When new interesting products enter the market I intend to find out as much as I can about them and sometimes if I am lucky, I have the privilege to review these new products.

Such is the case with Ron Atlantico Private Cask, a product of the Dominican Republic that was launched last October in Miami by the Atlantico Importing Company or Alebrand Spirits Company, a joint venture between Aleco Azqueta and Brandon Lieb, who had previously managed some of the biggest liquor brands before they went into business together.

Ron Atlantico Private Cask consists of aged small batch rums from the Dominican Republic, which are married or blended after being handpicked by Aleco and Brandon and then further aged in small bourbon barrels also known as the "Private Casks." From these barrels the rum is yet again removed and aged using the Solera method, a method also used by another Dominican rum, Matusalem Gran Reserva.

For as long as I can remember I've had a thing for Venezuelan rums and you could say I've never had rum from Venezuela that has disappointed me. Since learning about Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva I just knew I had to get my hands on it but this had not been possible until Rum Fest 2008, where I finally had the opportunity to get one from the Whisky Exchange stand.

I also wanted one of those cool Diplomatico posters they had hanging on the wall, but, unfortunately, by the time I was making my purchases it had been taken away.

Diplomatico Reserva Exlusiva is produced in Venezuela by Destilerias Unidas S.A., the same company that makes several other rums including Cacique rums and the majority of the spirits for Ron Pampero, which is one of my favourite rums.

The following information may be slightly outdated, but in 2001 I was in closer contact with people at Angostura Ltd. and asked them a series of questions. This was following my visits to their site at the outskirts of Laventille, Trinidad on earlier times.

My contact person was Ms. Giselle Laronde-West, the Communications Manager of Angostura Ltd. (for those who do not know, she happens to also be the 1986 Miss World, and a University of London graduate).

I based my questions on an article published in a US website at the time (no longer found by google at least), written by Mr. Bouchard. I personally noticed some inaccuracies in the article, and wanted to verify the facts. I mentioned on my intent of publishing the answers in a form of an article, just to be totally fair.

St. Nicholas Abbey, one of the 'Seven Wonders of Barbados', is an old Jacobean style mansion built in 1658 and is one of the three existing Jacobean mansions in the Western Hemisphere.

Surrounded by lush tropical forests and over 400 acres of sugar cane fields, the estate is situated in St. Peter, Cherry Tree Hill and has, since its restoration, become a popular tourist attraction.

In an effort to preserve a piece of history and to prevent the estate from becoming purely a tourist attraction, the Warren family has established a cottage industry of sugar-related products including St. Nicholas Abbey rum which is produced using traditional methods which were first used over 350 years ago on Barbados.
 

A Piece of History

As sugar was Britain's largest import from the Caribbean in the 18th Century, most of the plantations, including St. Nicholas Abbey, were producing sugar and molasses to meet the growing needs of the "Old World." In addition to these products, the plantation also produced distilled rum in the 1750s which was exported to Europe and America.

The airport was cold and quiet with only a few tired looking people quietly making their way to the right gates in a silent and restrained fashion very typical for Finns. Having woken up at 4am that morning, with barely any sleep during the previous night, I could easily relate to them.

The airport monitors were all showing blue screens of death, something very reassuring you always want to see before you're supposed to be getting on a computerised flying tin can with not enough parachutes for everyone. The plane was scheduled to leave at 6:45 to Stockholm where I would have to catch another plane that would eventually take me to London.

I was of course going to London for the UK Rum Fest 2008, the only rum festival held in Europe which is organised by the UK Rum Ambassador, Ian Burrell, with the help of IPBartenders.

The flight to Stockholm was only 35 minutes and my ears had barely adjusted to the pressure change when the plane started its descent. From Stockholm it was a 2 hour flight to the London City Airport, where I made my way to the nearest underground station where I carried my luggage through the sweaty tunnels while constantly being reminded to "keep to the left" and to "mind the gap."

Earlier this year the first small-batch limited edition rums by Renegade Rum Company were released that included two vintages from Guyana and one from Jamaica and Panama.

The 2008 collection of the Renegade Rum Company's new bottlings have been released. This is the second limited small-batch release from Renegade Rum Company so far where each of the six bottlings is from a single estate and single vintage featuring also rare stocks from stills that no longer exist.

In addition to the standard American oak bourbon barrel maturation, the rums have been further matured in French Bordeaux' 'First Growth' oak casks previously used to age wine or port.

The 2008 release is limited to specialist spirit retailers because there are only 900 to 1500 numbered bottles of each rum for worldwide distribution. (See a list for UK retailers)