Internationally acclaimed Grammy-winning Puerto Rican musician José Feliciano, (“Feliz …

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The growth of cask-finished rums has skyrocketed in recent years, as more and more distillers look to add new personalities and characters to rums. 

It’s a reminder of the power of the barrel to imbue flavor, of the importance of the years rums spend in wood after their brief sojourns in pot and column stills. 

In the Caribbean rum stronghold of Puerto Rico, it was for decades that only one distiller on the island, the venerable Ron del Barrilito, was finishing its rums in ex-sherry casks, to great success.

More recently, though, Puerto Rico’s popular Don Q got into the cask-finishing game with the Don Q Vermouth Cask Finish. 

It was a very good rum, one that scored 89 points in our tasting, but the effect of the vermouth was, to be fair, a bit heavy on the palate. 

Don Q’s most recent cask-finish endeavor, though, is a major step forward. 

The newest cask-finish expression from Puerto Rico is the Don Q Sherry Cask Finish Rum, one Rum Journal tried on a recent stop in San Juan.

The newest Don Q takes rums aged from five to eight years in American oak barrels before placing them for an additional year in Spanish Oloroso sherry casks. 

So what is it like?

The Don Q Sherry Cask Finish has a muted aroma of brown sugar, tropical fruit, brown sugar and a hint of vanilla. 

The flavor profile is marked by cane stalk, malt, vanilla, dried mango, banana and a slightly herbal whisper. 

The luxurious but fine rum concludes with a round but robust finish, edgy but elegant. 

It’s better balanced than the Don Q Vermouth, the rum and sherry personalities working together, with neither overwhelming the other. 

The result is an excellent rum, another reminder that, with few exceptions, sherry casks seem to marry best with the romantic personality of rum. 

Rum Journal Review

91 Points

The post Rum Journal: A Sherry-Finished Rum From Puerto Rico appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Caribbean’s fastest-growing hotel brand is coming to the French side of St Martin.

The highly-anticipated Secrets St Martin Resort and Spa will be making its debut on Feb. 1, 2020, Caribbean Journal has learned.

The adults-only, all-inclusive resort is the latest for Apple Leisure Group’s surging AMResorts subsidiary, which closed the first half of this year with almost 9,000 hotel rooms in development in the wider Caribbean-Mexico region.

A rendering of a suite at the new Secrets St Martin.

The resort, which is set on Anse Marcel in St Martin, is a transformation of the former Riu Palace St Martin, which shuttered in the wake of Hurricane Irma in 2017.

While the all-inclusive concept is unique in St Martin, the marketing power and infrastructure of AMResorts and Apple Leisure could be a significant injection of energy into the French side of the island.

The property has been in the midst of a $20 million renovation project that began shortly after AMResorts signed the management deal with property owner Sole Resorts in the summer of 2018.

The all-inclusive resort will have a total of 258 suites, with amenities like 24-hour room service, twice-daily housekeeping and a daily refreshed minibar, among others, along with the Secrets brand’s signature Pevonia spa.

Anse Marcel, a spectacular beach in St Martin.

Secrets St Martin will have six dining concepts. ranging from a poolside grill to a coffee bar to the Italian-inspired Portofino.

It will mark the first-ever AMResorts property in the French Caribbean, and a big addition to a corner of the Caribbean with a small room stock largely comprised of mostly tiny hotels (along with the beloved Grand Case Club, St Martin’s most popular place to stay).

Secrets St Martin “takes its inspiration from the island’s radiant surroundings, steeped in Caribbean-European and French roots,” the company said.

The property will also include an exceptionally large infinity pool, according to the company.

Secrets St Martin will join existing Secrets resorts in four other destinations in the Caribbean Basin, including the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Jamaica and Costa Rica.

For more, visit Secrets St Martin.

— CJ

The post St Martin Is Getting a Major New All-Inclusive Resort appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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… 2013–2017, 10 states and Puerto Rico saw increases in the percentage … report include:
Ten states and Puerto Rico saw the percentage of children …

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By Alexander Britell

One of the Caribbean’s most legendary resorts is making its long-awaited comeback in the second quarter of 2020, Caribbean Journal has learned.

The historic Rosewood Little Dix Bay resort on Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands is set to relaunch on March 1, 2020.

The company is already taking reservations for stays beginning March 1, according to Rosewood’s website.

What a cottage will look like.

Rosewood Little Dix Bay, set a spectacular crescent of sand in the southwestern corner of Virgin Gorda, will have a mix of cottages, suites and large villas.

Food and beverage concepts will be comprised of the Sugar Mill eatery, the “wholesome slow food”-focused Pavilion; the Rum Room, an open-air rum bar; and The Reef House, offering a farm-to-table culinary experience.

The beach at Little Dix Bay is one of the most beautiful in this corner of the Caribbean.

And yes, the resort’s renowned Sense, a Rosewood Spa, will return, along with a fitness center with state-of-the-art training equipment.

The resort will feature two pools: the Pavilion Pool, set at the edge of the beach, and the spa infinity pool, a tiered ocean-view pool.

It will be a triumphant return for a hotel that has been closed since 2016, when it began a large-scale, multimillion-dollar renovation project.

That project came to a halt in 2017, when Hurricane Irma came through the BVI.

Now, the renovation and transformation of the resort, the largest of the property since Laurance Rockefeller founded the property more than a half century ago.

Its reopening will reestablish Little Dix Bay as arguably the premier resort in the BVI, joining a luxury portfolio in the archipelago that includes standouts like Guana Island and Scrub Island, among others.

It will be another jolt for the tourism sector in the wider Virgin Islands chain, which will soon see the relaunch of the Ritz-Carlton, St Thomas, the Marriott Frenchman’s Cove and the Renaissance Carambola in St Croix, all in the next year.

It’s also a significant boost for Rosewood’s Caribbean portfolio, which expanded last year with the debut of the Rosewood Baha Mar in The Bahamas and will soon grow with the planned launch of the Rosewood Half Moon Bay in Antigua. (Rosewood also has a resort in the Mayakoba development on the Caribbean coast of Mexico.)

For more, visit Rosewood Little Dix BayRosewood Little Dix Bay.

The post An Iconic Caribbean Rosewood Resort Is Returning in 2020 appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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