You’re likely used to assuming the year on the label defines the youngest spirit in the bottle. Where a whisky lover must take rum with a grain of salt is in the age statement. Panama’s Ron Abuelo, for instance, makes its XV Finish Collection, which includes separate expressions with extra aging in Oloroso sherry, Napoleon Cognac, and tawny port casks. But horizons are widening, as rum-never really tied to tradition-has discovered wood finishing. As with scotch, the maturation vehicle is often a bourbon barrel. Like whisky, aged rum takes most of its flavor from the wood in which it rests. Since rum is often a blender’s art form, makers such as Mount Gay of Barbados and Appleton Estate use both still types and mix the results, aiming for the best of both worlds to craft gems like Mount Gay Black Barrel and Appleton Estate 21. Consider such choices as Guatemala’s Ron Zacapa Sistema Solera 23 year old, Venezuela’s Ron Añejo Pampero Aniversario, Nicaragua’s Flor de Caña Centenario 25, and Puerto Rico’s Exquisito (part of Bacardi’s Facundo Collection).
#Eximo rhum full
That’s not to say that full body can’t come from a column.
For that reason, light rums of little age are usually column-stilled. More convenient column stills eliminate impurities found in pot still rums that transform into rich flavors only with extended maturation. Pot stills-as well as other alembics borrowed from the Cognac world-are less efficient, but are capable of a wider range of flavor notes. The stills also have very similar effects on the spirits.
The distillation choices are basically the same for both whisky and rum: pot still or column still. Molasses, with its round vanilla and caramel notes, has been employed for some 400 years. While it sounds like that would be the seminal approach to rum production, it was developed only in the late 19th century. This method showcases the grassy/earthy/spicy qualities of sugarcane. Recommended examples of the former type include Guatemala’s Botran Solera 1893, Martinique’s Rhum J.M X.O and Rhum Clément and Haiti’s Rhum BarbancourtEstate Reserve 15. While whisky can be made from a number of grain types, rum makers choose only between sugarcane juice and molasses, a byproduct of making crystalized sugar. Bacardi uses a fast-acting yeast to get its light character and Jamaica’s Appleton Estatedevelops a fuller body from a slower variety), volunteer organisms aren’t usually encouraged. But because the spirit’s character is developed by yeast (e.g. In fact, rum can be fermented with airborne yeast. Just add yeast and water, and it starts to foam on its own. The juices that are squeezed out of the cane in a crushing process are already teeming with sugar, so the malting stage used to coax sugar from grain to make whisky is unnecessary. Rum starts with sugarcane, not grain, which makes the fermentation stage simpler. The basics of both processes are the same: you make a fermented liquid, distill it to higher proof, and mature it in casks.
And while there are marked differences, much of the knowledge it takes to understand whisky can easily be applied to rum. Both are brown spirits with depths of character and spectra of flavors that make them ideal for unending hours of enjoyment and reflection. If you’re a whisky lover, aged rum offers a lot to relate to. You might scratch your head, but for savvy spirits enthusiasts a better reaction is to take advantage of it before the popular palate catches up. With a bounty of rich and rewarding examples on the market at mainly bang-for-the-buck prices, the category seems set for a boom of the caliber that American whiskey is enjoying. Perhaps it’s futile to predict trends-especially when it comes to taste-but the one drinking vogue that should be happening, for some reason hasn’t quite arrived. Aged rums have a lot to offer the seasoned whisky lover.
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