Now this should be an interesting one as it comes from a small company that sells both rum and cigars. Number 11 was founded by 2 friends, Tony and Matt, who met on a holiday in Morocco in 2012. Given their shared passion for spirits and cigars they started traveling together in order to explore these categories more. As their experience accumulated they decided they should try and create a brand that deals with drinks and cigars themselves.
I’ve been told it would be ideal to try the No. 11 Premium Blended Rum with one of their cigars, hence why they also sent me a No. 11 Artisan Cigar, Premium Robusto – so, while I will conduct my tasting notes as usual, I will also try them side by side and see how the rum and the cigar pair together as well.
I do dabble in cigars every once in a while, but my knowledge of them is quite limited so I’ll do my best. This cigar is made in Costa Rica and, according to Google, “robusto” means it has more filler than wrappers therefore the flavour is stronger and more intense. Looking forward to try it!
Now onto the rum, this is actually a flavoured/spiced rum, although it’s not really mentioned on the front of the label. On the side of the bottle it does say “Our premium blended rum is a delicate infusion of botanicals.” so at least that, but I do think having “Spiced” or “Botanical” is more informative than “Premium”. The base is a rum aged up to 3 years from Dominican Republic which is then re-distilled and infused with a mix of natural spices and botanicals such as vanilla, sarsaparilla, cocoa, coffee and some other ingredients.
Personally I don’t see the value in taking an aged spirit (albeit a young one in this case) in order to re-distill it. I know it’s for the sake of infusing the ingredients, but it also pretty much renders the initial ageing useless. Regardless, let’s get onto it!
No. 11 Premium Blended Rum is (most likely) molasses based, column still distilled and aged up to 3 years in ex-Bourbon casks. It’s then re-distilled with a blend of spices and botanicals and then left to infuse with the said botanicals as well. Bottled at 42% ABV with molasses added.
On the nose it seems quite sweet and dark. Brownies, black coffee, butterscotch and chocolate sauce. Sour cherries, raisins and some marzipan. It smells like a baked dessert, reminiscent of a fancy chocolate cake. Some earthiness there with dusty cardboard and sweet tobacco. Allspice as well.
On the palate it isn’t as sweet as I thought. Black coffee, orgeat, citrus peel and cacao nibs. Muscovado sugar syrup, cloves and ginger. It’s aromatic and bitter-sweet. Fresh ginger, some red chilli and caramel. The finish is short to medium with coffee and nuts.
With the cigar it actually worked pretty well. The cacao and coffee notes of the rum and the cigar paired up very well and the spicy layers of both were amplified in the process. Another thing I enjoyed was that the sweeter profile of the rum was in great juxtaposition with the bitterness of the cigar, relieving my palate of the heavy tobacco flavours with each sip.
That being said, this is a rum blog so I will score it based on its individual performance.
The No. 11 Premium Blended Rum is enjoyable as far as flavoured rums go, it isn’t overly sweet (although not particularly dry either). It seems to rely a lot on the cacao and coffee flavours which makes sense given it was designed to go with cigars, but by itself that can become a little uni-dimensional fairly quick, at least for a rum enthusiast. All in all it isn’t bad at all, but if anything, I enjoyed the cigar more – the rum seemed just to be a very compatible add-on to it.
Another thing I’d like to reiterate is that the label could use some tweaking. Firstly it should mention it is a spiced/flavoured/botanical product on the front, I don’t see why not, it is a category that sells. Secondly I don’t see why they don’t mention its main purpose, which is to be paired with one of their cigars. I’m not a marketing fella, but I do think those together would give the average consumer more incentive to have a look at it and potentially buy it.
It can be found for £40 which is quite a bit for its current flavour profile, but if maybe they had a package deal with one of the cigars it would be a lot better. They have one for £55 which offers 2 cigars and a small bottle of the rum, but I would prefer one where you get one full size bottle and one cigar.
No. 11 Premium Blended Rum:
Flavour/taste: 44/70
Value for money: 12/15
Transparency/purity: 12/15
Overall: 68/100
Cheers!