Hip Boots Dept: Seven fathoms of water... or bullshit?

This is the main discussion section. Grab yer cups! All hands on deck!
Post Reply
User avatar
Capn Jimbo
Rum Evangelisti and Compleat Idiot
Posts: 3550
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:53 pm
Location: Paradise: Fort Lauderdale of course...
Contact:

Hip Boots Dept: Seven fathoms of water... or bullshit?

Post by Capn Jimbo »

Seven Fathoms Rum


As I'm sure most of you know, Seven Fathoms Rum has been around for some time, but remains rather hard to find. To my knowledge it has never been tested for sugar. Like a number of other small distillers, Seven Fathoms too seeks its "USP" (Unique Selling Proposition) to increase both visibility and sales.

In their case the "proposition" is that they age their rum "in a secret location under water" (Cayman Islands) with the romantic notion that somehow the waves, currents and tides "gently rock" the rum in some special way to produce their allegedly unique rum.

Is this true, or as many believe is this just a marketing invention? Their website does not inspire confidence - instead of perhaps showing some underwater pictures of the swaying barrels or containers, they simply make the claim that this is done in some special, "secret offshore location".

Nor do they explain how this process was developed or works. Naturally, this is less than satisfying, so we dashed off the following email:
"Hi....

Capn Jimbo here of The Rum Project, the world's largest free and independent rum review and appreciation site. We have long been aware of your Seven Fathoms rum. As afficianados our half million monthly readers appreciate purity and transparency in rum making and marketing.

Thus a natural question: you claim to age your rum in barrels underwater (seven fathoms?), for a time on the speculation that the various motions of the sea - tides, currents, et al, somehow what? Speed up the aging? Or accomplish other unique things? If so, what?

Can you please tell us more about this process. At what depth, and for how long? Please describe how the barrels are kept underwater without absorbing water, or expelling alcohol. How do the barrels manage to breathe as necessary for the oxidation of aging, ie how is the oxygen made available and kept from becoming saturated with the angel's share, etc. What tests did you perform, and what exactly are the effects of your process other than providing unsubstantiated marketing bullets.

Frankly, there are many who think your underwater aging is complete bullshit, but of course The Rum Project would love to prove them wrong by providing your response, including pictures if possible...

Cordially

Capn Jimbo
http://rumproject.com/rumforum/"
Stay tuned...




*******
http://caymanspirits.com/sevenfathomsrum/
User avatar
Capn Jimbo
Rum Evangelisti and Compleat Idiot
Posts: 3550
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:53 pm
Location: Paradise: Fort Lauderdale of course...
Contact:

Post by Capn Jimbo »

Is this the underwater container?

Image
Actually, the link in the OP shows this object - barely visible - as part of the unlabeled background image . This was captured and enhanced to show as much detail as possible. Is this their underwater storage? Unfortunately, we may never know, nor will we learn if or how this process works, as the only email address I could find was returned as invalid. On the bright side (pun intended) a nearby local restaurant chain is listed as carrying Seven Fathoms.

I will endeavor to get enough to test for sugar...
mamajuana
Admiral
Posts: 231
Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2014 12:41 pm
Location: Buffalo

Post by mamajuana »

I have a bottle of this in my collection. Its a rather pricey rum and pretty hard to find actually at least around here. I believe they put a huge latex "Condom" over the barrel before it goes underwater though.

They did this video which shows some of their operation.

https://vimeo.com/77018866
User avatar
Capn Jimbo
Rum Evangelisti and Compleat Idiot
Posts: 3550
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:53 pm
Location: Paradise: Fort Lauderdale of course...
Contact:

Post by Capn Jimbo »

Great find...


...and a must watch. The two young entrpreneur's story is engaging and seems authentic. The idea of "underwater aging" still seems a bit contrived - they liked the number seven (lucky seven?) and then the word "fathom" (nautical and piratey) was added. This apparently led to a hey - let's age it seven fathoms (42 feet) under water.

They openly admit it began as a marketing concept. They claim to have heard of a ship's captain who liked the rum that had aged on his ship (rather than onshore), so voila! A USP (unique sales proposition) was born. The rum itself is described as being made from brown sugar (all or in part), which is not impressive (bagged sugar is the least expensive raw material for the making of rum).

At no point do they demonstrate, explain or describe just why this underwater scheme is better. They are implying that barrel movement must enhance wood contact, but on the other hand, how does real oxidation and breathing occur under water and the implied pressure of same.

No explanations whatever. To be far, without transparency and reasonable detail (without revealing trade secrets), the concept remains a marketing event.
User avatar
The Black Tot
Admiral
Posts: 282
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2014 6:45 pm
Location: Houston TX and Caterham, UK

Post by The Black Tot »

Anyone who knows the sea, and I've worked on it for 18yrs, will tell you that:

-There's not much movement occurring at 42 feet below sea level, apart from steady currents. Not much rocking involved, therefore.
-If it's rocking, it's not secure, and you're going to lose your cargo. The sea beats anything that would rock that isn't firmly lashed down to shit.
-At that kind of depth, temperature changes are next to nil year round. Barrel ageing is mostly achieved by fluctuations in temperature causing the wood grain to expand and contract, cycling the liquid in and out of its fibers.

I can't think of a single reason why barrel aging would improve the aging process.

But I can think of why you'd want to do it as a rum seller - No angel's share will escape through a condom into the sea (since vapor won't osmose out into the obviously higher humidity of pure water), meaning you have more gimmicky rum left in your barrel to overprice.

Oh, and there would have to be a condom around the barrels, or else you'd eventually have raw seawater ingress through the wood INTO the rum, which the FDA would NEVER allow - fully independent of the fact that that would taste like shit.

I had heard there was some university experiment going on where they were ageing experimental bourbon in a rackhouse with a plastic membrane around the barrels that had pores large enough for water to escape but not alcohol molecules, the goal of which was obviously to age whiskey with fewer losses. Just hearsay though, I don't know where it was or if there have been results.
User avatar
Capn Jimbo
Rum Evangelisti and Compleat Idiot
Posts: 3550
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:53 pm
Location: Paradise: Fort Lauderdale of course...
Contact:

Post by Capn Jimbo »

Nice stuff Tot...

...anyone else heard of this "experiment". Really now, it's an undisputable fact that cooperage and aging are an artform that has been practiced for yes, hundreds of years. Any "improvements" - as Tot noted - are more likely to increase profits. Not quality...
Post Reply