Added sugar to rum

Guevara88 · Post by **Guevara88** » Sun Feb 09, 2014 6:16 am

An interesting experiment (although slighty blasphemical) would be to take a proven sugar-free rum and add gradually sugar, tasting after each addition. This way the tasted difference sugar makes could perhaps be identified and evaluated. Of course the rum would be become "sweeter" but the decisive question is which amount of sugar begins to be notable and which amount starts to become "sickening" sweet...

A rising amount of sugar in different rum should equalize their different tastes at least to a certain degree. Perhaps I will have try on this...

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Capn's Log: An excellent idea. We'd love to see the results. Based on the listings of the OP you might try 3 - 5 - 7 - 10 - 20 - 30 - 40 grams. An insight into cheating and alteration.

Dai · Post by **Dai** » Sun Feb 09, 2014 9:10 am

First try and work out how many grams are in a bottle per measure 1oz/30ml of a sugared rum. this will give you an idea of where to start.

eg: ED12 750ml / 30ml = 25 measures.
45 / 25 = 1.8 grams per measure (less than half a teaspoon)

My bottle is 700ml / 35ml measure = 20
45 / 20 = 2.25 grams of sugar per glass (just over half a teaspoon of sugar)

So from this you can see that it would take at least a Quarter of a teaspoon of sugar to see a real difference so I think your experiment should tell us more.

da'rum · Post by **da'rum** » Sun Feb 09, 2014 9:31 am

I'd try it with a brown sugar syrup mix I think refined sugar would be unrepresentative.

Guevara88 · Post by **Guevara88** » Sun Feb 09, 2014 9:51 am

Very good suggestions!

Now I am struggling which rum to defile... I can't decide whether Flor de Cana 12 Years or Seales 10 Years, what do you think?

Hassouni · Post by **Hassouni** » Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:04 pm

Guevara88 wrote:Very good suggestions!
Now I am struggling which rum to defile... I can't decide whether Flor de Cana 12 Years or Seales 10 Years, what do you think?

Flor de Caña. Don't touch that Seale's!

Post by **Capn Jimbo** » Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:17 pm

da'rum wrote:I'd try it with a brown sugar syrup mix I think refined sugar would be unrepresentative.

Wouldn't "simple syrup" be better, on the basis the flavor is limited to refined sugar? Or is brown sugar (unrefined sugar) cheaper and more likely addition based on the usual consideration, lower cost? Thoughts?

Che, syrups are easy for you to prepare and you can control the sugar content as you see fit and they will blend and be integrated more thoroughly.

da'rum · Post by **da'rum** » Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:33 pm

You may be right their Jimbo, my train of thought at the time of my last post was that an unrefined sugar would add a molasses/treacle bent which seems to me q goal for the sugar adding distilleries.

NCyankee · Post by **NCyankee** » Sun Feb 09, 2014 4:41 pm

I tried something like this before with tequila. Regulations allow up to 85 g/l of dry material to be added to tequila, so I tried adding a proportional amount of simpe syrup to a tequila that I don't find sweet at all - it worked out to 1/2 tsp simple syrup in a 3/4 oz pour.

It turned out to make it significantly sweeter but not nearly as liqueur-like as I expected.

Post by **Capn Jimbo** » Sun Feb 09, 2014 5:21 pm

A dilemma...

On second thought, d' you may be right. This is a tough one. Turns out that raw sugar is both the least expense AND adds a molasses touch. Or would white be added to reduce that tone? Where's JaRiMi when we need him?

This should be interesting...

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Late Breaking News: Current futures price for #5 white refined sugar is about $434; for #11 raw sugar is $349 (both per metric ton). Per this decision I've contacted two authorities that will know what form of sugar is typically added.

Che, stay tuned - again, a terrific concept.

Post by **Capn Jimbo** » Sun Feb 09, 2014 11:06 pm

Special Announcement...

I'm still awaiting a reply from JaRiMi, but meanwhile Richard Seales responded here:

http://rumproject.com/rumforum//viewtopic.php?p=3757

In sum, the sugar is probably white sugar in the form of syrup. Che, it's now in your hands...

Guevara88 · Post by **Guevara88** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 1:32 am

Thank you very much for the useful information. I decided to prepare syrups with refined and raw sugar and test them seperately. However my free time is rather limited within the next two days so we can expect results on Wednesday.

NCyankee · Post by **NCyankee** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 1:59 pm

I don't see Zaya on those lists, anyone have any idea where it stands on added sugar?

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Capn's Log: Simply by taste, I'd say plenty. This was one of the first rums to be placed in the Twiggie section.

JaRiMi · Post by **JaRiMi** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 5:57 am

Sorry for the long silencio, was on business trip in USA and then busy arranging a whisky & rumfest.

Zaya is not sold in Finland, thus not on the lists at least yet.

Anyone can measure and add any decided amount of white, neutral sugar to a malt whisky (which is never sweetened). Now I do not suggest that you do this at a full bottle scale - have some respect and mercy for a fine spirit!!! - but do try it at a smaller scale.

I did this with some undisclosed whisky. Whilst I did not add anything else (essences etc), the change was startlingly clear: What many rum bloggers seem to see as a "mark of true quality", i.e. an attribute they describe as "smoothness", often comes from added sugar. It makes the drink really easy to sip down, as the tongue is coated with the sweetness of the sugar in the drink. So, in short, often what people consider a sign of great quality is actually a sign of added sugar - and quite likely rather poor quality spirit!

To a malt whisky drinker, most rums are unbearably sweet, and thus also unpleasant. Sadly the large-scale use of added sugar has diverted many aficionados from rum all together, when in fact the spirit never had sugar in its natural form.

Someone asked if its possible to taste real Demerara in its non-adulterated form. Well, the only non-adulterated Demerara comes from independent bottlers.

Hassouni · Post by **Hassouni** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 11:09 am

JaRiMi wrote:

Someone asked if its possible to taste real Demerara in its non-adulterated form. Well, the only non-adulterated Demerara comes from independent bottlers.

That was me. Do the El Dorado single still bottlings count or are they altered too?

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Capn's Log: I dare to speak for JaRiMi here, who months ago noted that the ED's profile has changed and altered, no doubt around the time of bottling. This was confirmed (see p.1 of this thread) with ED 12 at 40gr/l and ED15 at 31gr/l. This is a LOT of sugar. Be sure to also read Richard Seale's observations re sugar in a separate post here in Scuttlebutt.

NCyankee · Post by **NCyankee** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 11:16 am

I would like to see figures for the El Dorado 5 and 8 year because they taste less sweet to me than the 12 and 15 yr.