Perola Bellamy‘s Reserve Ruby Rum Meets Port

Bellamy's Reserve Ruby is a wine influenced bottling from Perola, pairing a Panamanian column still molasses rum with a ruby Port cask finish. The Port wood drives the character, and the rum is sweetened, with the dosage drawn from the fortified wine itself, bottled at 45%. It is best read as a flavoured, crossover style rather than a traditional aged rum.

The nose is full of Port, vanilla, blackberry and cherry, and the palate stays fruit led with barrel, Port, pepper and more cherry before a drier finish of wood, tannin and a herbal edge. The body runs a little thin and the alcohol can show, which keeps it from sitting easily as a contemplative neat dram. Its strength is the sweet, cherry and red berry fruit, which makes it a fitting base for simple mixed drinks for anyone who enjoys wine finished, fruit forward rums.