Recently I have reviewed the Pampero Anejo Especial which wasn’t bad at all, and today I’m having a look at their “white rum” version, Pampero Blanco. As mentioned in the Anejo review, Industras Pampero Distillery was founded in Venezuela in 1938 by Alejandro Hernandez, the son of a fisherman from Margarita Island and it’s today owned by the drinks giant Diageo.
Pampero is also called Caballito Frenao (Bitten Horse) due to its brand logo picturing a cowboy riding a horse in the Venezuelan plains. I’m a fan of their stubby bottles, I’ve seen pictures of the previous packaging and this one gives off a more premium vibe.
Not much I could find about the distillery and its production processes, but I will guess they operate column stills as they apparently source their “heavy rum” from DUSA (where Diplomatico comes from). The back label says that the rum is distilled in “alambiques de cobre” which translates as “copper pot stills” from Spanish, but it seems unlikely that this is a pure pot still – my guess is that it’s a column and pot blend.
That would be it – so molasses based, (most likely) pot and column still distilled and aged in ex-Bourbon casks for at least 2 years as per the Venezuelan rum regulations. Charcoal filtered to remove the colour and bottled 37.5% ABV.
On the nose it’s quite clean, vodkaish. Lemon zest, white chocolate and caramel. Some coconut water, vanilla and slightly vegetal. A faint salted popcorn note as well. Struggling to get anything more.
On the palate it’s equally numb. Vanilla and toffee along with white cacao liqueur. A faded tequila-ish note. Dried coconut flakes, lemon oils, some white pepper and a hint of mango. The finish is short with a bit of coconut and ethanol.
While I enjoyed the Anejo, the Blanco is too clean for me, hard to tell it apart from a vodka in a blind tasting. The £20 price point makes it affordable, but I’d rather get a Rumbar Silver for a pound or two more.
Pampero Blanco score:
Flavour/taste: 33/70
Value for money: 14/15
Transparency/purity: 12/15
Overall: 59/100
Cheers!
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