Rum Ruminations

@RianC rum was my first alcoholic beverage love, but it disappoints me 80% of the time as a sipper. I'd love to see purity of the product without additives, but failing that, transparency of information as to what was put into the bottle. I see little, if any, incentive for the rum industry to provide either purity of the product, or transparency of information, going forward. The mass market rules the commercial world, not the 1% of connoisseur neat sippers. I think the best we can expect is for some special products to be made for the connoisseurs, at a premium price, I would expect.

I’m delving more and more into the rum world, and it seems that duplicitous practices are just as prevalent there as they are in the whisky world. I wouldn’t necessarily say I am against “dosing”, I would just like transparency. I feel the same way about whisky. Bearface One Eleven is quite open about the “mezcal-type additive from Oaxaca” in their whisky.

I believe that Jamaica and Barbados prohibit the use of sugar additives in their rums, but I’m not 100% sure. So that would make Appleton, Foursquare, J Wray & Nephew, and Mount Gay (among others) safe bets for purity.

@RianC

Very useful chart, if accurate.

Very surprised that Flor de Cana, which is the furthest from artisanal that you can get, appears to be relatively additive free. Surprised, but pleasantly so, as that is the first rum I really ever explored... in Nicaragua. Of course, there, it was 35%.

@Nozinan I believe the “no additives” for Flor de Caña has been confirmed by multiple sources. The sneaky and less than honest practice on their part is the big number on the bottle, which isn’t actually an age statement. Sources are incredibly vague and often disagree with one another about what the numbers actually mean. I had the FdC 12 at a wedding and I didn’t care for it as a neat sipper. Decent for a Cuba (or Nicaragua) Libre though.

@Victor - Good points and you're most probably bang on about the industry keeping the status quo. PErsonally, I have no problem with spiced rums using additives, which I guess is the point, right? But do think that, like whisky, aiming for more transparency on the bottles designed for sipping would be welcome.

Re the chart - I was surprised at how much additives El Dorado seemingly use. I've had the 12 and liked it, but it was definitely very sweet, from memory. Hey, if you like that style, fine, but it would be nice for them to at least have to state somewhere on the bottle that 'additives' have been used. I'm not even sure that such an admission would put that many off buying a bottle, especially if they enjoy it!?

@RianC I've known several people who were big fans of El Dorado 12 yo Rum. It is not for me. Thin texture, and fakey sweetness. I am VERY relieved that I never bought a bottle on the recommendation of others. Looking at that list of testing for additives, all of the rums I like but one, Lemon Hart 151, are in the "0-5" additives category. Lemon Hart 151 is like fission in your mouth. The effect is so intense, it is kind of hard to try to ferret out whether there is anything artificial in there.

AND, everybody seems to be talking about "additives" as though that is one specific thing, sugar/caramel related, apparently. It could be anything! You don't know what you are drinking if undeclared and unspecified additives are allowed at all.

@Victor - Aye, very true! Considering most countries have to state exactly what goes into food and (non alcoholic) drinks I think it's a bit 'rum' that spirits in general, but especially rum, aren't held to the same standards. It all goes into our bodies, does it not?

@Victor I’m surprised that Havana Club Anejo 7 Year is in the 0-5 range. Interesting. I did enjoy it, and now I may become a repeat buyer.

Pusser's Navy Rum...does anyone know if where they source their rum from changes? An old review I found has a photo of a label that says it's a blend of rums from Antigua, the British Virgin Islands, and Guyana, the current LCBO inventory says it's from Barbados (the label on the bottle usef for the inventory item photo backs this up), but the actual bottles on LCBO shelves says it's distilled and bottled by Demerara Distillers Ltd. of Guyana, which the Pusser's website backs up...

@YakLord I don’t know....but Pusser’s standard offering (42% abv) is a mainstay of my shelf. Yummy sweet butterscotch and rummy goodness.

@OdysseusUnbound Yeah, it's the standard Blue Label Pusser's. I ordered it (same day pickup) with some other Bajan rums because the LCBO inventory (and the inventory item photo - see attached) says it's from Barbados, but the label on the bottle they gave me - and the Pusser's website - says it's from DDL in Guyana...not that I'm upset, because I like Guyanese rum, but it was supposed to be the sixth rum in a Bajan Rum Tasting...

Recently picked up Foursquare 2008 60% and loved it. That's all I got to say.

This weekend's virtual rum tasting line up... I'm going to add a sample of the Pusser's Navy Rum to it, as the bottle I picked up recently is also a DDL product, and touts the use of the Port Mourant wooden stills...

All six El Dorado rums, plus Pusser's Navy Rum on the left. Favourite of the wooden still rums: the nose on the Port Mourant and the palate on the Versailles. If the age statements rums, the hands down winner was the 21 year old. The less added sugar, the more vibrant the rum. All three single still rums had a freshness and vibrancy that the added sugar in the blends muted and smoothed out, but you can certainly smell the influence of each of them on the respective aged blends (Enmore and the 12yr, Port Mourant and the Pusser's and the 15yr, and Versailles on the 21yr).

Tonight was another rum night for me. I finished my Foursquare Premise. I’m sad that it took until the last 1/3 of the bottle for me to “understand” this one, but I’m glad I did. After the FS, I had a generous pour of Real McCoy 12 Year. Despite the lower abv (40%), this one is rich and full of character. Butterscotch, raisins, brown sugar. Yum.

My daughter brought me a bottle of Havana Club, "Cuba Smokey", a 7 year Rum partially aged in Islay casks. Sadly only 40% and only 7g/l sugar, shown right on their web site.

@Astroke the sight of a Hazelburn label never fails to grab my attention, even in a rum thread.

I’ve been sitting on this pair of big, bold Caronis. Waiting for the right time to pull them out.

@MRick I should have had the picture of the Rum Cask Hazelburn from Kensington Wine Market instead :)

@paddockjudge Serious bookends for sure. They would send all the Foursquare Rums home to mommy :) I guess I should have been following up on KWM more often

@paddockjudge

I think that they would benefit from transportation to more southern climes, to ensure safety when opening, of course...

@Astroke - 7g/L of sugar isn't a lot of added sugar, all things considered (the El Dorado 12 year old has somewhere around 39g/L), and is really barely more than what you'd get from the cask (0-5g/L is considered no added sugars, only natural sugars extracted from the barrel itself, so if that's accurate, they're only adding ~2g to 3g/L, which is a paltry amount).

The less sugar the better, although I haven't yet found a rum cask aged whisky I've liked, so I'm not at all sold on an Islay whisky cask aged rum...but going back to the start, using an Islay cask would make it 2nd or 3rd Fill (Bourbon, 1st Fill with Islay whisky, and maybe a 2nd Fill with Islay whisky, before sending it to Cuba), so I'm not sure how much natural sugars there would be left to extract from the cask.

@YakLord The noting of the sugar/additive content was more of a reflection of the HC website transparency. My daughter picked it up because she knew I liked Whisky and thought I would like it. Not sure I will like it, but I will give it a try.

@Astroke - Kudos to Havana Club for their transparency. I wish more rum distillers were more clear about what went into their products.

Someone recently introduced me to the Dark and Stormy and I really enjoyed it. What rum would you recommend for this drink?

@broadwayblue isn't the Dark and Stormy a Gosling's Rum based drink? Try it with Gosling's Rum; then try it with Gosling's 151 proof. It should be great with Smith & Cross Traditional Jamaican Rum (Navy Strength) also, or with Lemon Hart 151.

@Victor isn’t every rum cocktail terrific with S&C ?

@OdysseusUnbound I would think so.

Did @Nozinan give you a sample of Lemon Hart 151?

My first experience of Lemon Hart 151 was at lunch at my late wife's place of employment, the Four Seasons Hotel Washington, D.C. I ordered a neat pour at lunch. Holy Crap! It could take an hour to sip down the intensity of a shot of Lemon Hart 151. I was immediately hooked. After he had also had the experience @Nozinan followed.

@Victor Goslings patented the drink even though they didn’t invent it. It calls for their Black Seal rum. I like it but you have to like ginger beer.

@Victor Yes, I do believe it is a Gosling's based drink and from what I've read I think technically it has to include it to be called a D&S. But I was wondering what other rums might be recommended. I'll check out the S&C as I think I saw that at my local shop. Thanks for the suggestions.