Perola Bellamy‘s Reserve Oloroso Cask Finish (Batch 3)

Bellamy's Reserve is Perola's blend of rums from several Caribbean distilleries, this Batch 3 built on molasses spirit from both pot and column stills and then finished in Oloroso sherry casks. It follows two earlier limited editions as a more permanent fixture, and it carries a stated age of around six and a half years at 43%, declared unsweetened.

The sherry cask sets the tone without dominating, dried fruit, plum, coffee and a savoury woodiness on the nose, then a dry, lightly acidic palate carrying raisin, nuttiness and a clear sherry spice. The finish stays in that register, dried fruit and oak with a peppery lift. Because nothing has been added back, the dryness is honest and the sherry reads as cask influence rather than sweetness. The blend itself is the variable here, a little less seamless than a single distillery rum, but the Oloroso finishing gives it a coherent, after dinner character.