After having had a number of rather hard-hitting rums in recent times, I thought it’d be a refreshing change to explore rums from other regions that I have not had much from, such as the Panama 1983 from @bellamysreserverum. A big thank you to @mandedrinks for the sample!

Panama rums as we know it is one of the most commonly found rums around the world, although this may not be immediately obvious to the regular rum drinker given that the Panamanian rums are almost never bottled by the distillers themselves, and frequently sold in bulk to other rum brands. At times, some rare, single casks of Panamanian rums find their way to independent bottlers, such as this one from Bellamy’s!

This particular rum was distilled at a very peculiar period in the Las Cabras distillery’s history, which was founded originally in the mid-1900s as a sugar mill with a small distillery. It was in 1997 that the company’s name was changed to the Alcoholes del Istimo distillery, which it is still known by today. The peculiarity lies in the fact that this cask of rum was distilled in January 1983, which was a period of time in Las Cabras’ history that we know very little of, aged for for 36-and-a-half years in the tropics in an ex-bourbon cask, before being shipped to Europe for bottling in January 2020 at 61% abv with an outturn of 275 bottles.

On the nose, the Spanish column still style was evidently present, refreshing and bright even after 37 years of aging. The nuances of citrus zest, nearly-ripe mangoes, and bananas brought about a light, tropical character, but where it differed or perhaps showcased its maturity laid in those cocoa and coffee notes. And if you dig deep enough you could pick out a bit of brine, green olives, and it had this rather mediterranean feel about it all.

The palate was far more complex than other Panamanian rums I’ve had. Initially a bit of bite, savouriness, olives, oak, some form a dark, savoury sauce. It the took a turn to the sweeter side of caramel, citrus again, soft vanilla which extended into that long finish, paired with coffee, menthol, dark cocoa, and the return of that bit of oak, but all very well balanced.

The Bellamy’s Reserve 1983 then reminded me quite a bit of Flor de Cana’s V Generaciones, one that stands out among the plethora of bottlings from the Central American region. While most come across light, simple, and relatively easy to drink, this was one of those that challenged that stereotype, bringing with it a lot of a depth and complexity, something I never thought I would’ve associated with most Spanish-style rums.

Image Courtesy of @weixiang_liu