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 I only got to try a few, so I bought some sample bottles at a gift shop. It’s, in their words, Rum for Connoisseurs.

I would like to share the description of the Ron Viejo 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.

Story

I’ll reiterate about the packaging trick. Thick glass, rum only in the tiny window, everything else is just air hidden by the box. They even hid the volume and the embarrassing 32% ABV label. Even the weakest rums in the US are a full 25% stronger than this liquid, and 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 the last rum I reviewed, Puntacana Silver Dry, very obviously had artificial flavors added and, I strongly suspect, a heavy addition of glycerin. So that rubicon has been crossed, as 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? So look, I will be comparing the rums today against Brugal Añejo, but, to make it more fair, I will water it down from 37.5% to 32% ABV. Not that I have to do that to make the test fair, if we’re being real, but I want to give these two the best shot. I am actively trying hard to overcome my bias, knowing that this company puts out slop.

Notes:

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 ex-bourbon barrels, with either the oldest portion 5 years old, or 5 years is the average age. Claims differ.

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.

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

Review

Smell

It smells sweet, with vanilla, oak, slightly floral notes, and kind of perfumy.

Taste

Notes of vanilla, caramel, but pretty much very little flavor. Very smooth and little burn. Brugal Añejo watered down to 32% burns maybe slightly more, but still has far more flavor. More vanilla, more oak, more of that slightly floral taste. Ron Viejo is just like water with a hint of rum. It’s water that has more sweetness than it does rumminess.

Verdict 3/10

There’s nothing to this. It’s smooth, it doesn’t burn; makes sense, water is smooth and doesn’t burn. The one positive side is that there’s no bad flavors, since there’s no flavors at all. It’s not oversweetened like Black is, but I still only give it 3/10. It’s the Natty Light of rum.