spanish cobbler

2 oz Dry Sack Medium Sherry
3/4 oz Dos Maderas 5+3 Rum
1/2 oz Pineapple Syrup

Shake with ice, and strain into a rock glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with raspberries.

On Wednesday at Tales of the Cocktail was the one day where we had very little interest in the talks since their focus was more hardcore industry rather than enthusiast. Therefore, we hit a decent number of tasting rooms. One of the best ones that day was the Dos Maderas rum room. This spirit blends rums from Barbados and Guyana and ages them first in whiskey then in sherry casks which impart a rather intriguing finish. They had both their 5+3 and their 5+5 products for tasting with the latter being more elegant due to an additional aging step in Pedro Ximénez sherry barrels.

Besides straight spirits tasting, they had Freddy Diaz and Julio Cabrera of Alambiq Mixology Consulting making a few exquisite cocktails featuring the rum. Well, the first one I had, the Spanish Cobbler, focused more on sherry with the Dos Maderas playing a strong second fiddle and bolstering the strength of the drink. The nose was filled with sherry and berries which made for a congruous fruit aroma. On the sip, the Cobbler was pretty dry, and the rum and the pineapple delightfully complemented the sherry.

One other drink I had there was this one:

El Quijote
• 1 oz Dos Maderas 5+3 Rum
• 1 oz Gran Duque d'Alba Brandy
• 1/4 oz Dry Sack Sherry
• 1/4 oz Simple Syrup
• 2 dash Angostura Cuban Cigar Bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with a grapefruit twist.

The El Quijote had a grapefruit aroma that led into a Spanish brandy and rum-flavored sip. Moreover, the cigar bitters donated some interesting flavors on the swallow. Most notable was the presentation of the bitters which was a long dropper bottle inserted into the wrapper of a cigar. Well, also notable was Dos Maderas' generosity by providing me with a fine cigar that really added to the experience of an outdoor event later that evening.