Angel's Share Title
Ology Brewing began producing craft beers in Tallahassee, Florida, in 2016. After the success of their beers, the company began producing a line of spirits. Their “Golden Rum” product is made with Guatemalan Grade A molasses that is fermented using Saison yeast and distilled with column and pot stills. The rum for this review was aged for 22 months in a charred new American oak barrel and bottled at 58.5% ABV; however, it should be noted that the newest incarnation of this spirit is bottled at 55% ABV.
Appearance
The bottle is a short-necked 750-ml bottle that is sealed with a synthetic cork. The label is loaded with information about the product and provides lots of details about this bottling.The rum has a bright copper-amber color in the bottle and glass. Swirling the liquid creates a dense band that quickly beads up and releases a wave of fast-moving legs. The band then releases two more waves of slow-moving legs before finally evaporating.
Nose
The first aroma to hit the nose reminds me of cherry Starburst candy. As the liquid rested, I found an interesting combination of spicy cinnamon, cloves, and fresh orange zest.
Palate
The first sip reveals the heat and flavor of the alcohol in a swirl of caramel, a strong dose of cherry, and oak char. Subsequent sips revealed a strong dose of brown sugar, cloves, and cinnamon from the aroma, with a nip of allspice and cocoa rounding it out before the oak tannins take over in a long char and spice finish.
Review
When I evaluate a North American craft rum from a company that I am not overly familiar with, I find that I am braced for better or worse for pretty much anything. Considering the rum has been aged in new oak barrels for less than two years, I was pleasantly surprised to find a simple but interesting flavor profile. The strength of the caramel and cherry flavors on the palate with the first sip, along with the heat of the alcohol, created an intense flavor experience, and I was glad to find other flavors during the evaluation process. By design, this rum is engineered to be mixed in cocktails, and I can see where the citrus zest would hook into some cocktail profiles and the caramel and spice would work well with others. Ultimately, though, the cherry note was a bit much for me, and while I am happy to have experienced this rum, I would probably look for something else that is not dominated by the cherry note.
