Perola Las Cabras Bellamy‘s Reserve 1997

Perola bottles this 1997 Panamanian rum as a Bellamy's Reserve single cask, aged 26 years and presented unsweetened at cask strength. Panama is the soft heartland of the Spanish style, but long ex-bourbon ageing has pushed this expression deep into bourbon territory, a powerful, oak-driven rum rather than a gentle sipper.

The spirit is column-distilled molasses rum drawn from one ex-bourbon cask and bottled at 56.3%. The bourbon character is unmistakable: nougat, hazelnut, milk chocolate and a glue-edged oak on the nose, a palate of bourbon, hazelnut, vanilla and milk chocolate, and a finish of bourbon, spice, black pepper and tannin. Full and round at strength, it is honestly more bourbon-leaning than tropical. For drinkers who love full-proof bourbon or heavily oaked rum this is a logical pour, though the very wood-forward profile is the whole story here.