Angel's Share Title
Virago Four Port PX Sherry Cask Finished Rum
I reviewed the first Virago rum I had found in a local store in July of 2021. This month I decided to evaluate their PX Sherry cask finished rum. This rum, like its predecessor, is a blend of pot and column still rums from four different ports: comprised of an eight year old pot and column blend from Barbados; a four-year old pot still blend from Jamaica; a blend of five to eight-year old column still rums from Nicaragua; and a six-year old blend of column still rums from Panama. The rums are blended and finished in Ximenez sherry casks for an unspecified amount of time, before being blended to 40% ABV by Virago Spirits.
Virago
Appearance
The short-necked 750 ml has a wooden cap with synthetic cork sealed with a transparent security wrap. The label on the bottle is dark purple and provides the basic information about the bottling. The liquid is a dark amber in the bottle and lightens to a golden amber in the glass. Swirling the liquid creates a medium band that slowly thickens and drops, creating a single wave of slow moving legs. It takes quite some time for the band to evaporate and pebble up.
Nose
The aroma is an interesting collection of notes. It is no surprise the sherry is present, but there are also notes of black pepper, cinnamon, musky tobacco, minerals and oak tannins.
Palate
As with the aroma, the sherry leads the way as the rum envelops the palate. Butterscotch, warm peach, toasted walnuts, baking chocolate, and dried tobacco leaf flow and weave together. The oak tannins and char notes form the foundation and linger on the palate as fruity notes return to balance them in a medium finish.
Review
It had been a while since I had sat down with a Ximenez sherry cask finished rum and I must say this had an interesting array of flavors. The rum was well balanced by the blender, and while the flavors were not overly complex, they came together to create an enjoyable sipping experience. If you want an over-the-top, heavily sugared, sherry flavored rum, this one is not for you. I personally enjoyed that the sherry flavor is subdued and weaves with the other flavors and never dominates the experience outside of the initial sip. This fairly priced rum is quite functional in an array of classic cocktails that can counter some of the bitter components. As the sherry cask is part of their limited cask finish series, I will look forward to evaluating other rums from this line in the future.
