What Rum to buy, I’m looking for the best
buy for the money? What do I really
want, which one gives me the biggest bang for the money? These are the things that cross my mind
every time that I go into a bar or liquor store to by rum. For myself, I’m going to be drinking it
either neat or on the rocks, so my considerations will be different from
someone that is going to be mixing it with something.
The first thing I look for is a good eye appeal
through the glass bottle. Color and clarity
are very important to me. This is an
indicator of the way that the producer took time to give you a good first impression. I’m not talking about “eye catching” labels,
but a true pure product. I tend to steer
away from products that are in opaque bottles, unless I am familiar with the
rum, it makes me wonder what they are trying to hide.
Secondly I’m looking for a brand that I
know something about. This is important,
because I don’t want rum that is contrived from an unaged neutral spirit and
then artificially colored and flavored to taste like real aged rum. Most of the time, I’ll choose a rum that is
made by a small batch distiller, because they are more personally involved with
the rum. I find that I can really enjoy
rums that range from about 2 to 3 years in a barrel. I do like a number of rums that have been
sweetened, but what bothers me is when it is claimed not to have additives, but
really does.
The next point I look for is if there is an
age statement on the bottle, what does it really mean. Age statements to be really useful to
determining the value of the rum should reflect the portion of the blend that
has spent the least amount of time in the barrel. Aging is very expensive, and truth about the
age of the rum is paramount to the value of the rum. True aged rums loose roughly 2% of the
barrel per year and the cost of storage makes the rum more expensive and
contribute to the real value of the rum.
For me, it isn’t where the rum is made,
but rather how it is made. The way that
it is fermented, how long the fermentation is allowed to go on. I prefer rums that are fermented in batches
rather than through a “continuous” fermentation, better flavors remain in batch
fermentation. Rums that are pot still or
combination still tend to retain more of the flavor before they are put into
the barrel. Multi column stills leave
almost pure alcohol or neutral spirit, thus relying on the barrels to get the
flavor. This is the method used by the
large bulk rum producers; they are in the business of producing alcohol rather
than rum.
I feel that the best tasting rums are
going to be made from cane juice, or high sugar content molasses, but there are
a lot of rums out there that taste very good that are made form a wide variety
of sugarcane derivatives. The source of
the fermented cane derivative is less important to me that the way that it is
fermented. The rums that are made with
cane juice are going to be more expensive that those from molasses or sugars,
but you have to decide how much money you want to spend on a bottle of
rum. There are value factors for all
price range rums.
Your first decision is how much money you want to spend on the bottle of
rum, the next is to look at the expressions in that price range. After that it will take a little bit of
research on the ones that fall into your price range. Narrowed the list down to 3 or four and go
out and try to find them in a bar where you can taste them. It is the easiest way to make your final
selection on which one is the best value for you. You are the only one that matters, is you are
after all the one that is going to be drinking it. Do your research very carefully; there is a
lot of misinformation out there, so get as much information on the rum as you
can. Once you find your “best buy rum”, sit back
and enjoy it.
