Zaya: Gran Reserva

Type:Rum

Brand: Zaya

Year/Specialty: blended rum, 12 specific types

Cost:$ 20.00 - $30.00 U.S.

A little History:

Like most liquors, the exact date and how it got its name is hazy, needless to say the rum we know today came around in the 1600’s from the distillation of sugar cane stock.The left over ends of sugar cane was crushed into molasses, made into a juice, and then distilled.From readings of the time, the rum then was very spicy and had a hard kick.This would make sense, seeing there was little way to control the proof, so whatever sugar conversion there was, it made pure alcohol.From the get go, the distilling of molasses (a useless byproduct at this time) was done differently in places all over the world. Diving down the rabbit hole of that is a bit outside of the scope of this review, however it is important that we categorize the rum into styles, English, French, and Spanish, lastly color as it does play a role: light, gold, and dark (more on this later).

Zaya rum is a subsidiary company of Infinium Spirits.In 2005 Infinium Spirits was created to branch out from their current wine background.Only been recently have rum makers have started to put qualitative age statements on their bottles.Some places this means something, others it doesn’t, but all alcohol that is to be imported and sold in the U.S. that has an age statement, the youngest spirit is the age stamp that can be used.Zaya does not put an age statement; instead they put the amount of different rums they used to blend their liquor, 12.

A little Geography:

Although the geography plays a big role in the characteristic of a spirit, especially the weather (hot and cold within the barrels) in the formation of rum the characteristic of the spirit has more to do with how it is made based off geography than anything else. As stated earlier, English, French, and Spanish are the styles of rum, and due to their early colonialization, the formation of rum making took on the characteristics specialized within that colony. Zaya rum is sourced from Trinidad and Tobago, a English-style rum, with dark characteristics of molasses.

A little Science:

Due to the style of rum (English) that Zaya sources its barrels from, the expectation of how it is created is from straight blackstrap molasses.Once it has been distilled, it is aged in different barrels and time frames depending on the intended output color and taste profile (light, gold, dark).Zaya would be aged in oak (used more than likely) barrels, for a longer period of time to get that deep rich color.As this is a blend, we are not sure exactly whose barrels they used, or if they are all from one company, what we do know is that the master blender created a specific profile that is to be expected in each bottle.This allows the master blender to create something unique, they are not confined by the simplicities of a single barrel, they gather hints and notes of varying types and combined them into one.This would seem like an easy job, but if anything, it is very difficult to pull off properly.Think about it, if you were given 12 barrels and each barrel was different, and you were trying to create one taste, it would take a lot of time and methodical preparation to ensure you got the right amount of each liquid from each barrel to create that blend.

Let’s take a drink:

On the nose you do definitely smell dark rum that has been smoothed out over years of barreling. Normally I don’t like to go into specifics as everyone’s nose and taste is different but I smell vanilla. On first taste I thought this was nearly a brandy until it went to the back of the palate and the unique earthy spice came up.On the palate this has a velvety texture that makes you second guess your taste buds, it is smooth, so smooth that even the aftertaste is only hinting at the alcohol contents. If anything the brandy taste comes more prominently. This is a complex and subtle rum that could be enjoyed straight or mixed on a hot summer day.

Who may like this drink:

You have had the cheap/spiced rum and you know that there are characteristics about it you like, but you want it to be more polished.

Who may not like this drink:

You want a young rum with bite.You don’t want your rum tasting similarly to a liqueur or have brandy tendencies.

References:

Infinium Spirits (2016). Zaya Gran Reserva. Retrieved from http://www.infiniumspirits.com/pdfs/recipes/zaya_recipe_sheet.pdf

Ministry of Rum (2016). Age Matters. Retrieved from http://www.ministryofrum.com/article_age_matters.php

Rum Wisdom 2016. Types of Rum http://www.rumwisdom.com/rumtypes.html

Tenzing (2016) Infochart: The Styles of Rum. English, French, and Spanish. Retrieved from http://www.tenzingws.com/blog/2015/6/16/infochart-the-styles-of-rum-english-french-and-spanish-summerofrum

Wikipedia (2016). Rum. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum