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Yo ho ho and a Bottle of Rum!

EMG06

EMG06

"TSC's Bingo Admiral"
So as a Rumhead, I want to start a thread here for us to discuss all things rum. Share your favorite bottles, favorite drink recipes anything rum related belongs here!

I’ll start with some boring educational stuff because I think this is a seriously misunderstood spirit:

What is Rum?

Most countries define rum as “Any distilled alcohol that derives from the Sugar Cane plant.” Lots of countries have way more rules than that, but this is the heart of almost every definition of rum out there.

Why does rum taste like rum?

Every distilling process has a few commonalities. You must take some water and with sugar in it (the mash), expose it to yeast and let the yeast turn that sugar into ethanol (fermentation). Then you take this fermentation juice (the wash) and boil it to separate the ethanol from the other stuff, before collecting the spirit which is safe to drink (distillation).

All ethanol is ethanol (so it should taste all the same). So, it’s that other stuff (often called congeners) that gives rum its distinct flavors which will differ from whisky or bourbon or gin.

Think of this like a musical instrument. A piano or a banjo can both play the same 440 Hz tone (an “A-440” as it’s known in music land); but you’ll know instantly which instrument was playing due to the tiny fraction of other tones that are happening in the background (the overtones). The ethanol is the note, the congeners are the overtones that make each alcohol taste unique.

What's interesting about rum is that it can be processed in so many ways, it is really the most versatile and varied spirit in the world.

There is a rum for every drinker, so if you say you don’t like rum, it just means you haven’t tried the right one yet.
 
How does rum get its flavor?

Terroir

What variety of sugar cane, where the cane is from and how it grows. This is very important in rum made directly from fresh pressed cane juice (French tradition « rhum agricole » and Haitian Clairin). It’s less important in rums that are based on Cane Syrup and Molasses (which are byproducts of sugar making).



Base Product (Mash)

Need a Sugar source based on Sugar Cane:

Cane Juice (The liquid you get when you press fresh cut cane

Cane Syrup (Miel de caña)

Molasses (Processed byproduct of making table sugar)



Add water and you’ve made a mash (A liquid that has sugar but no alcohol).



Fermentation

After fermentation you are left with the wash (liquid containing alcohol)



Short vs Long?

Short - happens fast, like hours to 3 days. Gives you a wash that is high in alcohol (9% ABV), but low in flavor compounds (congeners).


Long - takes more time, up to 3 weeks. Gives you a wash that is lower in alcohol (5-6% ABV), but will contain lots of congeners. Especially esters. Why? When alcohol meets an acid they form an ester. So you are giving up part of the alcohol that gets made early in the process for the sake of a wash with high esters.


What’s in the fermentation vat?

You can supercharge the level of flavor congeners by adding other stuff to your mash. So since alcohol + acid = esters; these are ways of upping the amount of esters in the final product.


Two most famous you’ll hear about in rum circles are “dunder” and “muck”



Dunder - (probably from Latin redundans), is the stuff that remains in the still after fermentation completes (in the world of wine making this is often called vinasse.). It is full of acids, organic compounds, and yeast. You shovel this material back into your mash to get more flavor. (This is akin to the sour mash process in whiskey making).



Muck - Almost exclusive to Jamaica, this is legendary stuff. It is a liquid made of distillery waste (dunder, cane trash, fermentation bottom yeasts, and other stuff) that is kept in earthen “graves” for years. It is a stew of bacteria and chemicals that get added to the wash after fermentation and before distillation. The bacterial fermentation that ensues generates long chain acids, which combine with the already present alcohol to make rich and complex aromas and flavors.





Distillation (Type of Still)

Put the wash into a vat, heat it, and collect spirit on the other side.



The spirit will be a mixture of water, alcohol, and congeners.



Pot Still

A pot of wash put over a heat source, that then gives the alcohol and congeners (typically with a final product of about 70-80% ABV). Most Caribbean distilleries that are using pot stills use the “double retort pot still,” a slight complication on the set up described here. Pot stills keep more of the congeners around and they influence the flavor more. So when you see something is “pot still” you can have an idea it might be a more ester flavor forward; heavier bodied rum.



Column (Continuous)

A tall stack of trays that heat the wash using steam to pull out the alcohol and volatile congeners. This initially yields a rum that can be just as flavorful as a pot still with correspondingly low ABV of 65-75% (lots of rhum agricole from Martinique is made this way) but you can repeat the process to get a rum that is effectively neutral spirit (96% ABV).





Aging

Cask Aging

Freshly distilled spirit is placed into casks, where it pulls flavors from the wood.



Rum Casks

There isn’t much wood in the Caribbean to make casks. So most producers buy other distilleries cast offs. The English speaking world typically buy ex-Bourbon casks from the US; Spanish speaking countries often utilize ex-Sherry casks, and the French use casks that originally held wine or Cognac. Bourbon casks are so prevalent because to call it Bourbon, US law says you can only use new charred casks. So it’s one and done, and then the secondary market has lots of American oak casks which then go on to serve the rum community for another 20 years.



Rhum Barbancourt from Haiti is a notable exception, using only virgin Limousine Oak casks from France for their aging.



Countries in Central and South America sometimes use local hardwoods as well, but most still use casks bought from elsewhere.



Aging in wood can help to remove “off-notes” while adding in tannins for astringency, Lignin for vanilla notes, and Hemicellulose for body and toasty flavors. These are common flavors found in wine and other spirits, and you’ll taste them here as well.



A note on Tropical vs Continental Aging

It is hot and humid in a lot of places where rum is made. This means that the baseline background heat speeds up some of the effects of aging and a rum aged in the Caribbean heat may reach the same maturity in 12-15 years that it would take Scotch in Scotland 25 years to reach (due to the vastly different climate present during Continental aging). So when a rum is aged in the Caribbean it’s important to adjust your aging timeline mentally.



A second aging or cask finish is also popular. The rum will spend a shorter amount of time in a different type of cask, hoping to gain some of the flavors of that spirit.



Adding spices

Some rums add flavor by allowing the spirit of age in the presence of spices (cinnamon, anise, etc). When done is small amounts this is still considered rum (not spiced rum).



Adding sugar

Some rums choose to add back sugar to sweeten the final product. Typically this is done by mixing in some sweet wine (not just pouring in simple syrup).



Blending

Can mix and match to get the best and most consistent product. This is frequently done by makers for all commercial products.
 
Lots of rums lean into 2 strategies for making tasty rum

Aging-Focused Flavors Forward

Producers who use short fermentation and then focus on creating flavor using the aging process.



Fermentation-Focused Flavors Forward

Producers who create lots of flavors coming from the fermentation process.

So Jamaican Overproof and Haitian Clairin (tons of flavors but no aging). These same producers often go on to mellow these flavors with blending and aging.
 
Rum happens to be my least favorite spirit, I might even go so far as to say I don’t like it. The classic rum and coke (or maybe Dr Pepper) and perhaps a strawberry daiquiri or pina colada are tolerable/enjoyable but i simply have never been able to drink rum straight. It’s hard for me to describe but I always taste an offensive’fuel-like’ flavor. Some brands are more offensive than others, with Kraken spiced being the best I’ve enjoyed. So I guess I’m willing to explore rum but to do so I may need to venture beyond the stuff typically found in my grocery stores

My wife on the other hand likes most rums she’s encountered (in mixed drinks only) but simply can’t do a whisky/whiskey.

Edit: I forgot hot buttered rum…that’s pretty good stuff
 
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Common Flavors

Like any complex spirit (i.e. not vodka) rum has a lot of flavors that can and do come out of the glass. It can be helpful to learn about some of these flavors and where they come from to understand how to select a bottle in the liquor store and come to learn what your own preferences are before wasting money on something you won’t like.

Following the lead of the “rum wonk” Matt Pietrek, I will split this into flavors that generally come from fermentation versus flavors that generally come from aging.

Fermentation Flavors (Grass, Fruit, Hogo)
Grassy - Herbal, fresh notes that are closest to the taste of the cane juice (and sugar cane is a grass). No surprise these are going to be found in rums that use cane juice as their source material. For these flavors try an unaged or lightly aged (<3 years) Rhum Agricole, Haitian Clairin, Brazilian Cachaça

Fruit
This is a broad category that ranges from the flavors most people find generally pleasant (tropical fruits, stone fruits, pineapple) to things that are more of an “acquired taste” (overripe bananas). I’ll try to subdivide it a bit.

“Pleasant” Fruits : Tropical fruits/pineapple. This sort of flavor comes from a bit of a longer fermentation typically with a molasses or cane syrup base. Planteray Barbados 5yr is a great example of this.

Overripe Fruits “Hogo” : This is much more of an acquired taste. Often called hogo or funk, when done well, this is a flavor that is addictive to some rum enthusiasts. Done poorly, this is overwhelming and can easily push from fruit into tasting notes of “oily fuel.” This flavor is the hallmark of Jamaican Unaged Overproof, and some Haitian Clairin.

Aging Flavors (Oak, Vanilla, Spice)
Oak - Oaky notes might be familiar to you from a nice oaky Chardonnay or from Bourbon. Either way, the flavors are similar in rum tasting. Aged Bacardi (8 or 10 year), some Barbados rum (like Mount Gay), aged rums from Trinidad and Tobago, aged rhum agricole.

Vanilla - Pleasant and almost universally enjoyed, some vanilla is present in a lot of long aged rums. Old Rum (>10 yr) from Spanish speaking places: Guatemala (Zacapa), Diplomatico, Ron de Abuelo. Also present in older rums from Barbados and Guyana.

Spice - Think baking spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, etc.) Ron del Barrilito 2 or 3 star from Puerto Rico comes most readily to mind.



A lot of great rums have both fermentation and aging derived flavors in different proportions. That’s part of the adventure, refining your palate and finding the ones that are just right for you!
 
CBLindsay said:
It’s hard for me to describe but I always taste an offensive’fuel-like’ flavor
Click to expand...
That’s probably the funky/hogo note you’re getting in the background. I would say to try something from a Spanish speaking country that’s been aged at least 5 years, or go in a totally different direction and try one of the rhum agricole style aged rums from Martinique
 
@supertrunker Yes! I recommend making a favorite cocktail then putting less than a shot of something Jamaican overproof into the mix Or doing coconut water and Jamaican white overproof rum in a ratio that tastes great to you to start getting into the flavor.

For a very vivid (hopefully not off putting) description of muck, check this out
 
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