Aging: Can you trust the label?

For officers only! Relevent history and facts about the growing, harvesting, fermentation, distillation and aging of Cane Spirits. Master this section and you master rum. Otherwise just masterbate...
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Capn Jimbo
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Aging: Can you trust the label?

Post by Capn Jimbo »

Bottled in Bond it's not...


Some of you (especially bourbon drinkers) may be familiar with the term "Bottled in Bond". This is a set of American regulations for all spirits, and is a system that guarantees the purity, proof and age of the spirit. To carry this label ("Bottled-in-Bond" or "Bonded"), the spirit must:

1. Be at least 4 years old.
2. Be bottled at 100 proof.
3. Be the product of one distiller, for one distilling season.
4. Be stored in a federal warehouse, under lock and key.

The point: a "bonded" spirit is an assurance of quality. The system was established in the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897, mostly because so many spirits were being fudged and altered with all manner of additives. This act allowed the US government to assure the authenticity of the spirit. The result:

Citizens came to identify "bonded" spirits as the real, and good stuff. So who uses this system? Although any spirit can used the system, it is mostly whiskies - rye, corn and bourbon - that do. It is instructive that I know of not one rum that was ever bonded.


For Good Reason!


Most bottles labeled "rum" are altered and they don't want to admit it. Until Richard Seales, and now the release of two new uber-premium rums, Diplomatico Ambassador and Panamonte XV (both of whom proclaim their products' freedom from additives, caramel, flavorings or coloring), purity was falsely implied (by omisson of the subject).

Rum has been sold on the basis of "...it tastes good" and little else but a backstory, and bottle design.

As a result, most "rum" drinkers have no idea what pure rum tastes like, but are really comparing unlabled additives and flavorings. This allows huge rum producers to use massive column stills to pump out every possible drop of thin and relatively tasteless distillate, which is then made "rum-like" by clever adulteration with sugar, glycerol, caramel, coloring and even sherry wine!

No wonder it's not bonded. The distilleries use barrels of cheap shit of various claimed (but unauthenticated) years, from different years, different warehouses, different distillations, even different distilleries - perhaps mixed with a little pot stilled rum from yet another distillation - then add needed phony flavorings and sweetness, and voila!

Rum!? Who the fuck knows? Listen. The Feds wouldn't allow it, and neither should you.


Bottom Line:

It's perfectly fair for any rum reviewer or drinker to ask a few simple questions and expect honest answers, if not on the label, at least on the website or promo material...

1. What's the raw material - cane juice, cane syrup, raw sugar or molasses (and grade)?

2. Pot or column distilled?

3. Product of one distiller and season, or blend?

4. Ages and amounts of all components?

5. Additives used, and if so, what?

In my many emails to distillers, only a few have answered all of these, and have done so honestly. Allow me to credit especially Mr. Richard Seales for his forthrightness and commitment to purity. Note too the advertising of Pussers, The Lash, Diplomatico Ambassador and Panamonte XV.

Although none of these are bonded in America, they have all made clear the purity and age of their products. And those of you who have read this far should also take the time to speak out and demand both honesty and purity.

You matter and your posts can and will influence opinion, as already evident. Keep it up!
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