Ron Matusalem Rum 23 Year Old 70cl

Rich, dark-sweet flavour without the sugar-rush vibes, this 23-year-old Ron Matusalem is the bottle you grab when you want rum to feel grown-up and unhurried. It’s an aged sipping rum with real depth, the kind that makes you pause mid-sip and go, “Okay, that’s interesting.”

If your rum shelf is stuck in “cola mixer” mode, this is your reset button. The long ageing builds layered notes (think dessert flavours, not dessert drinks), so you can drink it like you’d drink a whisky, slowly, neat, and actually paying attention.

Ron Matusalem’s story starts in Cuba, but today this rum is produced in the Dominican Republic, keeping that classic Cuban-style elegance while leaning into a richer, oak-driven profile. Translation: it’s polished, not loud, and it doesn’t need a cocktail to show off.

• Nose: Warm caramel, vanilla, toasted oak, and dried fruit (raisins and date-like sweetness).
• Taste: Toffee and cocoa up front, then baking spice, orange peel, and a silky, lingering oak note.
• Finish: Long and cosy, with dark sugar, spice, and gentle wood tannin that keeps it from feeling flat.

How to drink it: start neat if you’re in the mood to taste everything, then try one large ice cube to stretch out the caramel and spice. If you want a cocktail, make it a Rum Old Fashioned, this one can actually carry the drink instead of disappearing.

This is also a smart “whisky drinker’s rum.” If you usually reach for an easy sipper like a Speyside Scotch or a mellow bourbon, this is the rum that makes immediate sense, just with more caramelized fruit and a softer, rounded oak feel.

Age matters here because it’s doing a job, not just flexing on the label. More time in wood means deeper colour, more vanilla and spice from the oak, and a longer finish that sticks around after the sip, which is exactly what you want in a rum made for slow pours.

Fun Fact: Ron Matusalem’s name nods to Methuselah, the famously long-lived biblical figure, basically a cheeky way of saying “we take ageing seriously.”