Book Review: Rum Curious
Well-known spirits writer Fred Minnick follows up his stellar Bourbon Curious with a somewhat less sexy, though equally indispensable, title: Rum Curious. As he did for the bourbon world, Minnick uses this tome to school the reader on the origins of rum (hope you like pirate stories!), the intricacies of its production, and controversies like sugaring and standards — seeing that every country that produces rum has its own rules and regulations governing its production.
A solid third of the book is devoted to Minnick’s reviews of dozens of rum brands (here revealing his tastes run toward comparably unsugared rums), followed by the expected cocktail recipes. As a one-stop shop for everything rum, it’s a solid book, though if I had to pick just one I’d still select Dave Broom’s Rum: The Manual, which I am sure I reviewed here on Drinkhacker but which seems to be missing from the site now.
Minnick is a solid writer, knows his stuff, and presents a well-organized companion to “the spirit of the future,” as they say. (Agave may be going extinct and whiskey is being priced into the stratosphere, but distilling sugar cane in third world nations isn’t going anywhere, folks!)
Best of all, it’s only 5 bucks — in hardcover — on Amazon!
A- / $5 / [BUY IT NOW FROM AMAZON]
Rum Curious
$5
Price seems to have leapt up in price to $17