What are the eight possible elements of style in rum?
white golden dark flavoured and spiced pot or still sugar cane or molasses
Talk about sugar cane.
Contains sucrose
- harvested by hand or machine
- wild bacteria and yeasts start up quickly if not immediately processed
- sugar cane juice from crushing the cane is only available to distil in the harvest season
Talk about molasses.
Leftover gunk from sugar making process.
Cheap stable, and widely traded (often between islands).
- it is the quality, not the origin, of molasses which is important
Describe the fermentation of molasses.
- must be diluted with water or sugar will kill yeast;
- sugar cane juice can start fermenting immediately;
- most producers have their own yeasts designed to create certain flavours;
- temperature control is essential; v. hot in WI, yeast will be killed off by heat if not careful.
Rum distillation - describe the options
Column still or pot still;
If pot still should one use retorts and should one use dunder.
Within all this there are numerous opportunities for cutting for lighter or heavier styles.
Explain what retorts are.
They are separate copper vessels between pot still and condenser.
- the tails of the distillation are sent to them (there are two of them) and the distilling vapour goes through the liquid in them ;
- dunder can be put into retorts
What is dunder?
The non-alcoholic residue left at bottom of a pot still
- allowed to ferment in pits;
- when added to the fermenting molasses; solution it slows fermentation and increases number and level of esters;
- this leads to heavier and more pungent rums with pronounced flavours and aromas of banana and nail polish
Where is the spiritual home of high-ester rum?
Jamaica.
Many high-ester rums are not sold individually but used to give character to blends
Use of dunder give which flavours/aromas?
Pronounced flavours/aromas of banana and nail polish.
Describe light marks and how they are achieved.
Distiller wants only a small number of congeners so fermentation is quick.
- an appropriate cultured yeast will be used which achieves this;
- rectification will be hight to achieve the style, but always to under 95 or 96% to avoid legally becoming vodka;
- Bacardi is the exemplar of this style; it ages in oak and then filters with charcoal to remove colour.
Talk about Bacardi rum.
Deliberate attempt by Facundo Barcadi Massó (1814- ) to tame rum and make it a more refined drink.
- isolate particular yeast still used today;
- started filtering it through charcoal to remove impurities;
- aged it in white oak barrels;
- thus created world’s first white rum.
Company founded in Cuba 1862; now based in Bermuda.
Bacardi brands.
Bacardi merged with Martini and Rossi in 1993.
1998 it acquired from Diageo Dewar’s scotch and Bombay Saphire gin.
Grey goose vodka is its, bought 2004 .
Buying tequila maker Patron in 2018 for $5.1 billion.
What are the two choices in making heavy marks?
- Use yeast that produces more flavour and allows fermentation to run for longer.
- Use dunder - this is less common.
What are the choices for maturation of rum?
oak ageing or not?
colouring?
spices and other flavours to be added?
What effect does hot and humid climate have on ageing of rum?
Makes it happen faster.
3 years in Scotland equals one in the Carribean.
Rumis pulled deeper into the oak and therefore there are higher levels of oak extraction.
Why do heavy marks need time in cask?
To develop full character and to allow green, unripe cane-like notes to develop into rich tropical aromas.
What is most rum aged in?
Ex-bourbon barrels.
What is rhum agricole and Barbancourt in Haiti usually aged in?
Ex-Cognac barrels of French oak.
Describe white rum.
Clear, colourless. Tends not to spend time in wood. But white rums are usually blends so will often include some heavier marks.
What distinguishes a golden rum?
Generally more mellow and complex than most white rums. may have had time in oak or ay have caramel or both.
Dark rum.
- premium styles will be older than golden rums;
- more of colour comes from time in oak;
- heavier marks used;
- aromas/flavours of sweet spice and dried fruit such as cinnamon, clove, fig and raisin;
- full bodied, smooth, intense and complex
Navy rum.
- based on light column still rum blended with:
soft, sweet demerara rum, and (giving aromatic lift) Jamaican pot still Wedderburn. PLUS a lot of caramel which can give slight burnt treacle finish.
Spiced rum.
Usually based on Golden Rum with addition of, for example, cinnamon, aniseed, rosemary, pepper, etc.
Where are Demerara Distillers (DDL) based?
Guyana.
