — Don Q is the outward facing, more premium export brand).

Well, a couple of years back, I spent an inordinate amount of time at the German Rum festival’s Don Q booth with the estimable sales rep Duncan Hayter and his lovely assistant, and ran through their most of their line, hoping to get a sense of the evolution up the age ladder, and this resulted in the Gold and Cristal reviews which I’ve already done, with more to follow. The 7YO is a different animal, though – it is the first of the “more serious” aged offerings that leads to the fancy premium bottlings of the Serralles line and was introduced with some fanfare in 2020.

Technical details: it’s blend of multi-column distilled light rums and single copper column distilled heavy rums, which were aged for a minimum of seven years in American white oak barrels – no additions, no fancy finishes. My understanding is that the lighter component has a fermentation period of just under 48 hours, while the heavier portion is anywhere from 60 to 300 hours, which really makes me curious as to how much of each distillate is in the final blend.

The results speak for themselves: it’s damned fine. The nose is somewhat lacklustre at first – tawny, dusty, with notes of honey, caramel, and crushed nuts. It is a little dry, and very solid, which is admirable for the strength, and then , after a few minutes, it starts to pick up a head of steam. We sniff emergent light hints of cinnamon, dark chocolate, vanilla, almonds, breakfast spices, coffee grounds, even some, crackers, and a faint background of brine. The tannics are kept well back, which is good, since aged rons of this kind may occasionally display some bite from the barrel if not carefully tended.

The palate is also quite tasty. Reasonably warm rather than spicy, it shows off notes of chewy caramel toffee, bon bons, vanilla, light molasses, a sort of creamy Guiness, one might say. Brown sugar muskiness is cut by a mild citrus line, with caramel everpresent, and there is also an interesting background of pickled ginger (the palate cleanser of many a sushi joint I’ve been thrown out of), as well as Dr. Pepper soda, which is odd enough, I’ll grant you, but leading to a nice enough finish (too short, though) of coffee grounds, nuts, almonds, chocolate and caramel.

Initially, thinking back on it and rereading my notes, it seems somewhat straightforward, even simple. But as it opens up and develops, when the fruits and nuts make their appearance, its quality and place in memory start to get a whole lot greater.  And while the overall impression is perhaps somewhat wine-y and even reminiscent of a soda sometimes, it remains a very nice dram, and certainly has its adherents when it comes to making a cocktail like a daiquiri or an Old Fashioned (or whatever some creative mixologist can come up with)

For a rum that’s relatively young and sometimes overshadowed by the finishes and stronger proofs of the more heavily promoted premium and upscale rums of the company, it is really quite an enjoyable sipping experience. It is pleasantly affordable, gives bang for the buck and acts as a solid bridge between the younger mixing rums of the line, and the pricier Gran Anejo – I liked it a lot, even if I feel that a few extra points of proof could be useful, and would like to see more age statement rums from the company in the portfolio. But whether it’s at standard strength or not, the blend and the craft that made it are self-evident, and I believe it should receive more serious attention. Hopefully, as time goes on, this opinion will be justified by others, and the rum recognized more widely as a Key Rum which I contend it is, and it deserves to be.

(#1123)(83/100) ⭐⭐⭐

Other notes

Don Q 151 Overproof Puerto Rican Rum – Review

 No Responses »
May 182025
 

As I remarked in the Don Q gold rum review not too long ago, the Puerto Rican producer, Distileria Serrallés, has three tranches of rums in its portfolio, up and down the value chain. There is the “traditional” range which includes the Gold, the white Cristal … and today’s subject, the overproof 151. These are mixing agents of a little ageing and are quite affordable. Then there are some flavoured offerings I ignore, and after that everything is lumped into the “Serrallés Collection” which has some older offerings, a spiced rum (oddly enough), a single barrel or two and some that are a bit fancier, with finishes and secondary maturations and so on.

Whatever the type of rum that is being made, pretty much all of what they produce is short-fermentation, molasses-based, column-still product, with perhaps some pot still elements contained within to give some depth. The variations come from post-distillation barrel, blending and wood management, not earlier stages in the production process, which is par for Latin / Spanish style rons. 

Here, while I have little to go on, I think it’s safe to assume that it’s all column still. The rum was aged “up to” three years in ex-Bourbon barrels and is consistently made, so of course it’s a blend. Unfortunately the website doesn’t tell me much about anything else, such as, for example, whether they filtered it before bottling, or added a touch of colour. I guess we have to take it as it comes.

So, the nose: because it’s 75.5% ABV, letting it stand so as to burn off the alcohol fumes is a good idea – once that’s done, it starts off unexpectedly soft before turning into a snarling tiger of a rum. It has sharp and sweet notes of marshmallows, smores mixed up with a sort of dusty cardboard and peeling wallpaper scent. Fortunately this is somewhat redeemed by caramel, cherries, strawberries and light red fruits, and of course there is a touch of vanilla and smoke from the barrel coiling around in the background.

I can’t say the palate does much more than this.  The light fruits continue to be the dominant note, and of course at that strength one sips with care, nothing new here.  Still, there is a bit more here: light salt-caramel flavoured chocolate, breakfast spices and cinnamon to start, and also pears, cherries, vanilla and some candy floss.  The finish, as one might expect, is long and lasting, quite hot, sharp and raw, which I guess we can expect. So nothing too complicated that might make one reach for one’s tasting wheel, just enough to stop it from being boring or indifferent. 

It’s actually not bad at all for an overproof 151 that’s made for the back bar. So many 151s that I’ve tried tend to be rather indifferently made, with the strength standing in for, oh, I dunno, an actual taste profile – one always gets the impression they take a sort of masochistic pleasure in doing the wildcat-in-the-face thing, y’know? They’re raw and pestilential, sharp, strong and have little to recommend them beyond that, but a little patience with this one makes the subtler notes come out of the woodwork in a way that’s quite pleasing … after one adjusts one’s tonsils.

So, taken as it is, the Don Q 151 is surprisingly good when rated to that standard: not a throwaway by any means. It’s more like Serralles shrugged, gave a finger to the establishment and said We’ll make ours in our own way and let’s see if we can’t raise the bar a bit. It’ll never be a top flight rum, or a connoisseur’s must-have, me-wantee wet dream, no – but it’s a solid rum of better than expected quality that I wouldn’t mind having in my own collection to sip at or mix now and again

(#1120)(80/100) ⭐⭐⭐

Other notes

Don Q Gold Puerto Rican Rum – Review

 No Responses »
Oct 222024
 

Americans know the Puerto Rican company of Don Q quite well (it is named after Don Quixote, which always struck me as odd, but never mind), and are usually quite enthused with it since it’s an alternative to the ubiquitous Bacardi, as well as supplying them with another Cuban-style rum. Europeans on the other hand, know of the brand without being overwhelmed – they do, after all, have access to better tipple than most — and the rest of the world, I would imagine, falls somewhere in between.

Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on companies that at first sight seem to be aping Bacardi’s mass market appeal and rum-making style. Distileria Serrallés, after all, predates Bacardi on the island — the family patriarch was there since 1820 and his son produced Serrallés’s first rum in 1865 — and is considered to be the most popular rum in Puerto Rico. And the stuff they make regularly turns up on many lists of good rums to try, rums to start with, or to always have on the shelf.

Not too long ago I went through a fair bit of the company’s bottlings, so in this upcoming series of reviews, I’ll start low and work my way up. Today’s rum is simply called the Gold and is part of their “traditional” range which also includes the white Cristal and the stern overproof of the 151. After that everything except the flavoured range is lumped into the Serrallés Collection, but pretty much all of what they make is short-fermentation, molasses-based, column-still product. The variations come from post-distillation barrel and wood management, not earlier stages in the production process, which is par for Latin / Spanish style rons.

The Gold is a rum blended from components aged from 1½  to 5 years in ex bourbon barrels, and is bottled at a mild living room strength of 40% – in that sense it’s similar to the (filtered) Cristal, except that they note it’s been distilled to have more flavour (and then filtered). This suggests that they are using the first column of the 1934 Vendome still to producer a heavier aguardiente to blend into the final product, which makes sense.

But does that translate into a profile where this is evident? To some extent, yes – as long as expectations are tempered to begin with. Consider the nose — the website talks about “rummy flavours” (with all the usual additional superlative adjectives) but here, that’s pretty much what you’re getting. The majority of the aromas revolve around notes of caramel, toffee, vanilla, some cinnamon and a touch of oakiness – can a more standard rum profile be described? Even after standing for a while, there’s not a whole lot more, unless it’s some weakly aromatic light flowers and watery fruits…pears, mostly.

The way it tastes follows on from there. It’s similar to the nose perhaps a bit more tobacco and oak forward. The word that occurs to me is “bright” – it has a sort of scintillating sharpness to the way it tastes that is ameliorated by the easy strength, and the flavours are reasonably distinct: vanilla, toffee, salt caramel, not much more, except a very slight and sharp citrus line. And so the finish cannot be expected to provide more, and it doesn’t – it’s quick, light and gone in no time.

As a sipping rum, this is too thin and light to appeal, but of course it’s in a mix that it shines. It’s perhaps too much to expect a very young blended column still rum to wow my socks off – few Gold rums ever have. They tend to be mass-market mid- to low-range efforts: almost always blends, relatively young, very affordable, found just about everywhere. Their job is not to be a sipping agent but a basic bar staple, and their quality varies wildly. In this example, what we have is a rum I wouldn’t drink neat, one that hints at more upscale work elsewhere in the company’s stable: it has the glimmering of a complex nature that for itself, never quite comes to the fore.

(#1095)(78/100) ⭐⭐⭐

Other notes 

Don Q “Cristal” Puerto Rican Rum (1980s/1990s)

 1 Response »
Nov 252023
 

Rumaniacs Review R-160 | #1041

Few rum aficionados need me to elaborate either on Don Q, the “other” major distillery on the island of Puerto Rico which makes it, Puerto Rico itself and it’s peculiar status vis-a-vis the USA, or indeed, this rum. Any one of them is an essay in itself and can lead to any number of rabbit holes,

Let’s just stick to the basics, then. In brief: like Bacardi, Destilería Serrallés was founded by a Catalan emigre in the 1860s (the sugar plantation the Serrallés family first bought goes back three decades before that), though they lacked the global ambitions of the larger company’s operations and have stayed within Puerto Rico.  Don Q, named after Sancho Panza’s elderly sidekick, is the flagship brand of Destilería Serrallés with several expressions dating back to 1932 when it was launched to compete with Bacardi: however, let’s be clear – the Cristal was first released in 1978, when it was specifically designed to compete with the rising popularity of vodka. Before that, I think white rums were just called “Don Q” and had a distinguishing white label (my assumption), since I can’t find any reference to a specific one predating the Cristal.

The Cristal itself is a white rum, adhering to the Latin style of light ‘n’ easy rum making, and is the result of distillation on a multi-column still, aged in ex-bourbon barrels for between one and five years, filtered to colourlessness, blended, and then bottled at standard strength (40%). The review of the modern equivalent gives you some more details of the version you’re likely to find on store shelves these days – this one, as far as I can  tell, is from the mid to late 1980s, perhaps the 1990s (the label has undergone several revisions over the years and for different countries, so dating is imprecise at best).

Colour – white

Strength – 40%

Nose – Has a sort of light and creamy aroma, like custard drizzled with vanilla syrup.  Acetones and nail polish. Slightly sweet, somewhat warm. A few faint fruity notes – nothing really identifiable leaps out – which are just trembling on the edge of a flat cream soda.

Palate – Sharpish, mostly pineapple, vanilla and flavoured yoghurt, iodine. Not a whole lot going on here and while not really unpleasant, there are too many discernible medicinal and ethanol notes to make to a drink worth having.

Finish – Decently long, sweet vanilla milkshake and an apricot slice or two. Unremarkable, but at least there’s something here, which is already better than most of these bland, anonymous filtered blancos from the era.

Thoughts – My remarks about when it was issued and why, is the key to unlocking why the profile is what it is: inoffensive, bland, easy, vodka-like…and by today’s standards, rather uninteresting.  It remains what it has always been, a cheap bar mixer, without much of an edge to wake up a mixed drink. Older versions like this one seem even blander than the modern ones, and so my recommendation is to get one if you like to drink some rums from Ago, but don’t expect too much, and keep mixing your mojito with what’s on the shelves today.

(73/100) ⭐⭐½

Don Q “Cristal” White Rum – Review

 1 Response »
Sep 222023
 

Don Q is the other big brand from Puerto Rico that many believe has bragging rights over the Big Bad Bat when it comes to quality, yet somehow does not inhabit as a deep a mindspace as Bacardi does. The brand is very well known in the US and Canada (though I don’t see it for sale out west very often) but I get the impression it’s somewhat less of a thing in Europe or Asia – probably because they have plenty of brands of their own and so don’t exist in the same spirituous desert.

Don Q is the flagship brand of the other huge distilling operation on the island of Puerto Rico, Destilería Serrallés: like Bacardi it was founded by a Catalan emigre in the 1860s, though they lacked the international ambitions of the larger company and have stayed within Puerto Rico the whole time. Destilería Serrallés produces three main tiers of this branded rum: the Traditional range of mixing agents (Cristal, Gold and 151); a series of flavoured rums, and the more upscale “Serrallés Collection”, which is where the aged, finished and stronger premiums live. Don Q as a brand is named after Don Quixote (one wonders where Sancho Panza is lurking), but the reason has little to do with the wannabe over-the-hill knight and more to do with the author and his masterwork (see below).

The Cristal is a white rum from the Traditional range: it is of course nothing like the robust white brawling full proof rums whose praises I have extolled in past lists of Great Whites, the ones that go out there sporting an attitude, showing off their glutes and spoiling for a fight. In point of fact it’s a light rum coming off multiple distillation runs on a five-column industrial still, aged in ex-bourbon barrels for between one and five years, filtered to colourlessness, blended, and then bottled at standard strength (40%). Therefore it adheres more to the ethos of relaxed and affordable backbar general mixers, a sort of workhorse of daiquiris and mojitos, hearkening back to the light rum period of the previous century, than something more primitive and elemental.

The tasting notes show why the above paragraph can be written. There’s vanilla, coconut shavings, some nail polish and brine.  Also, after some time, one can pick out citrus, light cream soda, cherries, some ripe juicy pears. It just kind of fades away at this point and there’s little more to be gained by hanging around

The palate shows off a similarly light and easy island charm: sweet, light, creamy, with some watermelon, papaya, cream soda, ginger, and again, the pears, maybe a couple of bananas.  A dusting of cinnamon can be discerned with care, and the finish is as expected – short, prickly, a touch of honey and coconut shavings set off by that slight twist of lemon. 

The Cristal, then, is a completely serviceable rum with just enough taste in there to lift it (slightly) above more anonymous fare that tries less, and I can see why some consider it a step above other whites, including Bacardi’s. There’s a bit of edge lurking behind the inoffensive first taste, a hint of undiscovered character. That said, the strength makes that difficult to come to grips with, and rums like this are never going to be my go-tos unless I just want to get econo-hammered. Overall they display too little of interest, being quite content to stay in the background, sink in the cocktail, and disappear. Thus, they play it safe and take no chances – the alcohol is delivered, the drink is ok, it goes down easy, no fuss, no bother, mission accomplished. 

That will work fine for people who don’t care, and I don’t cast any aspersions on either buyer or seller in this matter – the purpose of the review, then, is less to pass judgement than to simply tell you what you’re getting when you fork over your two bits. As with Bacardi Superior, Lamb’s and other lightly aged, filtered white rums, the answer is, “not a whole lot”.  But then, that’s also why you don’t pay a whole lot – it’s quite cheap, and you’re not getting a dated, decades-old rum of complexity and age which is old enough to vote and will take your an hour to come to grips with…just a relatively neutral, inoffensive rum that serves its limited purpose, and delivers exactly what you pay for, plus a few cents extra.

(#1027)(76/100) ⭐⭐⭐

Other notes

  • The rum is cheap, yes: this also comes not only from economies of (large) scale, but from the impact of the cover-over tax rebate the company receives, which keep prices down.
  • This is not a much-reviewed rum; the Fat Rum Pirate rated it two stars in 2017 and he commented on its neutrality – he wasn’t impressed. Spirits Review gave it 7 olives out of 10 in an undated review probably coming from around 2010 (the design of the bottle is an earlier variant). Honestboozereviews, writing in 2018, figured it rated around 6.5 points and mentioned it mixed well, was easy to find, and cheap. Lastly, Dave Russell of the dormant site Rum Gallery scored it 8.5 points in 2012 and said that he asked Robero Serralles about the name Don Q, and was told it linked the brand — made by the descendants of Spanish Catalans — to Spain and its preeminent work of literature, and both were masterpieces.