This term - like me - is sadly dated. I used to follow the rum reviewers meticulously and I can still remember when I first came upon the term, whose antecedent was the term "funk". It was used by a certain Canadian reviewer - whose reviews were more intended to demonstrate his verbal facility and vocabulary. Soon enough other quasi-reviewers picked up the term in copycat fashion. No one really knew what "hogo" actually meant, nor where it came from. It got so bad that an expensive rum bar named "Hogo" was opened in Washington D.C., and soon enough closed. So should the term.
So WTF is "hogo"?
No one really knows, but it sounds funky and cool, eh? The owner of Washington's "Hogo" called in term of "terroir" (which actually means something.
“It’s terroir-driven,” he says. “The place where the rum is made stamps its mark in a multitude of ways.” The environment, growing techniques, harvesting, processing, molasses production, type of still (pot stills tend to bring in the funk more so than column stills) and even the type of water used all play a part, he says.
Wow, so knowing. And so bushwa. Rum really has no "terroir" (sense of place). A tip top wine taster - by nothing more than taste - not only identify the grape, but also the country, region, state and even locale. Not rum, not now, not ever. However "hogo" has come to mean unusual, strong or differing flavors. Thus the "hogo" of a Cuban rum differs from a Barbadian, and from a Jamaican. Based on this, we can forget about styles. Apparently each country, and even individual rums may have it's own "hogo".
It gets worse. Another panel member - literally - spewed the following:
I almost spit up myself when I read that, lol. What have we come to?“Hogo flavors are extremely expressive, often to the point of saturating the parts of the palate they touch,” says Parrott. “Dilution, whether with one’s own saliva while sipping neat or in a cocktails, can really open them up.”
The reality:
In the same article Joy Spence of Appleton was cornered and forced to submit to the notion: "Her personal definition of hogo is “one of powerful ester notes intertwined with funky nutty and fatty acid flavors.” This is much closer to the truth, and Spence should know. The forerunner of all of this was the early reporting by Dave Broom, and also here at the Project of the use of "dunder" in the making of Jamaican rum. This refers to the unique history of Jamaican rum, wherein the "leftovers" from fermentation and distillation were literally stored in large open "dunder pits". The dunder was then stored for many years - as a result the dunder had years to develop extremely complex esters and other elements of flavor and aroma.
A measure of dunder was then added to new fermentations, which now were immediately more complex, having been seeded with the dunder. These complex and deep notes - think tar - have become an identifiable feature of Jamaican rums. Just like "vanilla","orange" or "coconut" (all common to rums), "dunder" is a fair descriptor of Jamaican rums. None of the other styles or origins (Barbadian, Cane Juice, Demeraran, Cuban, et al) really use dunder, and thus lack many of those uniquely Jamaican dunder tones.
Now in terms of reviews, the Project was early in identifying and promoting the Jamaican style (inspired by Dave Broom), and frequently used "dunder" as a proper descriptor. Later I noticed the misuse of the word "funky", which became "funk", which became "hogo" - all used in Jamaican rum reviews, and then voila! The term "hogo" then got a life of its own, and became a mark of alleged knowingness by erstwhile rum reviewer.
"Hogo" became "cool" and "knowing" - I'm surprised you can't buy "I love hogo" t-shirts. The word which came from nowhere, now expanded to describe ALL rums - each now had it's own "hogo". And if all the different rums of the world now had their own "hogo", then "hogo" returned to meaning exactly nothing. OTOH "dunder" actually means something specific, and can be further described in Jamaican rums - think a combination from "dark, tarry, pungent, diesel, medicinal, rancio, musty, oily, sulfury", etc." "Tarry" is a great entry into how "dunder" really is.
But "hogo"?! Give me a break. It's time for this useless term, which has only become overused to the point of meaninglessness - it's time to obliterate its use. Rum deserves better.
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https://www.liquor.com/articles/hogo-rum/
