The rum world is changing rapidly. As the category continues to premiumize, producers are relentlessly searching for new ways to cultivate interesting expressions. From special-cask finishes to single-origin rums, there are countless ways to create a unique sugarcane spirit. 

That includes the way producers deal with the barrels themselves, including unique char profiles to create different notes and flavors in the liquid. 

While this has been increasingly common in the French Caribbean, it’s not a technique that has been widely adopted in other parts of the region. 

Now, one of the Caribbean’s most legendary rum brands, the Dominican Republic’s Brugal, is getting into that space in a very interesting way. 

On its face, the idea is to create specialized cask toasting profiles. By using certain intensities and locations of charring, specific flavor notes can be realized. 

But Brugal is taking things to another level — using the desired flavor note’s real ingredient to do the charring. In this first instance, the company actually put cacao beans inside to char the casks, then removed them.

It’s an innovative new methodology — the spirit itself is completely unadulterated, but the casks themselves become something new, something different, led by Brugal’s maestra ronera, Jassil Villanueva. Brugal calls the process an “Aromatic Cask Toasting Technique.”

These casks are then used to “finish” Brugal’s more traditional aged rum product.

The result is Brugal’s new Coleccion Visionaria.

So what’s it like? 

The rum has a pleasant aroma of vanilla, oak and, yes, dark chocolate. 

The flavor profile is marked by vanilla bean, cacao beans and a whisper of tropical fruit. 

The finish is smooth, balanced and clean, what you’d expect from a rum in virgin oak. 

It doesn’t taste like any rum you’ve had before from Brugal, and the cacao note is unmistakable, without the addition of any synthetic ingredients or additives. Brugal hasn’t revealed the age statement on the rum, but for an exercise like this the age really isn’t the point.

This is much an intellectual experiment as a limited-edition rum, and the result is something very interesting indeed. I’m excited to see what Brugal comes up with next. 

Rum Journal Review

92 Points