Oliver & Oliver Puntacana Club XOX 50 Anniversario 1996

Puntacana Club XOX 50 Anniversario is an Oliver & Oliver bottling under the Puntacana Club name, the Dominican label marking five decades with a 1996 vintage statement on the glass. As with the house style, this is molasses spirit run off a column still and matured to a warm amber in the tropical climate, where the heat draws oak character out quickly.

This sits firmly in the sweetened Spanish camp, so the softness is by design. The nose offers vanilla, caramel and a fruity lift, the palate runs caramel, toffee and raisin with an immediate sugary fatness, and the finish carries sweet tobacco, gentle oak and a touch of mocha. It stays smooth and harmonious throughout, a touch more oak and tobacco than the average dessert ron, but unmistakably built for relaxed after-dinner sipping rather than dry analysis.