Abuelo 12 demands ice — it’s too hot to drink without cooling its jets and watering it down a touch — and after that its charms become more apparent. But that smokiness and a greenish character still controls the body, even if it dominates the rum’s natural sweetness somewhat less on the rocks that it does when consumed neat. I like the 12 quite nicely, but the 7 is marginally more satisfying.
Everything about the rum screams at me that I should really like it. But, (and I hate it when I have to write ‘but’) the rum just never seems to find the proper fulcrum to balance the richness with the dryness.
It's delicious neat, doesn't even need an ice cube or water to open up, but it would also make an incredible dark and stirred cocktail such as an Old Fashioned.
