Ron Espero Liqueur Creole Caribbean Orange

Ron Espero's Liqueur Creole Caribbean Orange is built on a twelve-year Dominican rum base, column distilled from molasses and rested in ex-bourbon casks, but the honest description is an orange liqueur rather than a straight rum. The rum gives it a warmer backbone than a typical triple sec, but orange is unmistakably the headline.

The nose is all orange, bitter orange and candied peel, the palate stays in that lane with orange, peel and a molasses base, and the finish lingers on bitter-orange zest. It is very sweet and easygoing, sitting closer to a dessert pour than a sipping rum. It is at its best well chilled or over ice, and it slots neatly into simple cocktails wherever an orange liqueur is called for. Anyone who enjoys a sweet, citrus-candy character on a rum base will find it does the job nicely.