The dinner party in celebration of the launch of Zacapa Centenario rum held Saturday, August 29, at The Ruins (UWI Mona Visitors’ Lodge) gave recently appointed Red Stripe managing director Alan Barnes the opportunity to not only unveil the ultra premium Sistema Solera 23 and Solera Grand Reserve, but to unabashedly seduce his dinner guests (his accomplice was culinary stylist Oji Jaja, but more about that later) with a pairing so exquisite that we almost forgot Diageo’s audacity of pouring rum in a country known worldwide for its formidable gold liquid. The audacity yielded amazing results leaving many convinced of its amazing potential.

The Seduction

Packaging is everything, right? But so is the delivery, and the stunning brand manager Rebecca Quinonez can sell snow to Eskimos! So as the ladies studied her shoes and tried to pinpoint the designer of her form-fitting dress, the gentlemen tried desperately to be seduced by naught else save the journey high up in the verdant Guatemalan countryside, under a dramatic backdrop of soaring mountains and active volcanoes and the fact that instead of molasses, Zacapa is produced using only the sweetest, first pressing of sugar cane juice, referred to as ‘virgin honey’.

Zacapa rum then uses a Solera System aging process with the rum resting in selected barrels that once aged boubons, sherries and Pedro Ximenez wines; in the case of XO, the aging occurs in restored French Oak barrels. The cooler altitude in its ‘house above the clouds’ – one and a half miles above sea level – helps Zacapa develop its characteristic colour, body, flavour and aroma.

The amuse-bouche

Signature Ron Zacapa glasses laid on signature rum mats and whether you picked up midst the fruity mélange notes of vanilla, almond, chocolate, toasted wood or delicate hints of spice, something smooth, refreshing and tasty intoxicated the palate. A cube of ice added to the glass afforded the mouth a refreshing swirl.

The magic of culinary stylist Oji Jaja

Chef Oji Jaja started timidly as

he splashed (figuratively speaking

of course) Mango Ron Zacapa 23 over the glazed jumbo prawn on orange and cucumber salad. We were left wanting more (that by the way is what a mouthful of good food is supposed to do). Jaja found his rhythm and expertly ‘handled’ the delicate spicy notes of Ron Zacapa 23 as he infused tomato and mango gazpacho served with avocado quenelle assorted breads and Scotch-infused extra virgin coconut oil.

The tasty mouthfuls of tomato and mango were an unexpected pleasure and pretty ambitious too as the rum could quite easily have overpowered the complexities of the mélange of tomato, mango, avocado and infused extra virgin olive oil.

A shot of Ron Zacapa 23 and passion fruit intermezzo offered a new twist to the oftentimes banal palate cleanser leaving us in good stead for the hot smoked filet mignon on mushroom ragout with sides of poached asparagus, roasted garlic breadfruit purée with Ron Zacapa 23 au jus. The effortless slide of the filet mignon from the knife and fork to the mouth with its smoky flavour, subtle embrace of rum and easy grit of roasted garlic breadfruit purée left us deliberating whether Chef Jaja’s inspiration came from Zacapa Centenario’s brand manager Rebecca Quinonez or from the rum itself. Deliberations would continue way into the dessert course and up to when Douglas Graham’s excellent Blue Mountain coffee was poured. Dessert was by the way an unexpected twist – Ron Zacapa

23 French Toast with fresh seasonal fruit compote and vanilla ice cream.

The curtain closed on a truly formidable dinner with the partnership of Zacapa and Chef Oji Jaja receiving rave reviews. Our heads the morning after felt good too – another positive for Red Stripe since we’ll be buying our own bottles of Zacapa next time, inviting Oji Jaja over (to the kitchen of course) and, since the men would have it no other way, Rebecca Quinonez as the evening’s special guest.