In the past couple of years, there has been a movement to much higher quality cocktails and liquors by the American consumers. In my little corner of the world, we are selling many of the upper tier rums that in the past few people would look at. It seems that people are learning that rum has a fine side too. Like scotch and bourbon, there are fine aged rums out there with flavor and character that no other category can match. The days of flavored distillate and biting white pirate rum are waning. I am asked constantly what is my favorite rum, but I have to answer that depending on my mood, there are many of them that are my favorite at that particular moment. Rum is very much a palate spirit and every mood requires a different taste.
Rum is undergoing a revolution of the category and there is much more time being spent developing upper tier expression and less and less emphasis on the "well" grade rums. The fact that rum was always the cheapest liquor on the shelf has hurt the efforts of so many of the developers of quality rums for so many years. The "cover-over tax refund" for the US territories hasn't helped either. This is just another incentive to make a large quantity of low grade bulk rum and dump it on the American market.
If the Rum Category is to grow, it will be in the premium and ultra premium sectors of the category. I feel that there is a space for fine rums just like there is for any other fine aged spirit and it is rapidly finding its niche in the spirit world. If the rum producers keep their eye on the market and give the public what it is craving, then the growth will continue and there will be many fine rums out there to be your "go to" rum in the near future. ;o)
In the past couple of years, there has been a movement to much higher quality cocktails and liquors by the American consumers. In my little corner of the world, we are selling many of the upper tier rums that in the past few people would look at. It seems that people are learning that rum has a fine side too. Like scotch and bourbon, there are fine aged rums out there with flavor and character that no other category can match. The days of flavored distillate and biting white pirate rum are waning. I am asked constantly what is my favorite rum, but I have to answer that depending on my mood, there are many of them that are my favorite at that particular moment. Rum is very much a palate spirit and every mood requires a different taste.
Rum is undergoing a revolution of the category and there is much more time being spent developing upper tier expression and less and less emphasis on the "well" grade rums. The fact that rum was always the cheapest liquor on the shelf has hurt the efforts of so many of the developers of quality rums for so many years. The "cover-over tax refund" for the US territories hasn't helped either. This is just another incentive to make a large quantity of low grade bulk rum and dump it on the American market.
If the Rum Category is to grow, it will be in the premium and ultra premium sectors of the category. I feel that there is a space for fine rums just like there is for any other fine aged spirit and it is rapidly finding its niche in the spirit world. If the rum producers keep their eye on the market and give the public what it is craving, then the growth will continue and there will be many fine rums out there to be your "go to" rum in the near future. ;o)
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