A few of my favourite things......

I think one of the reasons I love alcohol (apart from the seriously obvious ones) are the stories attached to a really great drink. Don't get me wrong I've consumed plenty of average shorts beers and shots and had difficulty piecing nights together but really great single malts, aged rums, first class growths and vintage ales always seem to come with a fluorescent post-it of a yarn. This is either one of three things 1) the drink in question was too rare to forget that the mind has fabricated a memory for your own bank balances sanity or 2) The drink was so incredibly unforgettable that even after a few too many the sub-conscious managed to press record or 3) It was the very first drink of the night/operating heavy machinery. Being a semi-Romantic and all about the 'drinking Limoncello in the Tuscan sun' or 'a glass of Syrah on a hill in Hermitage' I choose to believe number 2).... Every good drink has a good story and most are shared with your favourite people.

I found Matusalem Gran Reserva 15yr old rum about 18months ago and consequently rum became my new Spirit passion. I had never been a fan of white rums, i always got a strong flavour of burnt plastic from some of the more commercial brands and kind of avoided it.This is such an impressive drink in any form- neat, on the rocks or with a Fentimans ginger beer, muddled lime and crushed ice. On the nose it's exactly like an x.o Cognac all dried fruit hints of honey and caramel with notes of vanilla. On the palate it's really full bodied, cherry apricot and black liquorice with such a smooth finish. This is now produced in the Dominican Republic after the family were exiled in the 50's but the story begins in Jerez (sherry country) Spain in the early 1800's. The Alvarez family who had produced Sherry for Generations up and left their homeland for Cuba in the late 1860's. They brought all they knew about fortified wine to the home of fermented sugar cane and recreated the traditional style of Rum. Establishing Matusalem Rum in 1872....

My experience with this rum have only been fantastic nights of good friends, laughter and late nights.........Recommendations don't get any better than this.O&O Ruthx.

Matusalem 15yr €44.90, also available in Deveney's Dundrum white, 7yr old & 10yr old.