La Oficina

Didn't have Don Q Gran Anejo, so made this with another light, Spanish style, column distilled aged rum (Ron Matusalem 18 year solera), along with Ango orange bitters and Lustau Don Nuno oloroso.  Quite nice, I enjoyed it.  For an old fashioned style drink, this goes down exceedingly easy, with the vanilla and caramel notes of the rum nicely complimented by the nutty, dried fruit notes of the sherry, with a touch of citrus from the orange.  Given the base, it is somewhat light, so I'd suggest going easy on the stir count.  I didn't get much from the cinnamon syrup myself (and I used a pretty strong sous vide cinnamon syrup), might try swapping out the mole bitters for the cinnamon bomb Fee Brother's Barrel Aged bitters next time.

Thanks for trying it. I haven't had that Matusalem. I don't think of the DQGA as especially light in body for its style. (Although, like all Don Q rums, the flavors are fairly ethereal—the other ingredients are just working to amplify them here.) That said, this is certainly a lighter drink for its category, compared to an OF-style drink made with a fuller-bodied or more robustly flavored rum. I used Grant's "La Garrocha" Oloroso, which is fairly intense and concentrated (as well as tannic), as a way of anchoring the structure a bit. Thanks again.

What a smart way of elevating rum with sherry. And I love how the bitters and cinnamon syrup play together.

While it has that "mildly diesel" characteristic that some rums and sherries have, it has it in the best way possible. Truly a worthy successor of the Old-Fashioned, and if more beverage programs carried Oloroso Sherry as a matter of course, this would already be considered a modern classic on par with the Oaxacan Old-Fashioned. Is the oxidative taste of oloroso an acquired taste? Sure! But no more so than the smokiness of Islay scotch or mezcal is an acquired taste. It pairs amazingly with an aged rum and the resulting combination brings to mind an excellent solera rum. Great slow sipper. For my taste, I admit I prefer a plain Diplomatico old-fashioned with Mole bitters, but I can appreciate well-achieved balance when I see it, even if the drink isn't for me. The faint cinnamon touch really rounds out the drink. I used Juliette Laroui's recipe for cinnamon syrup, which works nicely with the sherry already in this spec. In a nutshell? Exquisite.