Centenario 1985 Cask Selection (Second Batch) 2022

Centenario comes from Costa Rica's Fabrica Nacional de Licores, and this 1985 Cask Selection, second batch, is bottled at 43% in the soft, accessible Spanish style. Molasses-based and gently matured, it presents itself as a relaxed, sweet-leaning rum rather than a high-intensity study.

The nose is sweet with vanilla, wood and sugar, the palate stays vanilla-led and syrupy over light oak, and the finish carries wood, coffee, chocolate and a sweet edge. Roasted, well-toasted nuts and a touch of fruit fill out the middle, and the whole thing drinks smooth and rounded. Whether sugar has been added is not declared, but it reads soft and sweet in the manner of Latin rums like Zacapa, so the honest description is an easygoing, simple sipper. It suits anyone after a comfortable neat or on-the-rocks pour without demands.