I really wanted to give this an impartial review, and I got to taste some Puntacana Club rum in the Dominican Republic, and my thoughts were that it’s a sweet mediocre rum that is way more expensive than its quality calls for. But it’s, in their words, Rum for Connoisseurs.

These two rums are pretty similar, so I decided to combine their review.

I also wanted to quickly share the description of Espléndido from their website:

A formidable reserve with an attractive dark golden color and mahogany nuances, with a harmonious aroma and notes of oak, toasted caramel and syrup.

Oh, wait. They just copied Ron Viejo again. Oops. Let’s get it from the spec sheet.

Puntacana Espléndido is a 12-year-old Solera rum that combines elegance and complexity. Aged exclusively in François Frères French oak barrels, these casks lend a unique structure thanks to their high concentration of tannins. During the slow maturation process, the tannins evolve, transforming initial astringencies into delicate floral and citrus aromas, evoking the paradisiacal landscapes of the Caribbean.

Story

Finally. Finally. Puntacana has decided that this rum is elegant enough, supreme enough, worthy enough to meet the bare minimum ABV requirement in the country. Still below the bare minimum in the US, mind you, but it’s finally at the bare minimum ABV for the Dominican Republic and most countries in Europe!

Once again, I want to call them out for making the bottles out of thick glass where the rum portion is completely in the little window in the box, and everything obscured by the box is just glass and air. And, the volume and ABV were completely obscured in the black box. At least these ones hit the bare minimum ABV… barely. While 50mL is not a huge amount, at least it’s enough to get a good sample. Pour it in my NEAT glass, get a good nose, take a sip, and use the rest for one or two half-size cocktails. But 20mL? God forbid I can actually get a decent sample of your severely watered down rum! This is some advanced tourist entrapment! The best scientists at Oliver & Oliver must have put in overtime to come up with this trick!

Also, I don’t want to overlook the fact that Puntacana Silver Dry very obviously had artificial flavors added and almost certainly a heavy addition of glycerin. So, I have no doubt that they have zero issues with adulterating every rum they produce in any way they think they can. It’s like learning that your chef spat in your food last time, and now you are brought another dish from him. Would that color how you view the food? I will be comparing the rums today against Brugal Añejo, but, since they are now 38% ABV, I will not be watering it down for today’s test.

Notes:

Price: The price for this rum in US liquor stores is around $60, but at Taino gift shop, it’s around $160.

Base fermentable: Some retail sites say molasses, but their official site says miel de la caña (sugarcane honey) which is a sugarcane juice syrup. Since they buy bulk rum from Trinidad (definitely from Angostura, which is molasses) and from Panama (highly likely from Varela Hermanos, which is sugarcane juice), as well as from various other countries, it’s probably a blend of both.

Origin: Cask Cartel says that it’s a blend from five countries. My guess is the same as the rest of the Puntacana Club lineup: bulk rum from Nicaragua, Colombia, Panama, Trinidad, and the Dominican Republic.

Aging: The claim is that it is aged in a solera style in François Frères french oak barrels, with either the oldest portion 12 years old, or 12 years is the actual age statement. Claims differ. Interestingly, Tastings.com, in their review, listed it as “aged 3 years or less” likely due to the fact that it can’t claim an age statement.

Please take the above information with a very large grain of salt, as Oliver & Oliver is not known for their transparency in terms of their ingredients, additives, and production, and retail sites and their distributor have wildly different claims about how it’s made and what’s in it. Not a good sign.

Espléndido spec sheet (but take this with a grain of salt too)

Review

Smell

Notes of sweetness, vanilla, and oak. Pretty much the same smell as Ron Viejo and Ron Muy Viejo, except I notice that the floral, perfumey smell is gone.

Taste

Oh my god it’s so sweet. I finally get a bit of warmth in my mouth (God forbid!!). So, to compensate for the staggering 38% ABV, it seems like they put in way more sugar, and who knows what else? I will say that it has some ok rum flavor, though about the same as Muy Viejo. But let me point out: we have gone from 32% to 38%, so now I am comparing it side by side with Brugal Añejo 37.5%, and of course with less dilution, now Anejo pulls out ahead of Esplendido in flavor.

Verdict 4/10

Heyyy they did it! They hit 38% ABV! A genuine achievement for this lineup! So what did they do? They drowned it in sugar, of course. It has less burn than Brugal Añejo, yes, but it has less everything. Brugal Añejo actually has character, and its flavor can punch through in a cocktail. All Espléndido offers is Puntacana Club Black levels of sweetness. In rum, VS doesn’t mean anything, and this rum proves it. Brugal Añejo kicks its butt at half the price. Half the price in the US, by the way. At Taino gifts, a 700mL bottle will set you back $78.