Santa Teresa 1796 70cl

Santa Teresa 1796 is Venezuela's flagship sipping rum, made at the Hacienda Santa Teresa — the country's oldest estate, founded in the year the bottle is named for. What sets it apart is the method: this is a solera rum, aged the way a fine sherry is, with older and younger spirit cascading through a tiered system so that every bottle carries a fraction of very old rum.

The blend brings together pot and column still rums aged anywhere from four to thirty-five years, matured through the solera and finished in French Limousin oak. It is bottled dry at 40% with no added sugar — unusual for a Latin-style rum, and the reason it reads as elegant rather than sticky.

The nose is layered: salted vanilla caramel, caramelised plantain, toasted coconut and a curl of pipe tobacco. The palate is smooth and gently sweet — butterscotch, dried fruit, molasses and more of that tobacco. The finish carries caramelised banana, black tea, walnut and toffee, and lingers longer than 40% might lead you to expect. Poised, without tipping into cloying.

Reach for it when you want something refined but not challenging — an after-dinner pour that suits newcomers and old hands alike. Neat is best, though it takes a single cube of ice happily.

How to Serve

Neat in a tumbler, or with one large cube. No water needed at 40%.

Where to Drink It

American Bar at The Savoy — an elegant setting for a sipping rum. Scarfes Bar at the Rosewood — armchairs and a good back bar. The Connaught Bar — for something after dinner.

Food Pairings

Crema catalana, or a plate of dark chocolate and toasted walnuts.