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| Prior Skotlander Rums Aged Aboard Ships |
Skotlander
Rum has become the first in the world to mature its spirit in a bunker last
used during the World War II. Niels
Henrik Lindhardt, from the North Danish town of Aabybro owns the building
and was “excited about the spirit experiment from day one”. Skotlander Rum will also slowly ferment the
rum mash in the bunker for four weeks before maturing in the same location. Owner of Skotlander Rum, Anders Skotlander,
said that while the tropics are traditionally the part of the world associated
with rum maturation, Denmark’s cold climate “offers us something different”.
“Previously
we have tried ageing rum at sea on an old schooner – the movement of the sea
and the difference between summer and winter gave us a really interesting rum,”
he said. “Now let’s try the complete
opposite – the rum is being kept still and the temperature in the bunker is 57
Degrees F night and day, all year round.”
“The rum will have to age for longer than normal in the cold and humid
environment, but we believe that the slow maturation will reflect the Danish
terroir and result in a very sophisticated rum. At least that’s what we hope –
but we really don’t know.” Skotlander
has the Danish Food Administration approval to store 10,000 liters of rum in
the bunker. The first batches should be
available in 2018.
Spirits
producers have experimented with different maturation methods for as long as
spirits have been made. Everything from
putting the spirit into an oak bottle to sending the spirit into space and
everything in between. The solera method
is one of the earlier methods to reduce the maturation time, and a method that
is still in use today. Today there are
a number of companies placing the casks onboard ships and sending them out to
sea or even submerging the casks below the sea.
There is one company that has learned how to alter the rum chemically to
accomplish in a very short period of time to do what the barrel takes years to
accomplish.
All of these methods and many more have yielded different results,
providing the unique flavor that the producer is looking for. Do they all work, well, that is a subject of
long debates among spirits producers.
One thing for sure most all of the methods have helped the producers to
sell their spirits.
