Mount Gay Rum Master Blender Collection: Isn't It Good, Andean Wood?

Mount Gay Rum isn’t just the oldest distillery in Barbados, it’s the world's oldest commercial rum distillery. Despite an original deed that dates the brand back to 1703, the distillery is still innovating. This year marks the 4th of the Mount Gay Rum Master Blender Collection, a project that allows the master blender to experiment with smaller batches and in this case, return to the company’s roots.

The collection debuted in 2018 with a peat smoke expression created by former Master Blender Allen Smith, but current Master Blender Trudiann Branker has been focused on pot stilled rum. The use of double retort pot stills has been commonly used in Jamaica, Guyana, and Barbados and was the traditional way Mount Gay Rum was distilled for 200 years, then the distillery transitioned to the use of the column still. Branker has experimented double-pot stilled rum and followed up with double-pot stilled rum that was then aged in tawny port casks. This year she started with double-pot stilled rum again, which she aged in ex bourbon casks then finished in Andean oak casks for The Master Blender Collection Andean Oak Cask.

Oak Casks

Many kinds of oak are used to age spirits, although the main ones tend to be American or French oak. Andean oak does indeed come from the high elevations indicated in the name and it grows only in Columbia and Panama, but more information on the use of Andean oak in distilling is hard to come by. Branker admits she was inspired to use Andean oak after learning that a whisky distillery that was experimenting with it. A little research uncovers that while it is yet to be on the market, Waterford Distillery in Ireland is documenting their use of it, as part of their exotic oak experiments.

Rum Recipe

For this year’s Mount Gay Rum Master Blender Collection, a single batch of rum was distilled twice in a traditional copper pot still, then aged in ex-bourbon casks for the first maturation of 14 years before being finished in Andean oak for just 11 months. Says Branker “We stay away from additives as close as possible to the barrel in the master collection. There’s no alteration, no chill filtration, it’s all built from the maturation.” She says after aging in newly charred American oak, the color exchange happens quickly, then the spirit takes on spice and fruitier notes. But she adds, with the Andean oak, the color doesn’t change much. The rum is an amber, golden color with no color added. What does develop are layers of irresistible spice, fruit, and toast and nuttiness.

Branker shared that although she does have rum still aging in Andean oak, she felt this batch was ready after just 11 months. So the experimentation continues and she coyly refuses to disclose the cooperage but did share that the barrels are char level 3., and the rum is bottled at 48% ABV which she said was “the optimal strength to perceive the notes and appreciate the journey.”

Tasting Notes

The rum has an intriguing elegance, with notes of pear and candied fruit, apricot, nutmeg, and oakiness, and a bold flavor of almond and perhaps a faint whisp of smoke. The vanilla notes are lighter than you typically experience with American oak, and there are also some hints of citrus. Layered on a very distinct scent of pear is perhaps anise, as opposed to the usual banana and pineapple. The Andean oak seems to lend some subtle floral notes as well.

The small batch yielded 2,760 bottles and 1,026 bottles are headed to the U.S. It will be priced at around $200 a bottle, but with such small allocation, finding a bottle may be harder than affording one.