Richard Seale |
Richard Seale has published on his
Facebook page a document that refers to the protection of Barbados Rum. This is a very important document that will
lead to giving their rums a special set of rules that determine their “Geographical
Indication”. This is a very necessary
thing to take rum out of the realm of a pirates concoction that can be made in
any way a person wants to, adding anything they want to as long as it is made
from a derivative of the sugarcane is rum.
Barbados, like Jamaica and Martinique, want their rum to be specific to
their geographic locations.
THE
PROTECTION OF BARBADOS RUM
As Jamaica has completed their
Geographical Indication for “Jamaican Rum” and Barbados moves to completion of
their GI, it becomes increasingly important to dispel the canards around this
important process.
With rum we have many canards -
rum has no rules - rum is diverse and varied because of this wonderful lack of
rules. Unlike other spirits, we are told Rum has no “global rules”. And that
there are efforts to have a global rule which will crush our diversity.
See my takedown of this here
- https://cocktailwonk.com/…/richard-seales-epic-takedown-rum…
A recent canard is that a GI (a
registered intellectual property) is a further threat to this diversity and a
threat to “innovation”.
The irony of this situation is
that a GI seeks to preserve and protect this diversity. It is the essential
tool by which this is accomplished. And the dreaded fear of selling rum under
one “unified” rule is EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS NOW AND IS PRECISELY WHAT A GI WILL
SOLVE.
If Caribbean producers sell rum
into the US, it is not the standards of identity (“the rules”) of Jamaica, Martinique
or Barbados that apply. It is the rules of the United States TTB that apply.
That is right, despite being from three very different and diverse rum
producing countries, they will be sold in the US under the same ONE rule. This
means that although AGAINST THE LAW OF JAMAICA to add anything to rum besides
caramel a Jamaica Rum can be sold in the US with added flavors included sugar
(and labeled as Jamaican Rum) because the generic rule for Rum sold in the US
allows blenders to be added to any rum.
But the situation is very
different for the spirits produced by developed countries. The United States
TTB will enforce the rules of Scotland for a Scotch Whisky sold in the US. The
United States TTB will enforce the rules of Cognac for a Cognac sold in in the
US. The US will not protect a Jamaican Rum or a Barbadian Rum from adulteration
in the US. The US does not control the use of the word ‘Agricole’ in the US
market leading to all sorts of hideous products, not remotely consistent with
the standards of ‘Agricole’ being legally labeled as Agricole
Now the US does not directly
recognize GIs so creating a GI alone will not be enough to solve this issue in
the US but the US illustrates the challenge of protecting our diversity very
well and the GI will be the necessary first step.
The same situation applies in
the EU save for the fact that the EU does recognize some GIs at this point (for
example the word Agricole is protected) and it is hoped that they will recognize
the GIs of Jamaican and Barbados in due course. At the moment, a Jamaica Rum
and a Barbados Rum are sold in the EU under one and the same EU rule. If the EU
recognizes our individual GIs, it means that a Barbados Rum sold in the EU will
need to meet “Barbados Rules” and a Jamaica Rum will need to meet “Jamaica
Rules”. That diversity everyone wants will be protected - that dreaded ‘global
rule’ for rum, avoided.
Because the EU recognizes the GI
for Scotch Whisky, the additional requirements to meet the standards of
identity for Scotch Whisky over the EU generic standard for whisky are recognized
and the label “Scotch Whisky” is protected throughout the EU. The GI for
Jamaica Rum and the draft GI for Barbados pose additional requirements, over
and above the generic EU definition of Rum (the “one” rule) to protect and
preserve the identity of these rums. The GI is the tool by which we will
protect our diversity. The GI is the tool by which we avoid having to produce
under one “global rule”.
What of the claim that a GI
stifles innovation?
Lets be clear what exactly is
innovation. Marketing gimmicks that do not add value is not innovation. But a
GI is not a legal restraint on a producer. All producers continue to operate
under the existing laws. A GI is a piece of intellectual property protecting
how a type of “trademark” can be used - it places no law whatsoever on
production. It constrains no one from producing as they please. It constrains
them from labelling as they please. A Jamaican musician can play any tune just
do not expect it to be called reggae unless it sounds like reggae.
So what are these innovation
stifling constraints in the Barbados and Jamaica GIs:
Barbadian trained operators
fermented and distilled in Barbados/Jamaica
Saccharomyces types only for yeast
local water source only
free of additives except caramel which must only be used for color (Barbados draft GI has a quantitative albeit generous limit on caramel) - the same restriction in Scotch
minimum ester levels for Jamaica rum (by marque)
aged in oak (“small” is the Jamaica requirement, 700 liters maximum for Barbados)
aged entirely in Jamaica (a min of two years in Barbados).
Jamaica rum must pass an organoleptic test
fermented and distilled in Barbados/Jamaica
Saccharomyces types only for yeast
local water source only
free of additives except caramel which must only be used for color (Barbados draft GI has a quantitative albeit generous limit on caramel) - the same restriction in Scotch
minimum ester levels for Jamaica rum (by marque)
aged in oak (“small” is the Jamaica requirement, 700 liters maximum for Barbados)
aged entirely in Jamaica (a min of two years in Barbados).
Jamaica rum must pass an organoleptic test
I will address the wisdom of
“restricting to oak” in another post, save to say that is hardly onerous and
Scotch Whisky has the same “restriction”. There is a plethora of excellent oak
casks available for "innovation". One obvious point is that it keeps
a point of difference between rum and cachaca and preserves an important
distinction in our social and economic history.
Aging is Europe is a product of
the colonial way of doing business where only limited value was earned in the
colonies and product whether it be sugar, rum or bauxite was to shipped at the
lowest commodity value. The advent had nothing whatsoever to do with product
quality and it is absurd as ageing Scotch Whisky in southern Spain. It simply
steals value from the local producers leaving rich European brands and decrepit
local operations. The Barbados GI arguably does not go far enough. Bravo to
Jamaica - this “restraint” is worth millions in forex earnings.
Conforming Rums must use the
words “certified Geographical Indication” on all documents including labels.
Non conforming rums can be made but they will not be able to simply state
“Jamaican Rum” or “Barbados Rum” and most importantly - “the use of any
indication or sign which may cause a buyer to believe that a rum has the right
to use the protected Geographical Indication “Jamaica Rum”, although it does
not satisfy all the conditions defined in the present decree will be
prosecuted”.
You cannot sell your product
under another’s brand because of trademark law and you cannot sell your product
under another’s protected origin because of intellectual property law. You add
something to Jamaica Rum - it is no longer Jamaican Rum - that is the law of
the land of Jamaica. A recognized Jamaican GI means you cannot avoid Jamaican
law by selling in Europe.
So you can continue to flavor
Jamaica Rum you just cannot label it in a way that may cause confusion to the
buyer that they have purchased certified Jamaica Rum. Diversity created by
Jamaicans protected.
Europeans created the concept of
protected origins and it is used extensively by developed countries to develop
and protect the intrinsic value of their products. Our time is now.
We and fellow
Barbadian owned producer St Nicholas Abbey are on the record as supporting the
Barbados GI as drafted.
Read More at https://www.facebook.com/richard.seale.33
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