Havana Club Añejo Especial

Havana Club Anejo Especial is one of Cuba's everyday workhorses, a five year ron ligero made from molasses on a column still and blended for lightness in the classic island style. It is bottled at a low 37.5%, and importantly it is a sweetened rum, which shapes its soft, rounded character and its role as much in the glass as in a mixer.

The nose offers vanilla, caramel, oak and a touch of tobacco, while the palate is woody and sweet with caramel and oak, finishing on sweetness with sugarcane notes and some alcohol. One reviewer keeps it as a go to for rum and cola, where the added sweetness works well, while another found it more oaky and balanced neat than expected. This is honestly a sweet, light and inexpensive Cuban built for cuba libres and mojitos rather than contemplative neat sipping, and it does that job dependably.