ADVANCED MIXOLOGY
THAT’S THE SPIRIT
A Versatile Luxury Rum Experience DOS MADERAS RUMS AGING PROCESS YIELDS UNIQUE AND EXCLUSIVE SPIRITS By Christina Staalstrom
COMBINE AGED CARIBBEAN RUMS WITH
150-years of enduring tradition and art of blending sherry and brandy at Bodegas Williams & Humbert in Spain’s Jerez region, and you get very compelling rums. Add to this perfect composition the awardwinning and passionate Paola Medina Sheldon, winemaker and master blender, and you get a unique and exclusive rum. Paola joined Bodegas Williams & Humbert in 2010 as its technical director and winemaker after creating wine for Ciudad Real. She belongs to the second generation of the Medina family, which owns Bodegas Williams & Humbert. She grew up in the business surrounded by butts and barrels filled with vintages ready for blending, as is called for in the classic Solera aging system. So, it is no wonder that Paola turned to barrels when putting her blending and tasting skills into producing the unique Dos Maderas Rums. Dos Maderas, meaning “two woods,” is a reference to the rums double aging process. A blend of Guyanese and Barbados rums age in the Caribbean in American oak casks in their respective production countries. Afterward, the rum travels to the Williams & Humbert bodega in Jerez de la Frontera, where they are blended and age further, solera-style, in ex-sherry casks, making for a rum with tremendous character and balance of flavor.
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CHILLED MAGAZINE
Paola tells us that she aims to achieve two flavor profiles by selecting aged Caribbean rums and unique aging processes. Dos Maderas is aged using the criaderas and solera systems whereby the rum is aged in casks, which have been previously aged with its 20-years-old Palo Cortado “Dos Cortados” and the 20-years-old Pedro Ximénez “Don Guido.” “These casks, like no others, contribute their unique characteristics and define the organoleptic expression that becomes Dos Maderas.”
