Rum
Rum is a distilled spirit traditionally made from sugarcane juice or molasses and typically aged in oak barrels, although experimentation with other barrels also takes place. Rum is most widely associated with the islands of the Caribbean and Latin American countries, but it is made in many countries around the world, including Scotland, Sweden, and the U.S. In Spanish-speaking countries rum is called ron, though no one knows for sure where the word “rum” itself was born. White or silver rum is either unaged or is lightly aged, then filtered to strip out the color; it is generally intended for use in cocktails. Gold or amber rum is aged in oak barrels, though there are no agreed upon standards on how long this term, nor any real distinction between the terms. Dark rum is usually made from caramelized molasses, aged for a longer period of time, and usually in barrels that have been more deeply charred. Overproof rum can hit up to 160 proof and is intended for use in cocktails, including the Volcano, where the overproof rum is floated on top and ignited. Spiced and flavored rums are also quite popular.
Top Rum Posts:
Havana Club Tributo 2017
Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum
Bacardi Anejo Cuatro 4 Years Old, Reserva Ocho 8 Years Old, and Gran Reserva Diez 10 Years Old Rum
As far as I can tell, Spinnaker is the only rum company based in Austin, Texas (it’s also the smallest), where Drinkhacker HQ currently resides. It’s not a distiller, mind you, but an independent bottler, very much in the vein of Holmes Cay and LM&V. Spinnaker has a clear focus, taking single barrels of premium…
La Maison & Veilier’s Flag Series of rums is on to its third series, three single casks hailing from three different continents, each more exotic than the last. Flag Series has previously been featured as our ##1 rum of 2023, so expectations are about as high as they get. Let’s dive in to these three…
The 29th release in Foursquare‘s long-running collection of Exceptional Cask blended rums is named Mandamus, and it’s a doozy: The blend includes both pot and column rums distilled from molasses by Foursquare Master Distiller & Master Blender Richard Seale, using the distillery’s double-retort copper pot still and twin Coffey column still. The rum is aged…
In 2021, Holmes Cay released a single barrel of Guyanese rum from the Diamond Distillery in the village of Uitvlugt, the only distillery in the country. (The Uitvlugt name is used to distinguish this product from other products of Diamond Distillery, namely Port Mourant.) Now they’re back with a new cask of the same…
How do you tame a monstrous rum like South Africa’s Mhoba, an ester-laden powerhouse that can overwhelm with the tiniest of sips? Easy: Drop some pineapple into it. Sihhenge (roughly pronounced see-heng-eh) features a simple formula of rum made from fresh cane juice (fermented with wild yeast and pot distilled) which is infused with juice…
Nicaragua’s Flor de Cana has a massive collection of rums with age statements (real age statements, not that old numerical trickery situation), including an 18 year old expression. Why, then, did the company drop a 17 year old rum late last year? Turns out it’s a limited release available only at select retailers — and…
La Maison & Velier’s Habitation Velier is an especially unusual collection of rums from a bottler that’s already known for its out-of-the-ordinary offerings. The range, which currently spans 45 releases, is designed to be educational in nature, designed to showcase the power of pot distillation and how it varies from one producer (and region) to…
Camikara is produced in India by Picadilly Distillery (producer of the Indri whisky line) using local sugar cane (not molasses or jaggery, common for the country), making it an unusual agricole style Indian rum. It’s matured in bourbon casks (with no white rum expression available) and is sold in expressions of 3, 8, and 12…
An estimated 95% of the world’s rum is distilled from molasses, a material that originated as an industrial byproduct of sugar production. By contrast, only about 2-4% of global rum output is made from fermented fresh cane juice. This smaller tradition is closely tied to French colonial history and is commonly known as rhum agricole.…
Few spirits are made in as far-flung locations and environments as rum. While it’s associated with Caribbean, we’ve tasted rums from the U.S., Australia, South Africa, Cambodia, and more in recent months — and some of them are damn good. With this annual update, we look back at the rums we loved that were released…