Ron Millonario XO hails from deepest darkest Peru. The brand Millonario has been around since 1950 but has only been available globally since 2004.

In 2004 Fabio Rossi (of Rum Nation) visited Peru and discovered the Hacienda Agrícola de Chiclayo where the rum is distilled. Ron Millonario XO is distilled on a Blair, Campbell and McLean column stills. There are two expressions in the Ron Millionario range the Solera 15 and this the XO.

Coming in a very nice square decanter with an equally pleasing cut out box the rum retails at around the £80-90 mark in the UK. The 70cl bottle has an ABV of 40%

In Peru the rum is known as “Millonario” as it was only really available to the very wealthy. The Millonario brand has a very fancy website.

The rum has won many awards over the years and have received several glowing reviews online. It is noted as being a blend of rums aged upto 20 years but no definitive age statement is given. It is a molasses based rum.

In the glass the rum is a copper/red brown it is quite viscous as well. This may have something to do with the 40 g/L of sugar recorded on the Hydrometer Test.

The nose is very, very sweet. It reminds me of boiled fruit sweets. It reminds me a little of Pear Drops – it that same very sweet, slightly artificial note. I’m getting big notes of Orange as well but again more like an Orange bubblegum than Orange Zest – candied fruits and a large waft of cinnamon. I’m not getting any oak aged notes or anything that really resembles rum. Which is a big problem for me!

Sipping this rum – it is not as quite as sweet as the nose might lead you to believe. It’s still very sugary but there is a lot of orange zest making it slightly bitter-sweet. There’s a lot of sickly toffee or caramel and to be entirely honest not a great deal else. The finish is pretty soft and inoffensive but it doesn’t last very long. There are no oak aged notes or any real rum character. No alcohol burn and it is so viscous it feels like you are drinking a liqueur.

As you sip more you get more flavours – some dried fruits mostly – a little raisin, some Christmas pudding perhaps, spices a little clove, some nutmeg perhaps.

Unfortunately though its all wrapped up in sugar syrup. It’s cloying.

As well as having the added sugar I would say its likely that the Hydrometer is also picking up things other than a pure column distillate. Don’t get me wrong a good column distillate can be fantastic but I’ve never tasted one that produced a spirit which is anything like this. And that isn’t a compliment.

After drinking this you are left with a mouthfeel as if you have been eating sweets. For those in the UK this reminds me of our infamous “Blue Pop” drinks which are either Bubblegum or Blueberry flavoured. Cloying and synthetic. I can still smell it in the empty glass from across the room!

If you like Dipmolatico Reserva Exclusiva then this might appeal (I dare say this is even more sickly and concocted). This to my mind really isn’t rum and it certainly isn’t “Premium Sipping Rum”.

Drinkable and as a liqueur acceptable but as a rum? This isn’t rum.

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