Spirits Review wished more twelve-year-olds were this mature. Ron Abuelo — grandfather’s rum — is made by Varela Hermanos in Pesé, Panama, where Don José Varela Blanco built the first sugar mill in the newly independent Republic in 1908; the family still grows and mills its own cane, one of the few rum houses that does, distilling on column stills and aging in used bourbon white oak. The 12 Años Gran Reserva, launched in 2008, is a blend of rums aged a minimum of twelve years in ex-bourbon American oak, bottled at 40% ABV under a tattered label with the abuelo himself, and it won Gold at the 2009 Ministry of Rum competition. Difford’s found wonderfully inviting buttery honey, golden syrup, overripe banana, almond, nougat, fudge, old oak, and smoky tobacco, then a full palate balancing sweetness against espresso bitterness and dry oak with a maple-honey silkiness, finishing on butterscotch, fudge, and tobacco spice. Spirits Review: complex in a lovely subdued, dry way, showing its age with grace — unlike competitors, Abuelo didn’t make a sweet, syrupy old rum — and a favorite cigar pairing. Inu A Kena: a chorus of patisserie aromas, caramel, crème brûlée, baked apple, a beauty. The Rum Howler scored it 84; The Lone Caner called it an utterly all-round above-average product. Honest note: it’s a soft, Spanish-style column rum — elegant rather than funky. For a cigar, a Rum Old Fashioned, or neat, it’s Panama’s benchmark. Since 1908.
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