Diplomatico Rum (1st one, Tastings #39)

Diplomatico Rum Tasting (November 22nd, 2024)

This is our 3rd brand specific Rum tasting, and our 7th Rum tasting overall.  We chose Diplomatico Rum, since it’s my 2nd favorite rum, in the whole world, and one I started with, in terms of drinking neat.  The bottles in question were;

* Sugar levels, sourced from Finnish site, the Finnish gov’t does test on all liquors for additives etc. (Alko)

Diplomatico Rum, from Venezuela is known for ‘dosing’ their rums.  Dosing = adding sugar.  Its quite a common practice in rums from South America.  Some like El Dorado, have dropped this practice, their 12yr, 15yr and 21yr used to have added sugar, this is no longer the case.  Diplomatico has dropped the amount of sugar, they add, over the years, since there are rules now in place, if the sugar added is over a certain amount, measured in g/l, it has to be called a liqueur, and no longer a rum.

Diplomatico, is still my 2nd favorite brand, next to FourSquare.  It is  a sweeter rum, but I still enjoy it from time to time, and I do have a sweet tooth. I wanted to show the group, the variety available, from the Diplomatico line.

Due to Diplomatico taking so much heat about dosing, they did release the “Distillery Series”, which was an undosed line, and showcasing the component parts that make up their signature Mantuano and Reserva Exclusiva lines.

We tried them all, the only product we didn’t try, from Diplomatico, that I’m aware of, is their Ambassador rum.  It is about $360 CAD/$290 (USD)/bottle.  Maybe next time :).  I do have a bottle, unopenned.

Many people I speak to, say they don’t like rum, since its too sweet.  If it’s Diplomatico they’ve tried, then I can understand that comment, but if its FourSquare, then I think they’d be mistaken.  Many think rum is sweet, since its made with sugar cane, but all sugar is removed during the fermentation and distillation processes.

For this tasting, we only had 10 people, the tasting group does seem to be big rum fans, but I am…lol.  I have over 100 different rums in my collection.  The most of any category of liquor, in my collection.

Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva, the one with the highest dosing, won our first 3 rum tastings, every time.

Brianne took part in her first spirits tasting, as well as, George B, and David J, but besides that it was the true regulars, the die hards.

In terms of guessing bottles, based on the tasting notes.  JP won with an impressive 4/8, even 2 of the distillery collection correct.  Stephane, and Stephanie both got 3 correct.

The Winners!

The winner was Mantuano, I’m interested in that, since it’s the one with the lower dosing, but still some sugar.  I like that Single Vintage, 2005 made the podium, it is a good rum.  I’m surprised by DS #2, making the podium, I’ve always liked DS#3, the best out of the 3, I’m wondering if it’s palette fatigue, since the 3 winning bottles were F, G, H.  Dunno..but it is, what it is!

1st Place (8.5) $50

2nd Place (8.3) $100

3rd Place (8.3) $140

The next Tasting will be Scotch, in honour of Robbie Burns Day.

The Survey Results