A fading commercial website: "Dedicated to the understanding & appreciation of the Noble Spirit - RUM"
Is it true? Is rum truly a noble spirit, "...second only to whisk(ey". No feckin' way friends. And why? It's really pretty simple if you simply realize:"Rum" is defined by the US, EU and ACS (Assoc. of Caribbean States) as made exclusively from cane juice, honey or molasses. Traces of caramel for coloring adjustment is allowed, as is barrel aging. No flavors or additives whatever are allowed, not even the use of wood chips or slabs. The use of any flavors must be labeled ("flavored rum").
1. "Whisk(e)y" is relatively pure by regulation, with only trace amounts of caramel allowed only for correcting color, period. There is no market for a "flavored whisky" (although allowed), and accordingly you can't find any. Well, one actually.
When you pour a dram of whisky you pretty much know what to expect.
2. "Bourbon" whiskey is even purer, and does not even allow caramel. Aging must use new, single use oak barrels. Period. Although there are a tiny handful of "flavored bourbon" whiskies, the distillers (eg Jim Beam's Red Stag - "made with Jim Beam") clearly distinguish these very few products from their pure offerings, with the latter absolutely dominating sales.
When you pour a dram of bourbon you pretty much know what to expect.
It is fair to say that whisk(e)y drinkers prefer a pure and unflavored product - most feel that flavoring or additives of any kind cheapen the product. Accordingly whisky commands prices significantly higher than rum and for good reason.
3. "Flavored Rum" (which includes spiced rums) dominate rum sales and shelf space. Keep in mind that the flavored category is a fairly modern phenomena. Spiced rums - like Kilo Kai, The Lash, El Dorado Spiced, Blackheart, Mamajuana, Cruzan 9, Lamb's Black (I gotta stop before I gag) - are the new hot category. Do these cheapen the idea of rum as "a noble spirit"?
Of course!
4. Worse yet many, if not most products labeled "Rum" (to be free of additives and flavorings) are altered and "tweaked" using unlabeled additives and artificial liquid flavors and spices. The goal: to make relatively cheaper, younger continuously distilled rums taste like expensive pot stilled and complex aged rums. Common adulterants include sugar, glycerol, sherry or port, artificial vanilla and liquid spices like cinnamon, pepper or clove and the like.
So when you pour a dram of "rum" you have no idea what to expect. Be honest, you know this! "Oh no!" you say, "this cannot possibly be true. You're just an crazed idiot!". And I am.
But perhaps you might believe the Preacher:
How about the Pusser's website:Preacher: "Sherry is commonly used as an additive in the rum industry although most distillers won't admit it." - and - "I have noticed a number of rums that seem to have gotten sweeter, some have probably had some sugar added to them."
Both One Barrel and Ron del Barilito even admit that their products labeled "rum" contain additives. One Barrel on both their website and in a published island newspaper interview and RdB in an interview published by the Rumelier.Pussers:
"While the rich flavor of Pusser's Rum is natural, most other major rum brands add flavoring agents and sugar to make their products smoother and to give them body. By contrast, Pusser's uses no flavoring agents or sugar. It is all natural."
And suspicions abound and have been expressed by most of the rum websites and respected tasters you've probably read: the Count, Bilge, JaRiMi, and others.
Enough.
I would go so far as to say that most rum drinkers have no idea what a real pure rum is supposed to take like. Indeed it was this quest - to determine just what is this "classic rum taste" that I kept reading about - that led me to create The Rum Project and Forum.
It was then I discovered Dave Broom's four "styles" (not origins) of rum, got dissed badly by the Preacher and his sycophants, and proceeded to create and build both a website and forum to provide a path for equally bewildered drinkers through the jungle of altered rogue rum.
Accordingly no rum is on the "Top 150 Spirits" list. And never has been! And now you know why. In closing let me challenge you to demand to know whether a rum is altered.
But how?
First of all, you need to know what true, pure and real rum tastes like. You need go no further than Richard Seale and his Foursquare Distillery. Buy his Doorly's XO and Five Year, and his magnificent Seales Ten Year. Try too Mount Gay Extra Old. Pusser's Blue Label. Smith & Cross. Appleton Extra 12 Year. Barbancourt Three and Five Star.
A nice start. Get to know them well, and then you will know what real rum tastes like. To your health! And to real, pure rum!
