Capn Jimbo's Rum Project Forum

[Capn Jimbo]

It's like hurricane season in South Florida...

Was just advised that Chairman's Reserve has released a spiced version of their pot/column stilled rum. It features "...spices including cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, vanilla, coconut, allspice, lemon and orange as well as richeria grandis, a bark known locally as 'bois bandé'.". Estimated release at $31.

This is pretty pricey. And I am coming to the conclusion that rum as a "noble spirit" - never true in the first place - is quickly disappearing even as the Preacher's wet dream. Think about it...

1. There have been a ton of new releases in the last year, particularly the last six months.

2. Almost all of them are in the spiced category, and precious few of them use real spices, and almost none of them are based on decently aged rum. Exception: The Lash.

3. And now we are seeing the unjustified and rather expensive release by Chairman.

Think of the names: Blackbeard (Seralles), Kilo Kai, The Lash, El Dorado Spiced, VooDoo, Lamb's Black Sheep, Kraken, Cruzan 9, Seven Tiki (Bacardi)... and I have only begun. There are others.

What in hell is going on? My take:

First, that I have long noted that "rum" (defined and regulated as free of flavoring additives) has long been adulterated and "tweaked" anyway. This has been traditional, the regulators don't really test for flavorings and no one seems to care.

Second, and especially in the US, legal "caramel" - assumed for purposes of coloring - may be added in quantities of up to 2-1/2% by volume (less than 0.01% is actually needed for coloring). This provides a gaping loophole wherein distillers can cheat by using light or medium caramels which, although they add a bit of color, are little more than concentrated rich sugar. Accordingly this unlabeled additive - which should be regulated as simply concentrated "sucrose" - noticeably increases the sweetness, body and smoothness of the distilled rum.

The point: with notable exceptions, "rum" has never really been a "noble spirit". Most rum drinkers don't really know what a pure and unadulterated rum tastes like anyway. The reviewers are mostly shills and present rum as "it's all good".

Bottom line: the spiced category is simply a natural extension of already altered rum for the already misled rum drinkers. What a great way to futz up a lesser, cheaper, younger rum with overpowering spices (many artificial) and then to sell it at very profitable and expensive (over $30) prices. Nice work if you can get it.

The competition now becomes what it always was anyway: a competition of flavorings and spices, not rums.
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