Capn Jimbo's Rum Project Forum

[Capn Jimbo]

Rum has styles?

Yeppers, and you won't read much about them, unless of course you're a follower of Dave Broom, or of The Rum Project. Knowing the styles, especially in conjunction with the history of rum is important to understanding and appreciating the rogue spirit. In historical order, here they are:

Note: In voting remember that "Style" is exactly that - a style, not a country of origin. Example: Jack Tar is bottled in S. Africa but is clearly a Jamaican style.

1. Barbadian (aka Bajan) Rum/Style

Not recognized by Dave Broom, but demanded by historical precendent and particularly recognized by me. Barbados is arguably the origin of rum as we know it, and Mount Gay is the oldest, continuously operating distiller of it (since 1703). Bajans love their rum and "rum shops" and know how to make it with great skill and quality. I can't think of a single Barbadian rum that we don't like.

Reference Standard: Mount Gay Extra Old or Seales Ten Year


2. Jamaican Style

Almost as old as Barbadian, the Jamaican style is almost unique in the use of dunder (leftover old fermentation pits) and extended fermentation periods. As a result these rums have significantly more esters and congeners (up to 1500) and are even classified by the number of esters (eg Plummer, Wedderburn, et al). Historically, Jamaican rums were considered the very best, demanded and served at Presidential Inaugurations.

Reference Standard: Appleton Extra 12 Year.
Also consider Pusser's Blue Label, Jack Tar, Smith & Cross for their dunder based pungency.


3. Demeraran Style

Historically this style emanated from Guyana, one of the major players in rum production. Often dark in color, but soft and medium bodied. In terms of style this category often serves as a catchall for rums that don't seem to fit in any of the others.

Reference Standard: El Dorado 12 Year,
but don't overlook the El Dorado Five Year (or a new 8 year recently announced).


4. Cane Juice Rum/Style

Not necessarily a style but certainly recognized as such. In the Caribbean the origin - by many years - was the "clarin" of Haiti. The term "rhum agricole" is no more or less than "cane juice rum" in French was first used as a term of derogation in referring to Haitian clarin. That this term was later used as a term of superiority for the cane juice rums of the French islands is a delicious contradiction.

Sugar production almost came to a halt in Haiti, but cane growing did not. It is fair to credit Barbancourt, est. 1862, for the production of cane juice rum (despite Napolean's fury and economic punishment of Haiti).

Historically the French islands were known for making simply awful molasses based rums, comparable to the swill made in New England (also from French island molasses) for the slave trade. Rum in Martinique and Guadeloupe improved but became dominated by a small number of distillers who continued to rely on producing rum from lowly molasses ("rhum industriel"). A mere handful of small estate distilleries like Saint James and Trois Rivieres did produce cane juice rum in relatively small quantities.

It was not until the 1980's that sugar production ceased and that the cane production was finally given over for primarily cane juice rums. It was not until recently - in 1992 - that France created the term "rhum agricole AOC Martinique in yet another attempt at protectionism.

Both Saint James and to a lesser degree, Barbancourt, are reputed to use a bit of concentrated cane juice to facilitate production schedules. The younger cane juice rums do indeed reveal a certain vegetal, caney quality. Older cane juice rums begin to resemble molasses based rums to such a degree that one wonders why certain rhum snobs are drawn to pay exhorbitant prices for well-aged cane juice rums that have managed to age away their source.

Barbancourt excepted. Go figure.

Reference Standard: Barbancourt Five Star,
a world class rum that sells for middle shelf prices. Try the Threes Star or find a closeout on St. James Ambre to experience the cane juice origin.


5. Cuban Style

This style orginated with Bacardi, yes in Cuba, along with a number of other Cuban distillers like Matusalem. In 1862 Don Facundo Bacardi Masso pioneered a process of charcoal filtering. Don Juan Serrales opened a distillery in Puerto Rico in 1865. Bacardi's process was a real breakthrough in terms of smoothness.

After the Cuban revolution, most of the Cuban distillers (and not a few cigarmakers) fled to establish their operations elsewhere. These included Bacardi, Justo Gonzales (Rum San Pablo), the Arrechabala family (Havana Club), Matusalem and others.

The Cuban style is known for being light, smooth and flavorful, but with a notably peppery finish.

Reference Standard: Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva.
Do not hesitate to buy any Rum San Pablo you can find.

Miscellaneous:

Sue Sea and I have been tempted to name yet another, a "Dominican Style". In tasting and reviewing a number of Dominican rums including Brugal and Barcelo, which display an almost musty, corky aroma and taste.

Proposed standard: Brugal (Extra) Anejo
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[RT]

I've been pondering your proposed Dominican style rum for quite a while, and am inclined to disagree. If I look at the range of rums being produced in DR, I see a variety of styles being produced, many of which do not fit the proposed Dominican profile of musty and corky notes. For example, Matusalem GR is more like the Cuban style, Barcelo Imperial is like the Demerara style, and Vizcaya is somewhere between Cuban and Twiggy. It seems that Brugal is about the only major DR line that tends to have the musty and corky traits. So I suppose we could have a Brugal style. But then we would probably have to have an Angostura style, a Gosling style, etc., to categorize all of the other unique rums.
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Students of the cask, reject naught but water. -Charles Gonoud, Faust Act 2

[RT]

In order to try to make sense of my ever-expanding rum collection, I have developed a classification system that builds on Dave Broom's five categories as follows:

1. Barbadan style
2. Jamaican style
3. French Agricole style
4. Demerara style
5. Cuban style
6. Navy style (dark, full flavored rum blends)
7. Dessert style (classic aged rum flavors, but dessert sweet, and any other added flavors well balanced)
8. Flavored rums
9. Spiced rums
10. Rum creams

Of note is how I divide your Twiggy category into dessert and flavored rums. What I call dessert rums are such as Ron Zacapa and Zaya, which clearly have some added sugar and flavorings, but still resemble quality rum. On the other hand, rums such as Clement Creole Shrubb (which I love) and Pyrat XO (which I don't), that have a predominate flavor other than rum, go in my flavored category along with all the batshit dingleberry type concoctions.
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Students of the cask, reject naught but water. -Charles Gonoud, Faust Act 2

[RT]

Subsequent to my last post, CJ and I have had some private discussion. I thought I should clarify some of my points.

I am using the concept of "style" somewhat differently than does CJ or Dave Broom. My concept is a bunch of virtual shelves behind my bar, so that as I indoctrinate my few remaining friends on the wonders of rum, if they find one they particularly like, I can point to that shelf and say would you like to try some of these too?

My "navy" shelf currently has Pusser's, Gosling's Black and Old Rum, Myer's Dark, and Diplomatico Reserva Exclusivo! WTF you say? To me, it's kind of a loosely defined catch-all for full-bodied rums that don't quite fit the traditional Jamaican / Appleton profile.

I am in the process of building another virtual shelf, for Cachaca. Just to be obtuse, I will probably put Oronoco on it, too.

I don't have shelves for gold or silver mixing rums, life's too short to drink that crap. My "mixing" rums are Mt. Gay Eclipse and Appleton VX.

I also have a shelf just for Bacardi. It's empty.
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Students of the cask, reject naught but water. -Charles Gonoud, Faust Act 2

[RT]

[NCyankee]

I'm curious as to your designation of Ron Abuelo as Cuban style? Is that set in stone? IMO the 12 yr has some flavor characteristics similar to the El Dorados, though it is a little on the sweet side. I have yet to open my bottle of the 7 yr.

PS - Just for fun I looked up the wolf's review of the Abuelo 12 yr - here is an excerpt:

"I am left with a rum that is so rich and flavourful that I do not want to mix cocktails with it, but one which demands too much of my attention to allow me to enjoy myself when I sip it straight or on the rocks."

WTF? I felt my IQ drop a couple points reading that....

Pretty sad that he is too lazy to devote his entire attention to a rum while he is reviewing it.

[Capn Jimbo]

Yank, a really good question...

In rereading our old reviews we justified the placement under the Cuban style primarily based on smooth heat - but based on your question, we'll do a side by side with ED 12 just for fun, and let you know.

These were pretty old reviews, and back then we made a few bad placements. Actually I think you're onto something, so a retake will be interesting...
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[Dai]

I don't think I've drunk enough of a variety of rum to say what my favourite style is yet.
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Rums I Like: ED 12, Matusalem GR15, Appleton 12, Ron De Jeremy.

[Uisge]

[RT]

As more and more allegedly "fine" rums are adulterated with sugar, caramel, flavorings, and bat shit, it becomes more difficult to determine the basic "style" of the underlying rum. In some cases, I will not identify any base style at all, but will instead categorize the product in my notes as one of the following:
1. "Dessert rums," for products with some classic rum elements, but sweetened considerably and with any other added flavors in moderate amounts and well balanced. These are not necessarily bad products, for times when your sweet tooth is demanding attention.
2. "Flavored rums," when one or more of the added flavorings become predominate to the overall taste of the rum. Again, not necessarily a bad thing (see Clement Creole Shrubb as an example).
3. "Spiced rums," for when the entire chemistry set has apparently been dumped into a vat of young swill.
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Students of the cask, reject naught but water. -Charles Gonoud, Faust Act 2

[da'rum]

I ticked Jamaican, and would add a sub class 'Navy'.

Although Barbados rum is also up there for favourability (like that word? I just invented it)




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Capn's Log: Yes, a sub-class of "Navy", but with only one rum. The rest are for the most part, frauds.
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