Tanduay 18 and Tanduay Centennial tasted

[Count Silvio]

Tanduay 18 (Is this the official name of the bottle J?)

Appearance

Amber colour with some orange, several tall legs form around the glass on regular intervals.

Nose

Very woody upfront with smooth, cool tropical fruit underneath. The wood in this rum is kind of dry and almost earthy in character. Vanilla caramelised sugar and bourbon barrel aromas become evident as the rum breathes.

Taste

Woody and somewhat dry beginning leads to fruit and gentle flower flavours, earthy notes, caramel and bourbon barrel. Smoothes out as it warms up and breathes, not that it wasn’t smooth to begin with.

Aftertaste

Tropical fruit, lots of bourbon vanilla, warm, incredibly rich and pleasing aftertaste. Curiously after the initial rich aromas have passed I get a metallic, iron-like flavour that’s mixed with frail pineapple notes. A sip of water after these flavours gives me tobacco notes and stronger pineapple notes.

Final thoughts

Very rich and smooth rum from the Philippines, I must acquire a bottle of this.


Tanduay Centennial Rhum, Single Cask 057 Bottle 130

Appearance

Deep amber in colour, also with some orange. Several drape like, long legs form after a swirl.

Nose

Sharper than its brethren, faint copper and rubber aroma. The stingy alcohol is somewhat of a distraction when trying to nose the different flavours but blowing in the glass I find sweet bourbon aromas, vanilla and caramel.

Taste

The rum is cool and smooth to the mouth rubber being the first taste followed by some floral notes. Overall the taste is very smooth and light.

Aftertaste

Very delicate and warm, very smooth with soft vanilla, bourbon and a little floral.

Final thoughts

Not a bad rum in any case but I do prefer the 18 year old due to its richness.

Additional notes

After letting this rum sit for a while on the table there are some additional honey notes in the glass.

[JaRiMi]

Happy to see your review here, Count! I have enjoyed both of these rums very much myself.

The 18-year old rum or rhum as they write it in the Philippines is only available in a wooden barrel (inside of the barrel is metal) of 1.5 litres or 3 litres sizes. I have personally only seen the 1.5 litre version of this in the Philippines. The barrel makes a lovely souvenir I think.

The name is Tanduay barrel rhum 18 years I gather.



The Tanduay Centennial rhum was, as said, made for the celebration of 100 years of Philippine independence, and is a single cask rum bottling, so each casks' produce varies some in taste. It is indeed a different beast to the 18-year old, both are highly rated by myself.

[Count Silvio]

Ooh that barrel is nice, I guess I should contact them...

[Count Silvio]

By the way I noticed that these are called rhums rather than rums. They're still molasses based yes?

[JaRiMi]

By the way I noticed that these are called rhums rather than rums. They're still molasses based yes?

To my best knowledge, yes. Its just a language issue I guess (?).