Table of contents for Rum v1 in Rum

When meeting someone new an initial impression is based on appearance, talking provides additional information, and a more comprehensive verdict can follow. Similarly, a bottle of rum is judged initially on appearance: by the shape of the bottle and design of the label, the graphics and typography, which also provide more information. One supposed insight into a rum is a number that confirms its age. The choice spans a few generations, including Bacardi Anejo Cuatro 4-years-old and Reserva Ocho 8-years-old, with Appleton Estate offering a 12, 21 and even a 50-years-old. Age statements provide a way of navigating the range, and comparing rums of the same age. Comparing rums of different ages is often, however, proceeded by a belief that ’older is better.’ Older is different. The flavour profile evolves…

I always like the idea of a rum speaking to you about where it has come from. Not just terroir and in terms of production, but also giving you a little glimpse of the culture and heritage that surrounds it as well. Sure, it’s an abstract notion, but I feel like it adds a little more fun to the whole experience. When Havana Club showed me its Icónica Collection, I must admit to being pretty taken with the idea. Its mission statement is to celebrate the tradition and heritage of Cuban rum, while also rivalling prestige spirits from around the world. For many, Cuba’s still a distant land waiting to be discovered, and so anything that can provide an authentic glimpse is welcome in my eyes. The Icónica Collection currently…

Europe’s got a long history with rum, with the continent playing its role in empires and even forming part of the daily sustenance for sailors in Britain’s Navy. In some ways, the diversity of Europe and this history has helped shape the varieties and styles of rum that we enjoy today and Europe enjoys it rum as much (if not more), as anywhere else. If we fast-forward four centuries since those sailors were imbibing their Rum Ration, Europe is increasingly getting on-board the bandwagon for rum again, largely driven by its cocktail capitals; London, Paris and Berlin using Caribbean rums as a base. However, increasingly rum is being produced in Europe too and there’s liquid to get excited about. The Portuguese island of Madeira is proving one such hot-spot in…

When more than 130 years of family heritage goes into something, you can usually feel safe in the knowledge that it’ll be pretty good. 1888 – that’s the number adorned on each bottle of Brugal’s now flagship rum. The Brugal story starts that year in Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, with Don Andrés Brugal Montaner. Brugal had one singular mission for his company, to perfect the art of rum-making via passion, dedication and hard work. Puerto Plato is some 130 miles away from the Dominican capital Santo Domingo too weirdly enough, but through the strength of Andrés mantra, his namesake brand now has an impact on the rum scene across the globe. 32 years after starting the company Brugal would create the first aged rum in the Dominican Republic.…

North America is another region with a long history in rum – however for many of us, that association is probably with imbibing rum and its cocktails, rather than neccessarily producing it. Turns out that we’re both a little bit correct with that assumption, but also a big bit wrong too. They’re certainly drinking rum in North America, but they’re increasingly producing it with both skill and nuance. Just in the USA alone, there’s an ever-increasing number of ‘craft’ distillers across the country producing what was once America’s original spirit. Across each state where rum is being distilled, styles vary in the same was as America itself does, but steadily rum is enjoying a renaissance in the US. It is possible to see this upturn as driven by the strength…

The spirit of Georgia – that’s how Richland Rum describes itself. The name is a nod to the town in which the Rum is made, and it just so happens that the town is blessed to be based in ‘rich lands’, with fertile and sandy soils, generous amounts of sunshine and natural waters from the Georgia aquifer. This all combines to form what Richland’s owners Erik and Karin Vonk claims makes an excellent rum-making terroir. The story goes that Erik Vonk had the then mayor of Richland, Adolph McLendon pull up to a 1,700 acre farm owned by the Vonks and ask whether he would consider moving his small distillery a north into the town. At this point in 2007, calling Richland a town might have been generous by the…

Neptune Rum, distilled and aged at a distillery in Barbados, has announced that it will now be available to travellers through duty-free. Duty Free Global (DFG) has agreed to take on the rum brand, which is produced using a blend of three, five and eight-years-old rums, aged in ex-Bourbon casks. The rum is produced in a mix of pot and column stills. DFG is a global brand partner that offers a diversified range of wines and spirits to travel retailers worldwide, whilst also responding to emerging trends in the marketplace. We can hope that this is an early sign of increased inclusion of rum in duty-free, Commenting on the partnership, Barry Geoghegan, founder Duty Free Global said: “We are really delighted to be working with the team at Neptune Rum…

Well, as much as I might like to gloss over spiced and flavoured rum, you simply can’t avoid it. Spiced rum is going to be the new gin. 100 per cent hand on heart, you heard it here first. I see spiced and flavoured rum offerings dramatically increasing on back bars of pubs and bars the length and breadth of the country. So many opportunities are being leveraged: those with a sense of regionality, seasonality, tie-ins with sports clubs and TV shows, unaged rum, old rum, low proof spirit drinks, navy strength and higher. Predictable spice (or botanical if you’re feeling fancy) and flavour combinations, unusual spice and flavour combinations. Concentrates, tinctures, steeping, re-distilling a-la gin basket style and combinations of them all! Simple and complex. Smoked. Low sugar, no…

You don’t have to look far around your town or city’s bar area to find bar-boards or signs advertising gin and tonics. In the drinks world, other categories are looking at gin with envious eyes, because the tonic water addition has opened it up to the masses of drinks lovers. Rum is increasingly being regarding as a sipping drink and its versatility affords it a lot of friends, whether they’re cocktail fans, those looking for something other than whisky to nurse, or on a night out. Now, you might say what about the rum and coke, or Cuba Libre? Well as we increasingly look to make some healthier choices, the idea of adding a mixer that is notoriously sugary to what is – when we are honest with ourselves –…

I was wondering around a distillery a few months back, when the head distiller and I got talking about what we felt might be on the horizon for spirits in the coming months. He suggested that rum in particular could enjoy its time in the sun soon and that he had actually helped to mentor a distiller who was launching a London-based rum. The story didn’t stop there, he also caught my attention by saying that this distiller happened to be a cab-driver and that alongside producing rum he also continued to ferry people around the capital. Fast-forward a few months and Moses Odong’s Taxi Spirts / Cabby’s has gone from strength-to-strength. We get to know the man behind the brand and delve a little deeper. MOSES, CAN YOU TELL…

A rum producing ‘region’, that realistically needs no introduction. Seen by many as the pinnacle of rum, pretty much each island produces one and many with a unique style to match. Say the word rum and the image conjured in many minds will be that of the sandy beaches of the Caribbean – and unsurprisingly, most of the world’s rum is produced here. The rum produced in the Caribbean varies greatly in style and flavour profile, due to differing production methods. Jamaican rum producers can add very little in the way of additives. Notably, they pack an intensity of flavour that comes from predominantly being produced in pot stills. Bajan rums are not allowed anything other than the addition of caramel for colour. Typically, the rum produced on Barbados is…

Whisper it quietly, but while for many sugar-cane might be synonymous with the Caribbean, the original variety – the Noble sugar-cane – was first discovered centuries ago in South East Asia before being imported to the Caribbean and the rest of the world. With the necessary resources, you might say that South East Asia is a ripe location for the production of rum, and on the fourth largest island in the Philippines, Negros, they do just that. In 2012, the British-born Stephen Carroll founded a premium rum brand in the heart of what is known as sugarlandia – Don Papa Rum. Don Papa’s name is inspired by Papa Isio (Dionisio Magbuelas), one of the leading figures from the Philippine revolution on the island of Negros. Stephen explains the link, “Papa…

Perhaps not widely considered a hot bed of rum outside of its borders, Paranubes is attempting to change the scene in Mexico. We get to know Francisco Terrazas, one of the co-founders at Paranubes, the brand and learn about aguardiente de caña, Charranda and the Mexican rum scene. FRANCISCO, CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF AND HOW YOU GOT INTO THE WORLD OF SPIRITS? My name is Francisco Terrazas, and I am the former national brand manager and co-founder for Paranubes Oaxacan rum. We are a small, single-family produced cane juice rum brand from the Sierra Mazateca region of Northern Oaxaca. I have been working with Mexican spirits for eight years, first as a bartender and manager of a mezcal bar in Houston, Texas, called The Pastry…

Guatemalan rum, Ron Zacapa, has partnered with London’s Zuma to unveil The Zacapa-Zuma Ritual Serves – a selection of cocktails crafted to signify Zacapa’s heritage. The serves have been created in partnership with Zuma to create a theatrical drinking experience for guests. The cocktails are presented in a bespoke, pyramid shaped glass box, with a cloud of volcanic-like smoke enveloping the drinks – the cocktails have been created using Mayan ingredients including cacao nib and black corn and sit on an engraved slate base. Crafted from three types of wood, the vessel reflects Zacapa’s ‘Sistema Solera’ ageing process, where the rum is laid to rest in barrels that aged American whiskeys, sherries, Pedro Ximénez wines and Cognac; in the case of Zacapa XO, the final stage of ageing occurs in…

“Sustainability is most often used by marketing folks to proclaim their products’ “greenness” but in reality the environment is only a third of it” Rum is mostly made from a byproduct of sugar production, so it’s inherently sustainable, right? Sadly, it’s not that simple. Sustainability is most often used by marketing folks to proclaim their products’ “greenness”, but in reality, the environment is only a third of it. Often described as a three-legged stool, sustainability is a concept where the planet is considered along with the people who make the products, while ensuring the commercial success of the company selling them. Planet, people, profit: take one leg away and the stool falls down. The three-legged stool is an easy analogy, but the theory doesn’t always hold in a world where…

I should think it’s fair to say that we’re all aware of how popular gin is right now? Across the globe the number of gin producers keeps growing and growing and the expressions coming out of these distilleries moves even faster. With that in mind then, there’s got to be something in one of the UK’s most recognisable gin-families turning their hand to blending rum? Perhaps then the long-promised resurgence of rum is around the corner after all. The family behind the news is the Hayman family, producers of Hayman’s gin in Balham, London. In September 2019 they announced that they would be launching London’s first rum blending house in more than 100 years – Charles Merser & Co. The new blending house is set to open in October 2019.…

Rum has not traditionally played a big role in the duty-free business outside the Caribbean where airport stores and downtown tax-free stores naturally prioritise local varieties. Elsewhere, it’s Scotch whisky and Cognac that still dominate. Of course, Bacardi Carta Blanca is the one rum travellers will find in just about every airport shop they pass through. It accounts for more than a third of duty-free rum sales with the well-known Captain Morgan and Havana Club the second and third-ranked brands respectively. In recent years, however, Bacardi has been using its dominant position in the marketplace to introduce travellers to some its older, more premium expressions such as the new Bacardi Gran Reserva Especial, which has just launched exclusively at DFS Group’s stores in Asia/Pacific and the US at airports such…

Perhaps like many others, I discovered O’Reizinho through a Boutique-y Rum bottling released here in the UK. Firstly, the idea of rhum agricole coming from Madeira, Portugal excited me, but on the first sip I was impressed by the ripe fruity notes balanced with a herbal olive note and became keen to know more about the people behind it, and of course the spirits. Will we see more rum coming from Madeira soon? I hope so. If we do, it seems likely that Pedro Ferreira and his family at O’Reizinho Distillery will have played their part in making it happen. COULD YOU TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF? WHO ARE THE PEOPLE AT O’REIZINHO AND WHY DID YOU START PRODUCING RUM? I’m 41 years old, born in Madeira, but moved to South…

“The Nassau Valley is described as the beating heart of Jamaica and the weather soil and geography impacts on the nature of the rum” The Nassau Valley is one of three valleys in Jamaica and sits roughly 440ft above sea level. In an increasingly crowded world of rum, the features that make your rum standout are important. For Appleton Estate, the topography of Cockpit Country, where the estate is based, is part of what makes their rums different. History is substantial on the estate – the first known documentation of rum production on the Appleton Estate is dated to 1749. It is widely thought that the estate itself dates to Sir Francis Dickinson in 1655, a soldier involved in the English invasion of Jamaica that year. Francis was born in…

We have Ernest Gantt’s ‘Don the Beachcomber’ to thank for the origins of what we call a Tiki Bar today. His bar was in Hollywood, while at a similar time Trader Vic’s was being opened by Victor Bergeron in Oakland. These South-Pacific inspired bars on the USA’s west coast form what many of us first think of when we consider Asia-Pacific rum. However, increasingly rum producers are surfacing across the continents of Asia and Oceania and over time more and more of their products are finding their way to our shores. Tanduay is still relatively little-known outside of Asia, yet it is one of the largest rum producers in the world. Based in the Philippines, its Gold is aimed at the sipping rum category, yet its Silver is also certainly…

The Bundaberg Distilling Company began distilling in 1888, with the first rum coming in 1889. It’s named after the town in Queensland, Australia in which it’s based and plays upon the country’s oddball nature. Take a visit and the locals will encourage you to refer to it as ‘Bundy.’ The distillery was started by cane farmers looking to use molasses and it quickly gained traction with the locals. They found it was better (in some eyes) than using sugar just to make cakes. Nothing wrong with cakes we suppose, but if you can have cakes and rum then why not. It’s another brand that ties into rum’s military history, with soldiers in the Boar War given a ration of Bundaberg rum. Times haven’t always been easy for the brand and…