61.3% ABV
We are over the moon to share our second private release from Alambique Serrano, "La Caja de Especies" (The Spice Box)! This rum was made by Rommel, Axel, & William Krassel, 3rd generation distillers in Santa Maria Tlalixtac in the mountainous Cañada region of Oaxaca, Mexico. Their grandfather Max emigrated from Germany in 1930 and landed in Oaxaca where he learned about the distillation of Aguardiente (rum). He eventually designed his own custom continuous "Krassel" still that they use to this day. They produce 2 types of column distillates ("perfiles" or profiles in their parlance); Cañada which is 49-53% ABV, and Cartier 30 which is closer to 70% ABV. This cask was made from the Cartier profile.
The family harvests organic sugarcane from the high elevation hillsides above the distillery. They were certified organic for over 20 years but decided to stop paying the high fees for certification as they bottle off-site and thus cannot put "Organic" on the label. But nothing has changed with their farming practices and the Rum continues to be 100% organic. They usually let the cane sit out for about 1 week prior to pressing. They have 7 sites around their property for milling cane. They disassamble the trapiche (cane press), and transport it from site to site via mules. They have a team of 9 mules to take the 27 loads of equipment from site to site. The fresh pressed juice is gravity fed to their distillery via a series of hoses that stretch up to 5 km to reach their facility. The fresh cane juice is filtered and spontaneously fermented with native, ambient yeasts for 6-10 days in stainless steel and pine tanks.
This distillate was aged for 4 years in new French oak barrels in their humid underground cellar that sits next to a verdant river next to the distillery. It was bottled at cask strength with no additives of any kind and a 13% angels share or loss to evaporation. We named it "The Spice Box" because it has an almost bizarrely strong aroma of star anise, clove, and Mexican cinnamon. Dangerously drinkable, it has notes on the palate of brown sugar, fennel seed, coffee cake, leather, and a bit of pepper. A full flavored, singular rum, it is emminently mixable. We love it in spirit forward applications like Rum Old Fashioned's and Manhattans. It makes a fascinating Sazerac, and due to the strong anise character, you can omit the absinthe.
