Copyright

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First Edition 2018

© HarperCollins Publishers 2018

Ebook Edition © February 2018 ISBN: 9780008271237

Version: 2018-03-01

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Author: Dominic Roskrow

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Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Rum set to step into the spotlight

What is rum and how is it made?

Styles of rum

A – Z of rum

Ableforth’s Rumbullion! 15 Years Old

Ableforth’s Rumbullion! Navy-Strength

Admiral Vernon’s Old J Tiki Fire

Alnwick White Knight

Angostura 1787

Angostura Cask Collection No. 1

Antiguo de Solera

Appleton Estate 21 Year Old

Appleton Rare Blend 12 Year Old

Bacardi Carta Blanca

Bacardi Gran Reserva Maestro de Ron

Bacardi Superior Ron Heritage

Basseterre Guadeloupe 1995

Bayou Silver

Bayou Spiced

Blackwell Black Gold

Bombo Caramel & Coconut

Brugal Anejo

Bundaberg Overproof

Bundaberg Rum Solera

Caña Brava Anejo

Captain Bligh XO

Captain Morgan Original

Captain Morgan Original Spiced Gold

Clément Rhum Agricole Select Barrel

Clément XO

Cloven Hoof

Cruzan Single Barrel

Dark Matter Spiced

Dead Man’s Fingers Cornish Spiced Rum

Dictador 12 Year Old

Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva

Don Q 151º Rum

Don Q Reserva De La Familia Serrallés

Dunedin Rum

El Dorado 12 Year Old

El Dorado 25 Year Old Grand Special Reserve

Elements 8 Barrel Infused Spiced Rum

Flor de Caña 12 Years

Foursquare Port Cask Finish

Gold of Mauritius

Gosling’s Black Seal 151 Proof

Gosling’s Family Reserve Old Rum

Havana Club 3

Havana Club 15 Year Old Gran Reserva

Havana Club Selección de Maestros

HSE Rhum Élevé Sous Bois

Inner Circle Green Dot

Island Company Rum

Kill Devil Irma, Shipwreck Series

Kill Devil Pecan Rum

Koko Kanu Coconut

Kraken Black Spiced Rum

La Hechicera Fine Aged

Lamb’s Navy Rum

Liverpool Rum

Mezan 2004 Panama

Mocambo 10 Year Old

Morton’s OVD Demerara

Mount Gay Black Barrel

Mount Gay Eclipse

Mutineers Gold XO Special Reserve

Myers’s Rum

New Grove Dark Rum

New Grove Old Tradition Rum

Old Monk XXX Supreme

Old Port East Indian

Ord River Overproof Rum

Phoenix Tears

Phraya Deep Matured

Pirates Grog No. 13

Plantation OFTD

Plantation XO 20th Anniversary

Port Morant Demerara 1975

Pusser’s 15 Year Old

Pusser’s Gunpowder Proof

Pyrat XO Reserve

Rebellion Spiced

Rhum Agricole Vieux Neisson

Rhum Barbancourt 15 Years Old Estate Reserve

Ron Abuelo Centuria

Ron Cartavio XO 18 Years Old

Ron Zacapa Centenario

Royal Oak Trinidad Rum

Rum Sixty Six

Saint James 15 Year Old

Saint James Cuvée 1765

St. Nicholas Abbey 12 Year Old

Santa Teresa 1796

Santiago de Cuba Añejo Rum

Seawolf White Rum

Sparrow’s Premium Aged Rum

Spirits of Old Man Rum Project One

Spytail Black Ginger Rum

St Lucia 1931 Fourth Edition

Stone Pine Dead Man’s Drop

Stroh 80

Sunset Very Strong

Sweetdram Smoked Spiced Rum

Takamaka St André 8 Year Old

The Real McCoy 5 Year Old

The Real McCoy 12 Year Old

Trois Rivières Rhum Blanc

Valdespino Ron Viejo

Watson’s Trawler Rum

Westerhall Estate Rum No. 10

Wood’s 100 Old Navy

Wray & Nephew White Overproof

Zacapa XO

Zuidam Flying Dutchman Rum 1

Index

Picture Credits

About the Author

About the Publisher

Rum set to step into the spotlight

Given the continued success of the cocktail culture, a seemingly limitless demand for craft alcoholic drinks, and the demand from consumers for drinks with heritage and provenance, it’s tempting to say that rum is set to become fashionable again.

But it would be wrong to do so, mainly because while rum may not have spent a great deal of time in the spotlight, it has never left the stage either. Those old enough to remember the 1970s will recall that Bacardi and Coke and Rum and Black were highly popular, even back then. And by the time the mullet, shoulder pads and white trouser brigade were strutting their stuff at Club Tropicana with Wham in the 1980s, rum was the cocktail spirit of choice.

True, vodka was the dominant spirit when bartenders got serious and decided they were now mixologists. And when drinking spirits was reinvented as an art form, it was Scottish single malt and Japanese whisky that benefited.

But rum never really went away. It is the chameleon of the drinks world, changing its skin to survive in different drinking climates. At the populist end of the drinks spectrum it is represented by cheap and cheerful cartoon pirate brands. When we started taking exotic holidays it was all about rum on luxury yachts, next to crystal-blue water and reclining on white sandy beaches. When the Spice Girls were doing their thing, what we really really wanted was spiced rums.

When we started to premiumise our drinks, rum was there, the more traditional expressions riffing on a Royal Navy history that included a rum ration given to every sailor at midday for an amazing 230 years, until the ration was scrapped in 1970. The day it was stopped, 31 July, is marked by Black Tot Day. Rum is the only positive in the description of life in the Royal Navy as ‘rum, sodomy and the lash’, and a century before that the pirate link was established, as monarch-endorsed buccaneers set out to loot the ships of rival nations as they sought to trade in the Americas and across the Caribbean. There is an unsavoury side to the period, too, because much of the attraction of the Caribbean was, indeed, rum (and the sugar it was produced from), and the currency to purchase it was African slaves.

Rum is the drinks industry’s ultimate mistress, seductively whispering in the ear of bartenders everywhere ‘I’ll be whatever you want me to be.’ It is the ultimate multicultural spirit, available in white, brown, golden and dark formats. It is normally sweet with toffee and vanilla notes, but it can be oaky, fruity and spicy. It can be a cheap mixing spirit, or an expensive sipping one. There are standard and premium versions of it. It can be a loveable puppy of a spirit, all youthful exuberance and frolicsome fun, but it can be as venerable an old man as any Scottish single malt. You want the spirits equivalent of a Take That concert? Then a standard rum with coke or in a cocktail will do the trick. But if, metaphorically, a virtuoso performance at the Albert Hall is more your thing, then search out one of the rare and aged rums that are best enjoyed slowly and with respect.

Rum is a remarkably resilient spirit, and seems to have found endless ways of reinventing itself. Today its future lies in three distinct areas.

Firstly, like all spirits with a good back story, the sector is benefitting from the current demand for brands that have heritage and history. Consumers are drinking less but better, and are not necessarily after cheap so much as value for money. And any drink that can show that it comes from a specific location, has been produced successfully for generations, or has a bond with a specific place or family, will attract interest. Increasingly, enjoyment of spirits has strayed way beyond just drinking them, and has grown into a hobby. Discerning drinkers want to know how each drink is made, what its unique selling points are, and where the distillery is – a remote location on a West Indian island or in the forests of Venezuela fits the bill perfectly.

Secondly, related to that is the desire of drinkers to discover new styles, and to appreciate the nuances between different rums. Rum is made across the world but there is a concentration of production in the Caribbean and Central America. Undoubtedly there are differences in rums from different West Indian islands and, in particular, the rums from Cuba.

The changing relationship Cuba has with the West – on hold again in the United States with the election of a hostile administration – raises the potential for Cuba to export some of its more esoteric and exciting creations.

There is also a growing interest in specialist rums from the French-controlled regions of the Caribbean, particularly Martinique. Here they make a style of rum called rhum agricole, which is rum distilled from freshly-squeezed sugarcane juice rather than molasses, and it is a very different style of rum to the caramel-coated expressions we tend to associate with commercial rums.

And finally, the craft distilling boom provides a platform for niche rums. The trendiest bars will search for spirits that set them apart from their competitors – and at the most serious end of the bar scene, drinks makers are either making their own rums or working with micro-distillers to do so.

Many of these rums have been created to work in specific house cocktails and, like home-produced bitters, are designed to ensure that the bar’s best cocktails can’t be copied elsewhere. That said, the owners of bars such as Bramble Bar in Edinburgh have now started making their own spirits, including rum, and are selling them through what they describe as ‘one of the world’s smallest drinks retailers’.

So rum is in rude good health, and with many predicting a surge in interest in premium rums, particularly premium white rums, the category can grow even stronger.

What is rum and how is it made?

Rum is a a spirit distilled from sugarcane by-products such as fermented molasses, which are thick and syrupy, or from freshly-squeezed sugarcane juices. Rum is not the easiest spirit to make because of the viscosity of the raw materials. First, the molasses or juices must be fermented, and this is done by adding yeast to feed on the sugars, creating alcohol and carbon dioxide. The fermented liquid is then distilled, producing a clear liquid. This may be marketed as rum and is used mainly for mixing and for cocktails. But rum may be aged in oak barrels to create a premium rum, which is best consumed straight or over ice. Rum can be, and is, made in any country that produces sugarcane, but it is its commonly associated with the Caribbean.

Rums made from sugarcane juices are significantly different to common rums and are particularly associated with the French regions of the Caribbean (rhum agricoles) and with Brazil (cachaca).

Alcohol strength

The rules governing rum are not as stringent as the rules governing Scotch whisky, and the strength of rums vary from 37.5% ABV to 80.0% plus. But different countries define rum differently. For instance, in the United States rum must be a minimum of 80% proof – 40.0% ABV.

Some countries also demand that rum is matured in oak barrels for a minimum length of time.

Styles of rum

White rum

White rum is the entry point for many people new to the rum category. In many cases it is young rum that mixes easily and is the base for mainstream rum cocktails. It is a category dominated by Bacardi, one of the world’s most successful spirit brands.

But if ever there was a drinks category that defied the idea that the darker a spirit, the more flavoursome and older it is, this is it. There are several examples of superior rums that are clear, and drinks experts predict that premium white rum is set to become a trendsetter in coming years. There are white rums that have been matured for several years and their colour, but not their superior taste, has been stripped out.

Golden rum

Of all spirits categories rum is quite possibly the most lawless, which is a status it is happy to keep, given its rebellious and wild image. So there is no formal definition of what a golden rum is, but it is regarded as a halfway house between white rums and dark rums, and will have benefitted from some ageing. It is generally considered to be more complex than many white rums.

Dark rum

Dark rum at its best refers to rum that has been aged for a considerable time, possibly in heavily charred oak barrels. Dark rum is designed to be consumed in the same way as a single malt whisky. Dark rums may be aged for many years. But the category also refers to the very sweet Demerara style of rum, most commonly associated with Guyana. This style formed the base for the rums served on Royal Navy ships and served in British pubs.

Spiced rum

Normally a spiced rum gets its flavours from spices being added after distillation. There are two reasons for this: firstly, distillation will remove much of the flavour of the spices; and secondly, because the spicy flavours left in the still will affect the taste of the next distillation. Spices used include cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, star anise, peppercorns, citrus peel zest, and ginger.

Rhum agricole

Rhum agricole is rum made in the French Caribbean islands, produced from fermented sugarcane juice and with a distinctive, earthy and more grassy flavour than standard rum.

Cachaca

The national drink of Brazil is a form of rum distilled from fermented sugarcane juice.

Ableforth’s Rumbullion! 15 Years Old

PRODUCER: Atom Supplies

AREA OF ORIGIN: Tonbridge Wells, England

VARIETY: Spiced rum

ABV: 46.2%

WEBSITE: www.ableforths.com

Ableforth’s Rumbullion 15 Years Old is one of the most thrilling and outstanding rums on the market, not because it is the very best, or the coolest, or the most popular, or the most fun, but because it contains elements of all those attributes, making it a truly great all-rounder. Rumbullion!’s creators have a healthy, irreverent approach to the world of spirits, and there’s something very playful about this delicious-tasting rum. It is loaded with Christmas spices, tastes wonderful in a trifle, and as a stand-alone drink, having won the title of the world’s best spiced rum in the past. Packaging-wise, it’s as cool as rum gets. Like the original, the 15-year-old is a rich blend of vanilla, orange peel and fine spices, but the extra years give it an oaky, rich and more complex flavour. Excellent.

Ableforth’s Rumbullion! Navy-Strength

PRODUCER: Atom Supplies

AREA OF ORIGIN: Tonbridge Wells, England

VARIETY: Spiced rum

ABV: 57.0%

WEBSITE: www.ableforths.com

There are plenty of drinks authorities who think that rum is set for a place in the drinks spotlight. It has always been a favourite with bartenders because it mixes so well, but with many spirits drinkers turned off by the high price of single malt, there is a feeling that sipping and aged rums are ideally placed to take advantage of the desire for well made spirits with their own personality and with heritage and provenance. If there’s been a problem with the category it’s that the rules governing what is and isn’t rum are lax, and standards vary considerably across the sector. Rumbullion! Navy-Strength has no such worries. This version isn’t just greater in strength, it’s bigger in flavour, too. Cardamom and cloves join the orange and vanilla hit of its sister expressions.

Admiral Vernon’s Old J Tiki Fire

PRODUCER: LWC

AREA OF ORIGIN: London, England

VARIETY: Golden spiced rum

ABV: 75.5%

WEBSITE: www.oldjspicedrum.co.uk

This super strength rum is ironically named, because Admiral Edward Vernon weakened the strength of the daily rum ration from its Navy Strength of 57.0% ABV. Navy Strength is the strength of rum needed for gunpowder doused in it to catch fire when lit. Any weaker ABV meant that the rum or gin had been diluted. Not surprisingly, the men weren’t happy with the change, and when they complained Vernon told them to add lime and sugar to make the weaker grog more palatable. That’s what’s happening here. Lime, vanilla and sugar mark out this rum, as well as a strong spicy note. Old J Tiki Fire is a high-strength version of Old J Spiced Rum, and the added strength means that Old J Tiki Fire makes its presence felt in a whole host of rum-based cocktails. Obviously not to be consumed neat.

Alnwick White Knight

PRODUCER: Alnwick Rum Company

AREA OF ORIGIN: Alnwick, England

VARIETY: White rum

ABV: 37.5%

WEBSITE: www.lindisfarne-mead.co.uk/AlnwickRum

Alnwick – pronounced Ann-ick – is a small town in Northumberland, in the far North East of England. Offshore is Lindisfarne, an island that is home to monks, countless seabirds, and alcohol production, especially mead. The Alnwick Rum Company fits right in here, and has successfully made dark rums that are sold in the region in selected drinks outlets, and online. White Knight is the company’s white rum and, as there is a view that quality and niche white rums are becoming increasingly fashionable, White Knight ticks all the right boxes. White Knight is a white Guyanese rum brought down to bottling strength with spring water from the Northumberland hills. It is fruity, easy drinking and has soft toffee notes.

Angostura 1787

PRODUCER: Angostura Holdings Limited

AREA OF ORIGIN: Trinidad and Tobago

VARIETY: Premium dark rum

ABV: 40.0%

WEBSITE: www.angosturarum.com

Different suppliers and producers take vastly different approaches to the marketing of rum, from pirates to parties, and from cheap and cheerful to classy connoisseur. Angostura is in the serious category. It points out that all of its rum comes from just one distillery in Trinidad, in the same way that a single malt whisky derives from one place, it says – only its rum is better. That’s obviously a big claim but taste this and you can see the company has an argument. This was released in the second half of 2016 and is 15 years old. You can taste the oak in the rum, and there are some impressive tannin and spice notes. There are some exotic and dried berry fruits on the palate, too, as well as toffee. A balanced, rounded and excellent quality rum.

Angostura Cask Collection No. 1

PRODUCER: Angostura Holdings Limited

AREA OF ORIGIN: Trinidad and Tobago

VARIETY: Aged rum

ABV: 40.0%

WEBSITE: www.angostura.com

The Cask Collection is a range of limited editions entirely dedicated to rums that are matured in different types of casks. No. 1 Once Used French Oak is bottled at 40.0% and is the first rum that Angostura has matured in French oak casks. It is an exquisite, silky smooth and complex blend – created with a combination of techniques learnt from the Old World and perfected in the New World. Only 15 030 bottles of this rum were released so it may be difficult to find. A range of rums are matured for 10 years and then transferred to French Oak casks for another six years. The resulting rum is smooth and balanced with a soft silky finish.

Antiguo de Solera

PRODUCER: Santa Teresa

AREA OF ORIGIN: Estada Aragua, Venezuela

VARIETY: Dark rum

ABV: 40.0%

WEBSITE: www.ronsantateresa.com

Considered by many to be the world’s best South American Rum, Antiguo de Solera is just that – an aged rum produced through a solera system, where rum is taken away for filling from the bottom of the solera, and new rum is added at the top.

The distillery is unique. It rehabilitates former gang members when they are released from prison, and gives them the means to work hard to turn their lives around – and it encourages them to play rugby, of all things.

The rum is extraordinarily complex and rounded, with notes of tobacco smoke, leather, dark chocolate and honey.

A world-class operation in all respects.

Appleton Estate 21 Year Old

PRODUCER: Gruppo Campari

AREA OF ORIGIN: Nassau Valley, Jamaica

VARIETY: Dark rum

ABV: 43.0%

WEBSITE: www.appletonestate.com

The age on a bottle of spirits can mean various things. In the case of single malt whisky, the age refers to the youngest whisky in the bottle; even one drop of a young whisky and that is its age. But other spirits have looser definitions. Appleton Estate 21 Year Old, though, adamantly follows the single malt route, and contains rums that are at least 21 years old. Most of the rum was matured and the time in the oak gives some delicious tannin spice and oaky notes. But there are some exquisite flavours of vanilla, cocoa and orange. As a result, this is a fabulous sipping rum and doesn’t need mixing. It is described as ‘just brilliant’ by one leading online retailer.

Appleton Rare Blend 12 Year Old

PRODUCER: Gruppo Campari

AREA OF ORIGIN: Nassau Valley, Jamaica

VARIETY: Golden rum

ABV: 43.0%

WEBSITE: www.appletonestate.com

Campari spent much of the second decade of the new millennium building a portfolio of drinks businesses, and earned industry respect by taking a hands-off approach, providing the necessary funds to allow the spirits makers to do what they do best – make great drinks. Appleton, based on an estate in the heart of Jamaica, puts a big emphasis on terroir (the whole environment a drink is produced in, including weather, geography, etc.), arguing that its rums are unique due to the sugarcane that it grows itself, and the limestone spring that supplies its water. Rare Blend 12 Year Old is a blend of different rums from the estate, most of them matured in 180-litre American oak barrels. This is smooth, sweet and not as oaky as you might expect, given the age of the spirits.

Bacardi Carta Blanca

PRODUCER: Bacardi Brown Forman

AREA OF ORIGIN: Puerto Rico

VARIETY: White rum

ABV: 37.5%

WEBSITE: www3.bacardi.com

Familiarity can breed contempt but this rum is a success because of its quality. This is the world famous version of Bacardi, the one seen in tens of thousands of bars, and there are very good reasons for its global success. White rums were considered to be harsh, crude, and unrefined until they were reinvented by the company’s founder, Don Facundo, who introduced charcoal filtration to remove the rum’s impurities, and oak-ageing to smooth the raw edges of the spirit and produce a mellow, clear, white rum. This is a perfectly good rum, but it is deliberately smooth and unchallenging – and this might not appeal to serious rum drinkers.

Bacardi Gran Reserva Maestro de Ron

PRODUCER: Bacardi Brown Forman

AREA OF ORIGIN: Puerto Rico

VARIETY: Premium white rum

ABV: 40.0%

WEBSITE: www3.bacardi.com

Bacardi doesn’t sit on its laurels, and over the years has launched different bottlings for different audiences. This Gran Reserva is a brave and confident take on super premium rum, and is an attempt to encourage rum to be sipped. Launched into travel retail, it has been well received. It is said to be inspired by a recipe passed down through generations of master blenders using a slow-filtering of the blended rum – aged up to three years – through a coconut shell charcoal, creating a smooth rum. The colour from this process has been stripped out, and presumably some of the flavour has, but this is still great: fruity, floral, and with vanilla notes and hints of walnut, oak and almond. Overall it is mellow, with slightly sweet notes.

Bacardi Superior Ron Heritage

PRODUCER: Bacardi Brown Forman

AREA OF ORIGIN: Puerto Rico

VARIETY: Premium white rum

ABV: 44.5%

WEBSITE: www3.bacardi.com

This is a very limited expression of Bacardi, with only 7,500 cases being released in 2009. It marks the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the Daiquiri in America. The cocktail was created in Cuba using Bacardi as its base, as the company was still based there in 1909. This is said to be a recreation of the original Bacardi, and it comes in a replica of the original bottle from that time. The rum itself is a richer, fuller rum than Bacardi’s current standard rum, and is bottled at the same strength as it was in 1909. This is a tasty rum that can be drunk over ice. You’ll find cinnamon and other spices, baked apple and sweet pear.

Basseterre Guadeloupe 1995

PRODUCER: Montebello / Carrère

AREA OF ORIGIN: Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe

VARIETY: Dark rum

ABV: 58.2%

WEBSITE: www.facebook.com/RhumMontebello

Guadeloupe has several respected rum distillers and this one – called Carrère but better known as Montebello – is one of the best. It was founded in 1930 and has been thriving ever since. With about 25 employees, it is not a small distillery, but all of the fermentation, distillation, ageing, and bottling is done under the close supervision of the Marsolle family. The estate has only 15 hectares of cane today, so most of the year-old cane is bought from farmers in the Petit-Bourg area. Beautifully packaged and very much at the premium end of the rum market, Basseterre Guadeloupe was distilled at Montebello in 1995. A blend of agricole and molasses rums bottled at cask strength, this has notes of cumin, liquorice and lemon.

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