Defining Rum, The Same Issues Today as They Were in 1908.

     Richard Seale posted this on Facebook, the other day and I find it really interesting that the same ideas were being argued in 1908 that are still being argued today 109 years later.

     “The first time it was attempted to regulate the "trade identity" of spirits was the ROYAL COMMISSION ON WHISKY AND OTHER POTABLE SPIRITS in 1908.   Spirits such as rum and whisky had been made for over 400 years but this was at last an attempt to protect the consumer and decide what we mean we say something is whisky, brandy or rum.  The descriptions of the stills in being used in Guyana in 1908 perfectly reflect the Gargano classification we promote today”.

- distilleries with just pot stills including those 'modified pot stills' with retorts and rectifying plates - PURE SINGLE RUM
- distilleries with both pot stills and traditional column stills in general,. coffey stills - SINGLE BLENDED RUM
- distilleries with just column stills - TRADITIONAL RUM

     “In a response to 'imitation rum' being sold on the market, rum was defined as not only from sugar cane but from sugar cane producing countries. This was thought essential to identifying authentic rum as the 'imitation rum' was as you might guess not coming from sugar cane producing countries.  The conclusions on liqueurs make fascinating reading.  A liqueur is anything that "obscures our hydrometer" - that is to say just as we do today with our "hydrometer test" to discern the true rum from the rum liqueurs”.

     “Score another hit for the purists and woe to those  who deride this simple test because they refuse to understand it.   The 1908 Commission made it abundantly clear by it’s conclusion on liqueurs - labeled as a spirit means a pure spirit. For then, for now, for always.”