And now for something slightly different...
Latest Comment is Free Why I love rum
followed by the results of the competition, for aficionados
How else can you savour taste, enjoy history and aid the developing world? With rum, of course. A report from the Ybor City spirits festival.
Ian Williams
March 26, 2007 7:30 PM | Printable version
It's a tough job, but someone has to do it. Since my tome on Rum hit the stands, my book tours have been, shall we say, more high-spirited than most. Of course, after the audience has sampled some of the subject matter, they would applaud enthusiastically if I gave them a sermon in Sanskrit.
I've spent the last few days in Ybor City, an old Cuban enclave of Tampa, Florida, for the International Cane Spirits Festival, where, in addition to spreading enlightenment about the history of rum, I was a judge. Tasting over 80 rums in two days is no joke. Each sample is judged for appearance, nose, flavour and mouth feel. It requires no effort to spit out some of the really bad rums - certainly with some of the unaged cachacas you can see why it did not demand too much genius for the Brazilians to come up with putting the stuff in their fuel tanks.
On the other hand, it was a great temptation with some of the aged rums to swallow instead of spitting. But that path would end in disaster and the gutter. In the evenings, importers ply us judges with statistically significant samples of their distilled products, as the spring-breakers around us play beer pong - a game I had never seen before, but which I suspect is on a par with Bud in its sophistication.
Rum aficionados are gregarious and committed to the cause: in the US, the cause is mostly persuading people that there is more to rum than Bacardi - much more. In fact no other spirit has such a great history, or such an infinite variety, with a rum for every palate. Our gold medalists came from Tortuga to Tennessee, Martinique, Venezuala and Guatemala, Bermuda, Barbados and - just a little hike from the Caribbean - Nepal.
Rum was first recorded in Barbados, where, one suspects, some exiled Celtic prisoner from the British Civil War noted that the molasses left over from sugar making could be fermented and distilled. The distillation was necessary, because the molasses carried on fermenting in the belly of anyone desperate enough to try it.
It was the British in the West Indies who also discovered that distilling it a second time and leaving it to age worked wonders of alchemy on what was, with some justice, originally called "killdevil".
And the rest, as they say, is history. Samuel Pepys took time off his diary writing to begin issuing Naval rum to the fleet in Jamaica. (Any of you opposed to naval nukes may do so with redoubled fervour knowing that the Admiralty abolished the Grog ration with a public relations ploy: emphasizing the dangers of having sailors operating nuclear submarines under the influence.)
The American Revolution was not about tea. The Boston tea party was a bunch of smugglers throwing duty free tea overboard because it devalued the stuff they had already smuggled in. But mostly they smuggled molasses to make rum, to trade with the Indians for furs and the Africans for slaves.
Rum is now a global spirit, with the second and third biggest brands being Philippine Tanduay and Indian Old Monk. But its heart is in the Caribbean and around the Spanish Main, in keeping with its colourful and bloody history. That was where most of our 80-plus samples came from, ranging from the oaky cognac-like rhums agricoles of Martinique to the rich molasses based traditional rums of the Anglo-Caribbean.
The newcomers are the aged cachacas of Brazil - which show that even car fuel can develop subtlety if treated properly, and are perfect for Guardian readers' political sensibilities: an influx of smooth and well-matured Venezuelan rums such as Macuro -and Santa Teresa and Diplomatico, whose distributors resisted my attempt to rename it Undiplomatico in honour of Chavez. I am not sure that their makers are necessarily Chavezistas, but a tot for solidarity is no bad thing, whatever you think of the president.
In fact, most rums - apart from the big B which usually strives to keep its rivals, and not only the Cuban ones, off the market - come from developing countries that can't sell their sugar on European or the US markets because of tariffs and subsidies for home grown substitutes. High value-added aged rums make much better economic sense for them. Get out there, raise a tot and drink a toast to third-world development!
COMPETITION RESULTS 2007
CACHACA, UNAGED
BEST OF CATEGORY AGUA LUCA
GOLD,Agua Luca,Leblon
SILVER
Beleza Pura, Fazenda Mae De Ouro
BRONZE, Cabana, Cuca Fresca
CACHACA, AGED
BEST OF CATEGORY YPIOCA 160
GOLD, Fazenda Mae De Ouro Single Barrel 5 Year Old, GRM ‘Small Batch’ 2 Year Old,Ypioca 160
SILVER, Cuca Fresca Gold, Rochinha ‘Single Barrel’ 12 Year Old,Ypioca Ouro
BRONZE.Armazem Vieira ‘Onix’ Solera 16 Year Old, Ypioca Prata
RHUM AGRICOLE, UNAGED
BEST OF CATEGORY CLEMENT PREMIER CANNE
GOLD Clement Premiere Canne
SILVER, J.M. Rhum White
RHUM AGRICOLE, AGED
BEST OF CATEGORY TIE J.M. VSOP J.M. 1997
GOLD J.M. Rhum Vieux X.O. J.M. Gold, J.M. VSOP, J.M. 1997
SILVER, Clement Cuvee Homere, Clement V.S.O.P., Depaz Blue Amber Rhum
WHITE RUM
BEST OF CATEGORY PRICHARD’S CRYSTAL
GOLD, Mount Gay Special Reserve, Prichard’s Crystal
SILVER, Bacardi Ruby Rey Reserve, Ron Botran White, Santa Teresa Blanco
BRONZE, Havana Club (Bacardi version USA only) New Grove Oak Plantation, Mainstay Cane
DARK RUM
BEST OF CATEGORY ONE BARREL RUM
GOLD, Khukri XXX, One Barrel,Vizcaya VXOP Cask 21
SILVER, Pirate’s Choice Molasses Reef
BRONZE, Jack Tar Superior Dark Rum, Rogue Dark
RUM, AGED UP TO & INCLUDING 8 YEARS
BEST OF CATEGORY TORTUGA 5 YEAR OLD
GOLD, Goslings Black Seal,Mount Gay Sugar Cane,Prichard’s Fine Rum, Ron Barcelo Imperial, Tortuga 5 Year Old
SILVER,Bacardi 8, Cockspur Fine Rum, Diplomatico Reserva, Goslings Gold, New Grove Oak, Santa Teresa Gran Reserva
BRONZE, Appleton Estate Reserve, Appleton Estate V/X, Bacardi Select,Centenario Anejo Reserva Especial, Mount Gay Eclipse, Ron Botran Anejo 8 Year Old, Ron Botran Oro (Gold)
RUM, AGED 9-15 YEARS
BEST OF CATEGORY TIE DIPLOMATICO RESERVA EXCLUSIVA,& TORTUGA 12 YEAR OLD
GOLD, Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva,Tortuga 12 Year Old
SILVER,Mount Gay Extra Old, Ron Botran 12 Year Old,Ron Zacapa 15 Centenario Year Old,
Santa Teresa Selecto
RUM, AGED +15 YEARS
BEST OF CATEGORY TIE
RON ZACAPA CENTENARIO 23 YEAR OLD & SANTA TERESA 1796
GOLD, Pyrat XO Reserve,Pyrat Cask 1623,Ron Macuro Anejo Ultra Premium,Ron Zacapa Centenario 23 Year Old,Santa Teresa 1796
SILVER, Centenario Fundacion,Goslings Old, Ron Botran Solera
LIQUEURS/FLAVORS/CORDIALS
BEST OF CATEGORY SANTA TERESA ARAKU RON Y COFFEE LIQUEUR
GOLD. Clement Creole Shrubb. Santa Teresa Rhum Orange Liqueur,Santa Teresa Araku Ron y Coffee Liqueur
SILVER, Castries Peanut Rum Crème,Prichard’s Sweet Georgia Belle Peach Mango Liqueur
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