http://cocktailwonk.com/2016/02/the-mos ... world.html
A great look at one of the world's biggest behind-the-scenes players.
Essential reading for those who want to know how brands source their product and attempt to maintain consistency.
Very well written, too. Great job, Wonk!
Blending: who does it, why and does it work? A MUST READ!
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The Black Tot
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Capn Jimbo
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Brilliant, simply brilliant. A must read. After you sign the petition of course...
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/rum ... e-rum.html
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/rum ... e-rum.html
I suspect that they have the money, contacts on all sides, and success in selling stock out to various different parties. Remember also they have been at it for a long time.AK9 wrote:Brilliant article.
So this is where the rums disappear into blends.
How come they manage to have so much power and be the in betweeners?
Many "brand name" products with little information about actual country of production (or a statement, but meaning very little actually - because it is "OK" in rum business) come from such a company no doubt. And independent's buy from this company small parcels of interesting casks from various distilleries.
Blending - well, I have mixed feelings about this. At best it may mean that individually not so palatable components are blended together at different ratios, giving a more complex and versatile rum to taste. Only too often it means that rum is blended to anonymity, and also sugars etc are "blended" in. Oddly also...the best rums I have tasted have been single distillery - some even single cask rums. Just like in whiskies. Go figure...Maybe I am just not understanding blends.
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Capn Jimbo
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J...
...an interesting concern. In the world of pure single malts and Scotch whiskys, it was long held that the blends were in general - lower priced and of somehow lower quality than the more expensive and more valued single malts. There were exceptions of course like Johnny Walker's Green Label.
Then along came Jon Glaser and Compass Box who believed that he could achieve amazing and more complex blends by marrying truly select choices of both single malts and special grain whiskys. His method accrues first by his imagining a concept insofar as a potentially brilliant profile, then laboriously searching for and acquiring the hard to find components to achieve his imagined profile. Further, he then experimented with very expensive and custom cooperage and involved aging schedules to further add intriguing aromas and tastes.
The result was a string of VERY respected blends that simply had no equal, were of tip top quality in every regard - from the distillates, the cooperage, the painstaking development (some took years), et al. And don't forget some of the excellent blends offered by Walker, Ballantine, et al, which are truly fine and relatively consistent drams.
But how about rum?
The problem with rum of course is the rogue nature long ago coined here. Rogue rum first of all, is unpredictable. Most of it is not rum, but a rum-based concoction of undisclosed sugars, glycerol, flavorings and wine. A blend of this shite, remains shite. A pig with lipstick - like Clinton - is still a pig, lol.
But then there are distillers like Seales who is quite clear that a good blend will always be better than say a single barrel. Of course he's right. No single barrel, like no single malt, can offer the complexity of a blend of two or more well matched, well made, well aged pure spirits.
Ralfy too once proffered that we all ought to experiment with what he called "Rumsky" - wherein he suggested adding a tiny amount of a good smoky Islay to a rum for a new and interesting profile. BTW, I tried this and Sue Sea and I were astounded (positively) at the result.
So who is right? Are blends better? Is JaRiMi missing something? It is not yet clear. Although I recognize that Mount Gay and Appleton do in fact, make lovely blends, as does Seales, I also recognize that most rum is a blend of disparate non-rum component, pigs with lipstick.
It's thus the, uh, a turkeyshoot (forgive me), lol... your thoughts?
...an interesting concern. In the world of pure single malts and Scotch whiskys, it was long held that the blends were in general - lower priced and of somehow lower quality than the more expensive and more valued single malts. There were exceptions of course like Johnny Walker's Green Label.
Then along came Jon Glaser and Compass Box who believed that he could achieve amazing and more complex blends by marrying truly select choices of both single malts and special grain whiskys. His method accrues first by his imagining a concept insofar as a potentially brilliant profile, then laboriously searching for and acquiring the hard to find components to achieve his imagined profile. Further, he then experimented with very expensive and custom cooperage and involved aging schedules to further add intriguing aromas and tastes.
The result was a string of VERY respected blends that simply had no equal, were of tip top quality in every regard - from the distillates, the cooperage, the painstaking development (some took years), et al. And don't forget some of the excellent blends offered by Walker, Ballantine, et al, which are truly fine and relatively consistent drams.
But how about rum?
The problem with rum of course is the rogue nature long ago coined here. Rogue rum first of all, is unpredictable. Most of it is not rum, but a rum-based concoction of undisclosed sugars, glycerol, flavorings and wine. A blend of this shite, remains shite. A pig with lipstick - like Clinton - is still a pig, lol.
But then there are distillers like Seales who is quite clear that a good blend will always be better than say a single barrel. Of course he's right. No single barrel, like no single malt, can offer the complexity of a blend of two or more well matched, well made, well aged pure spirits.
Ralfy too once proffered that we all ought to experiment with what he called "Rumsky" - wherein he suggested adding a tiny amount of a good smoky Islay to a rum for a new and interesting profile. BTW, I tried this and Sue Sea and I were astounded (positively) at the result.
So who is right? Are blends better? Is JaRiMi missing something? It is not yet clear. Although I recognize that Mount Gay and Appleton do in fact, make lovely blends, as does Seales, I also recognize that most rum is a blend of disparate non-rum component, pigs with lipstick.
It's thus the, uh, a turkeyshoot (forgive me), lol... your thoughts?
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The Black Tot
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I think Glaser, Ralfy, yourself AND Jarimi are right.
Great single barrels are a joy unto themselves.
Blending them can make them even better.
But when it comes to rums, I prefer to have control over that process and do the blending that I choose, should I wish to experiment.
Velier's recent "blended in the barrel" efforts of Diamond and Port Morant are truly excellent. But when I drink the connoisseur rums I do like them to be single origin and barrel, because I like to think of the still, and to contemplate the character of specific batches, so as to over time have a good idea of the range of output that a particular still can deliver.
It seems OK where Glaser is concerned because there are just so many great malts out there to choose from. The world of single barrel high quality rums is so small that I'm not sure we can spare them into blends at this point in history.
Richard of course can do it, because he's in control of Foursquare's production and can make as much as he likes!
I'll help him build new warehouses on my time off if he asks!
Great single barrels are a joy unto themselves.
Blending them can make them even better.
But when it comes to rums, I prefer to have control over that process and do the blending that I choose, should I wish to experiment.
Velier's recent "blended in the barrel" efforts of Diamond and Port Morant are truly excellent. But when I drink the connoisseur rums I do like them to be single origin and barrel, because I like to think of the still, and to contemplate the character of specific batches, so as to over time have a good idea of the range of output that a particular still can deliver.
It seems OK where Glaser is concerned because there are just so many great malts out there to choose from. The world of single barrel high quality rums is so small that I'm not sure we can spare them into blends at this point in history.
Richard of course can do it, because he's in control of Foursquare's production and can make as much as he likes!
I'll help him build new warehouses on my time off if he asks!In whisky - as in most other commodities - quality has rarely been as formidable motive as financial gain.Capn Jimbo wrote:J...
...an interesting concern. In the world of pure single malts and Scotch whiskys, it was long held that the blends were in general - lower priced and of somehow lower quality than the more expensive and more valued single malts. There were exceptions of course like Johnny Walker's Green Label.
Original blends of malts (before the coffey stills and cheap grain whisky) where attempts to marry various features of the whiskies together, because "as such" they were seen as too powerful to the palate - or too weak to sell as such. So you took some supersmoky Islay, then a triple-distilled lowlander, and smoothed out the rough spots with some Speyside's finest that also gave this blend robust, sherried body for example. Voila! You have a blend that appeals to more folks than any of the components on their own - a middle of the road product, so to speak.
Another benefit was of course that by blending the whisky shops of the time were aiming to create a mass-market product instead of a one-off success. A brilliant single cask is only some hundred bottles - by blending it with other not-so-great, it would yield much more sellable whisky (and you'd got rid of those pesky casks that were not good as such). If one achieved a nice mix which sold well, the next challenge was to try and maintain this achieved character in the next batches. As such, the blended whisky was formulated usually fairly "safe" from components which were A)not exceptional casks (tough to find again), and B) component whiskies that one could expect to be readily available for the next years to come.
Later on the invention of Coffey still and it's rapid spread in Scotland (as opposed to Ireland) allowed much cheaper grain whisky to be added to the blends in chosen amounts, making the blends a way to create acceptably tasty whisky a lot cheaper. This, as we know, was one key point to Scotch's march over Irish around the world. I think the times were changing also in terms of what people felt was good or fashionable: Just as Bacardi became fashionable due to coffey stills producing a new, "lighter" style of rum, people took readily to a lighter style of whisky in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
My point is - Cognac and Brandy (perhaps shockingly digested from a large tumbler with a healthy dose of soda water in those days - so the world has changed!) had been the favorite tipple of good, upper-class folk until the Phylloxera epidemic. Whisky had always played the 2nd fiddle , Scotch especially so (Irish dominated the markets until mid-1800s) because of its rougher, more potent palate. Blends were a way to make whisky appeal to a larger population, nothing more.
I personally struggle to say much good about blended whisky today when comparing it to single malts and single cask whiskies (which of course vary immensely in quality - but the best of them are like rare jewels).Then along came Jon Glaser and Compass Box who believed that he could achieve amazing and more complex blends by marrying truly select choices of both single malts and special grain whiskys. His method accrues first by his imagining a concept insofar as a potentially brilliant profile, then laboriously searching for and acquiring the hard to find components to achieve his imagined profile. Further, he then experimented with very expensive and custom cooperage and involved aging schedules to further add intriguing aromas and tastes.
The result was a string of VERY respected blends that simply had no equal, were of tip top quality in every regard - from the distillates, the cooperage, the painstaking development (some took years), et al. And don't forget some of the excellent blends offered by Walker, Ballantine, et al, which are truly fine and relatively consistent drams.
There are blends that I have tasted which are a bloody good effort to create a still outstanding whisky in large quantities for a reasonable price for the markets. A few opinions b(both positive and negative) below>
- Green Label: Unappealing. OK whisky, rather anonymous (as is Blue label). Overpriced.
- Glaser's blends: All good, but again a bit anonymous - no strong personalities to find in them. Complex? Yes. Great personalities? IMHO no.
- Black Bull 30yo: Fab, fab FAB. Their 12yo is a great blend too, really nice and for the price I give the biggest respect to use of expensive sherry casks.
- Glen Orrin 30yo (Aldi's blended miracle that was selling for what, 50 or 60 GBP?): Really nice, smooth, well-aged blend that perhaps reminded me of JW's expensive stuff - For tiny fraction of price!!!
-Royal & ancient 28yo Millennium blend: Really amazingly good. Married at birth, 50% malt, obvious sherry casks in there too - and used to cost less than 40 GBP. What a STEAL. In the days of "honest-Jim", he gave this one more than 90 points I recall. I am glad I know why.
- Whyte & McKay 19yo: Very tasty, and maintains a unique character. Not even trying to be an "all-rounder", but I enjoyed it very much.
- Suntory Old whisky: Smooth as ...anything, slightly sweet, really a crowd pleaser. Price used to be ridiculously low in Tokyo, still seems to be (about 20 - 25 euros).
- Jon, Mark, Robbo's "Rich & Spicy one": Again - this was a real gem. Tasty, strong character, spicy and - tasty. Loved the first bottlings at least, still have a few. Heard that before it was banned by SWA it was loosing character somewhat.
- Ballantine's: As it is today, I see 2 things in it. 1) Sherry casks are too expensive to use, and 2) It is far from "best whisky in the world". OK blend.
- Bells: Horrific.
Old bottlings of blended whisky from 1930 - 1960s show clearly how far the quality of blends has in average dropped: They are far, far superior to today's stuff apart from a few exceptions. Wanna see another opinion on this? Check what Serge says, he has certainly tasted more of these than I have, but after what I've come across, I agree 100%
I disagree here. Just because you mix 2 or more elements together, the mixture is not necessarily any more complex than the original components. This is simplified maths when it comes to taste - otherwise we would not even HAVE in the market any single malts (after all, any blend is superior), let alone single casks (oddly single cask bottlings are what most whisky enthusiasts most love). With the same logic, we would not have any single nation rums/whiskies - blending with others would always produce a more complex (and better) result. Why stop there - blending all spirits together would also create a better product - so try whisky-brandy-rum (and each of these have already been blended with 100+ components). The best spirit product of the world? Hardly.But how about rum?
The problem with rum of course is the rogue nature long ago coined here. Rogue rum first of all, is unpredictable. Most of it is not rum, but a rum-based concoction of undisclosed sugars, glycerol, flavorings and wine. A blend of this shite, remains shite. A pig with lipstick - like Clinton - is still a pig, lol.
But then there are distillers like Seales who is quite clear that a good blend will always be better than say a single barrel. Of course he's right. No single barrel, like no single malt, can offer the complexity of a blend of two or more well matched, well made, well aged pure spirits.
"Complexity" is a bit of a enigma (and sorry for the exaggerated example above). Do we enjoy a steak that also tastes like pineapple, ice-cream, mack& cheese and tiramisu - or do we enjoy the taste of steak "as is" - and find complexity in it? Or perhaps a better exaple: Mix pork, beef and venison. Is the mix better than any of the components on its own? How does our mouth (not the blender) decide what tastes good? Is more complexity always a desired thing in a spirit? What about unique character?
A single cask whisky can be an enormously complex entity - a single malt (from a single distillery, in other words) more so. Blending many whiskies (or rums) together can create a rather flat experience, regardless of how many components there are.
I have tasted many single cask Caroni rums that each were a lot - LOT LOT LOT - better than what the distillery put out as "fine blended rum" - their master blender's best efforts. A lot of fuss is also always made of the master blender's skills at every distillery. Well - I am sorry to say, but if the commercial bottlings we get as "great blends" are an example of this job's finest's work....I say retire the current blenders, and do not hire new ones.
Look at El Dorado: Are the official bottlings "great complex blends" when compared to what Velier released, mixing a few casks max together? NO. Clearly what ED was releasing is inferior - at least if you are used to what Real Ru tastes like....
Today many tell me sugared rums are needed as a "first intro" to Rum - because they are easier, softer, "smoother" (hate that word). I guess there is some truth here for youths who are used to sweet drinks and not alcohol. I recall my first taste of a red wine - GOD was it SOUR!!! Whisky - BURNED my palate because of the high alcohol. Etc.
Are these "gate" drinks then created in order to entice the youth of the world to consuming various spirits? Perhaps. How about a sugared Vodka for "under 25yo's"? or sweet red wine for the same reason? Liqueurs like Bailey's often appeal to youths also.
Ok, getting off the beaten track here, but anyhow: I know people throw examples of how blends of 2 or 3 different component rums make a wonderful blend, because they can combine 1 powerful (some would say non-palatable as such) component with 2 less so, and thus create something magnificent out of it. Unfortunately in most cases at least for me personally these blended efforts act just like silencers for guns - they mute the spirit and do not allow it to speak. The blended blends are just a quiet whisper when compared to the actual components, easy-drinking and all-round.
Drop the alcohol percentage to 38% to be safe, add some glycerine - no burn, even better right? Main point here is that by doing so, all the sh#te that would not sell on its own as such can be added in, that the production numbers can be lifted high, and that the masses feel it is "easy"- spirit world's equivalent to a 30 dollar prostitute. It won't fight back, won't say no, won't demand anything, won't give ya that much either - but it was easy. ANYONE could enjoy it - so Tom, Dick & Harry are already next in line.
[Suffice to say, although I truly recognize there are great blends (and cuvees - vintage blends - Caroni Trinity is a great example of a fab pure blend in Rums), I am may not be their biggest fan. I do believe that sometimes they CAN create something wonderful, but this...is one in a thousand. The rest 999 times they are MAINLY created to make money and larger batches. And what tastes good in your mouth is definitely an age-thing plus affected by what you have tried before - and what you're used to. it changes s we grow older. Final words? Anyone who enjoys JW Red Label, keep on enjoying it - we simply have different tastes. And yes, I have tasted some hopeless spirits which a terrific blender saved by blending them skillfully together. Really well done in this case!!!]
Hello all,
I realize that I am hogging the bandwith here perhaps too much, but there was one aspect to blends of all sorts I wanted to bring into the discussion to hopefully add some discussion points...
I would respectfully suggest that it is very difficult to be passionate about blends - at least in the whisky domain. In this context, I see something similar happening in rum also, as independent bottlers have brought to us magnificent single distillery, even single cask rums.
How many blended whisky fan clubs exist? How many people go online to rant about their favorite blends? Which auction houses sell blends for top price? When asking people for their favorite whisky, how many times do you get a passionate response naming a blend?
Blends are "ok". They are "drinkable". Affordable (well, for the most part). Even nice, or "surprisingly good".
At best I've offered a spectacular blend to someone (like the aforementioned Royal & Ancient 28yo, or Dew of Ben Nevis 40yo - aahh, a fabulous whisky!) and received an enthusiastic comment "Wow, what malt whisky is this? it's quite delish!" and upon learning it was a blend, the person wonders how it can be so good.
Now I know - I know - in rum - the discussion surrounding blending has been far more positive, but still - some similarities do exist. The most coveted bottlings are perhaps blends, but they are blends from the same distilleries, and blended from a few casks only - not exactly what most rum blenders mean by a "blend". Best rums I have tasted certainly belong to this category.
Any thoughts anyone?
I realize that I am hogging the bandwith here perhaps too much, but there was one aspect to blends of all sorts I wanted to bring into the discussion to hopefully add some discussion points...
I would respectfully suggest that it is very difficult to be passionate about blends - at least in the whisky domain. In this context, I see something similar happening in rum also, as independent bottlers have brought to us magnificent single distillery, even single cask rums.
How many blended whisky fan clubs exist? How many people go online to rant about their favorite blends? Which auction houses sell blends for top price? When asking people for their favorite whisky, how many times do you get a passionate response naming a blend?
Blends are "ok". They are "drinkable". Affordable (well, for the most part). Even nice, or "surprisingly good".
At best I've offered a spectacular blend to someone (like the aforementioned Royal & Ancient 28yo, or Dew of Ben Nevis 40yo - aahh, a fabulous whisky!) and received an enthusiastic comment "Wow, what malt whisky is this? it's quite delish!" and upon learning it was a blend, the person wonders how it can be so good.
Now I know - I know - in rum - the discussion surrounding blending has been far more positive, but still - some similarities do exist. The most coveted bottlings are perhaps blends, but they are blends from the same distilleries, and blended from a few casks only - not exactly what most rum blenders mean by a "blend". Best rums I have tasted certainly belong to this category.
Any thoughts anyone?
I try to avoid blends in whisky. When i was young i did try lots (in quantity ) but was never much exited about them.
I think that taste is quite intangible so for some people blends might offer something that they like. However as BT mentioned i dont like blends because they dont allow me to understand the character of a distillery. I feel like the purpose of drinking whisky/rum is to enjoy it but also to push you senses to understand minute or not differences between different casks.
What i dont so much like or understand is the caregorisation of all rum into 25 categories. 25? thats it only? It would be interesting to get more info on this as for the liverpool based main rum company.
Jarimi, do you know why Velier sometimes issued single cask and sometimes blends of barrels?
I think that taste is quite intangible so for some people blends might offer something that they like. However as BT mentioned i dont like blends because they dont allow me to understand the character of a distillery. I feel like the purpose of drinking whisky/rum is to enjoy it but also to push you senses to understand minute or not differences between different casks.
What i dont so much like or understand is the caregorisation of all rum into 25 categories. 25? thats it only? It would be interesting to get more info on this as for the liverpool based main rum company.
Jarimi, do you know why Velier sometimes issued single cask and sometimes blends of barrels?
And one more. In some countries blends are very much prevalent as the top whiskies that ppl bragg they have drunk.
It is very disheartening but most ppl do try to find value in premium boxing blend products..
However the internet might change it all. There is so much info out there for ppl to become whisky anoraks.
It is very disheartening but most ppl do try to find value in premium boxing blend products..
However the internet might change it all. There is so much info out there for ppl to become whisky anoraks.
All I know is this:AK9 wrote:
Jarimi, do you know why Velier sometimes issued single cask and sometimes blends of barrels?
1) Evaporation in tropic-matured rums Velier purchased was very high, so in order to get even say 300 - 1200 bottles out per release, this was of course necessary.
2) The 2-mark/2-still blends they did like Diamond & Port Morant was due to some "married at birth" test casks Diamond had done at their distillery, and Velier managed to acquire these as some of the last casks they got from DDL.
Personally I would not compare these to the blends rum world generally talks (which are blends of a different scale - and often of rum from various sources, loosing not only the distillery identity, but nationality of the rum as well). The Velier releases were genuine "small-batch" rum bottlings.
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The Black Tot
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I think you covered things pretty well here, Jarimi, and I agree with you.
Certainly no one wants to cross a steak with a pineapple (I enjoyed this metaphor ), it is also nonetheless true that a pizza with nothing but cheese on it is not much of a gourmet experience, either.
Any great cocktail demonstrates how a whole can be greater than the sum of its parts.
Again, I agree with you, and I'd rather see more single barrels in rum than blends.
The bourbon world is full of some great small batch blended offerings, but, as you correctly state, I'm sure were we able to pick our favourite of the barrel elements of that small batch, we would probably have a treasure on a greater level.
I think a lot of rum "single barrels" are probably small boutiquey blends - for example rums aged in 54gal bourbon or cognac barrels merged into a single and much larger port pipe or sherry hogshead - suddenly 5 evaporated barrels becomes a "single barrel". As Jarimi correctly points out, if they didn't do this, they wouldn't be able to bring enough bottles to market.
It's a good discussion. Thanks for your posts Jarimi.
Certainly no one wants to cross a steak with a pineapple (I enjoyed this metaphor
), it is also nonetheless true that a pizza with nothing but cheese on it is not much of a gourmet experience, either.Any great cocktail demonstrates how a whole can be greater than the sum of its parts.
Again, I agree with you, and I'd rather see more single barrels in rum than blends.
The bourbon world is full of some great small batch blended offerings, but, as you correctly state, I'm sure were we able to pick our favourite of the barrel elements of that small batch, we would probably have a treasure on a greater level.
I think a lot of rum "single barrels" are probably small boutiquey blends - for example rums aged in 54gal bourbon or cognac barrels merged into a single and much larger port pipe or sherry hogshead - suddenly 5 evaporated barrels becomes a "single barrel". As Jarimi correctly points out, if they didn't do this, they wouldn't be able to bring enough bottles to market.
It's a good discussion. Thanks for your posts Jarimi.
Not in full agreement with the anti blend arguments being made.
First the term blend when applied to whisky has a very different legal meaning than the vernacular use and an important distinction needs to be made for continued discussion. Comparing blended whisky and blended rum is apples and oranges. A lot of different things mixed together is the common understanding of the term blend. But in the whisky world using the term blended means precisely that a certain amount of high proof GNS is used in the mingling of spirits. While not entirely accurate the knowledgable enthusiast perceives it almost as a light whisky flavored vodka. And often the product tastes like it.
The word Blend in the Rum world carries no such legal definition and usually means just what we are accustomed to thinking it means - lots of stuff mixed together.
So with definitions out of the way lets look at product.
While I personally dearly love a special single barrel product a truly exceptional single barrel that is complex, mysterious and delicious is not typical. Not in Bourbon and especially not in Rum. In rum most producers use second or third or fourth use barrels so the product is even more homogeneous than Bourbon as the wood has already given up nearly all its flavors by the time the barrel gets to the producer.
Also nearly all producers top off barrels regularly with contents from several barrels of the same vintage. So that single barrel is actually a blend of many barrels by the time it ages a decade or so. (Note that some of the most desirable single barrels of Rye on the current secondary market were produced in exactly this way). Also consider that some of the very best distillers have several different types of stills, coffy, pot and column. Often product from different stills are combined in a single barrel for aging. So it's a blend even before it began to age.
IMHO The case for blending is made very well by St Lucia distillers with their excellent 1931 annual release. I have had an opportunity to taste the 5th edition at barrel proof and it will embarrass most Vellier bottlings. Unfortunately they won't release their products at more than the typical 43%. Hopefully the new owners will recognize the market for big proof product in the future. DDL already dabbled a toe in those waters with their new rare series releases.
First the term blend when applied to whisky has a very different legal meaning than the vernacular use and an important distinction needs to be made for continued discussion. Comparing blended whisky and blended rum is apples and oranges. A lot of different things mixed together is the common understanding of the term blend. But in the whisky world using the term blended means precisely that a certain amount of high proof GNS is used in the mingling of spirits. While not entirely accurate the knowledgable enthusiast perceives it almost as a light whisky flavored vodka. And often the product tastes like it.
The word Blend in the Rum world carries no such legal definition and usually means just what we are accustomed to thinking it means - lots of stuff mixed together.
So with definitions out of the way lets look at product.
While I personally dearly love a special single barrel product a truly exceptional single barrel that is complex, mysterious and delicious is not typical. Not in Bourbon and especially not in Rum. In rum most producers use second or third or fourth use barrels so the product is even more homogeneous than Bourbon as the wood has already given up nearly all its flavors by the time the barrel gets to the producer.
Also nearly all producers top off barrels regularly with contents from several barrels of the same vintage. So that single barrel is actually a blend of many barrels by the time it ages a decade or so. (Note that some of the most desirable single barrels of Rye on the current secondary market were produced in exactly this way). Also consider that some of the very best distillers have several different types of stills, coffy, pot and column. Often product from different stills are combined in a single barrel for aging. So it's a blend even before it began to age.
IMHO The case for blending is made very well by St Lucia distillers with their excellent 1931 annual release. I have had an opportunity to taste the 5th edition at barrel proof and it will embarrass most Vellier bottlings. Unfortunately they won't release their products at more than the typical 43%. Hopefully the new owners will recognize the market for big proof product in the future. DDL already dabbled a toe in those waters with their new rare series releases.
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Capn Jimbo
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As much as I am almost never wrong, lol, I have to defer to JaRiMi, although to be fair, he's deferred to me at least once, maybe.
A brilliant and information couple of posts from a man I have long respected and call a friend. A couple of comments:
1. J's recommendation of "Jon, Mark, Robbo's "Rich & Spicy one" is well made, I bought a bottle of this one, as well as one of their other blends and was well pleased. These were sold at truly bargain prices (around $20!), and I have noted a few dusty bottles can still be found at our amazing S. Florida small Indian-owned chains (India Indians). This will be a self-reminder to find and buy them.
2. Tot's comment - that there are damn few enough great pure and unadulterated rums in the first place, ergo he'd prefer to enjoy them as is, and/or blend them himself.
I will admit that I made a Ralfy's "Rumsky" by adding a miniscule amount of an Islay to a cane juice rum and - honest - it was amazing. Didn't take much, perhaps 1/4 tsp.
Great posts, all. This is/was a great thread.
A brilliant and information couple of posts from a man I have long respected and call a friend. A couple of comments:
1. J's recommendation of "Jon, Mark, Robbo's "Rich & Spicy one" is well made, I bought a bottle of this one, as well as one of their other blends and was well pleased. These were sold at truly bargain prices (around $20!), and I have noted a few dusty bottles can still be found at our amazing S. Florida small Indian-owned chains (India Indians). This will be a self-reminder to find and buy them.
2. Tot's comment - that there are damn few enough great pure and unadulterated rums in the first place, ergo he'd prefer to enjoy them as is, and/or blend them himself.
I will admit that I made a Ralfy's "Rumsky" by adding a miniscule amount of an Islay to a cane juice rum and - honest - it was amazing. Didn't take much, perhaps 1/4 tsp.
Great posts, all. This is/was a great thread.
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sleepy
- King of Koffee
- Posts: 156
- Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2012 7:23 pm
- Location: Atlanta and points south
I am probably, as usual, misinformed, but in my early days of rum exploration, I was told that the most important person in a rum distillery was the master blender. Given the undoubted variation among the used barrels, the sugar source and the vagaries of weather (temp/humidity), it seems that an excellent tropical rum MUST be blended - how to find the barrels to combine for a consistent rum!?
This seems more standard than exceptional - but what do I know.
--your humble caffeine addict.
This seems more standard than exceptional - but what do I know.
--your humble caffeine addict.