Rum
We thought it might be a good idea to post a little something about the local beverage of choice while we are living on this little rock in the Caribbean.
We have tried to keep this a secret, but it might shock some of you to know that we have done some extensive research on this subject - specifically taste testing. We somehow found ourselves dropping by various libation outlets on various beaches, and seem to have participated in “taking one for the team” so to speak. And, from time to time, our travels across narrow island roads in Barbados and Grenada led us to become lost, and then low and behold, we happened to be in the vicinity of a rum distillery. We figured it would only be polite to pay them a visit before trying to find our way back again.
There are many beaches in the world, and there are many places that you can enjoy an assortment of delicious tasting rum, each with a different nosing and flavour profile. However, there are not many places where the rum is deemed “very good” by the experts, and at the same time, the beaches are gorgeous with perfect sunsets. In our opinion, the locale that meets the criteria for a wide selection of artistically designed rums with great sand, sea and surf, that is perfect for retirement living, is Grenada. And yes, Barbados is a close second.
The majority of the world's rum production occurs in the Caribbean and Latin America. Rum producers that we have visited here in the Caribbean include:
Foursquare Distillery in Barbados
Mount Gay Distillery in Barbados
Westerhall Distillery in Grenada
River Antoine Distillery in Grenada (aka Rivers) – over proof rums that are too strong for us!
And a very small one in Barbados – St Nicholas Abbey – their 12 year is bottled by Foursquare.
Doorly's 12 year rum by Foursquare rum distillery in St Philip Barbados - others by the same location are: Port Cask Finish, Criterion, R.L. Seale's, and Rum Sixty Six - all excellent. Foursquare Triptych is amazing. Mount Gay XO is a good daily rum as is Westerhall Superb Light Rum for mixing. Westerhall 10XO is delicious on ice.
We have discovered a new rum label that we REALLY like – Fedon Rum – it is bottled by Foursquare in Barbados for the Belvidere Trading Corporation here in Grenada (the nice man that owns IGA), and is a perfect blend of various rums that tastes fantastic. If you can find their 12 year, buy it! This rum is named after Julien Fedon.
Interesting stuff: Julien Fedon was the leader of a slave revolt that took place in Grenada between 1795, and 1796. Fédon was married to Marie Rose Cavelan in 1787 and they settled on a plantation in Saint John Parish known as the Belvedere (Belvidere) Estate in Grenada. Fédon was appointed commanding general of the French republican forces on Guadeloupe. His intention was to make Grenada a new black republic, following the Guadeloupe model. His followers were also influenced by his ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Fédon began his five year revolt in Grenada on the night of March 2, 1795. The purpose of the revolt was to abolish slavery, grant citizenship to former slaves, overthrow British colonial rule, and return power to the French people. He failed. He was never captured but his family name was all but erased from Grenada history. His legacy today is one of folk hero and he remains revered in local folklore.
Rum made in Guyana is particularly good – we like the El Dorado 12 year old.
Aged Ron Zacapa rum from Guatemala is also excellent. Very expensive.
During our time spent here in the caribbean, the rum stock in our liquor cabinet generally includes the following rums for casual sipping and mixing: Mount Gay Eclipse, Westerhall Special Light Rum, El Dorado 5 year, Clarke's Court Light. Each with its own "bouquet" of flavours and finish. When we wanted a nice sipping rum "on the rocks" we picked up a Foursquare Doorly's XO, Westerhall 10XO, or El Dorado 12 year, or Fedon 12 year.
A bit of rum history
Rum is fermented from sugarcane juice or from byproducts – molasses – and then distilled in large boilers. It starts out as a clear spirit and gains colour as it ages in oak barrels. It is likely that the sugar cane plant itself originated in Papua, New Guinea. Marco Polo (14th century) writes about a “very good wine of sugar” offered to him in modern-day Iran.
The precursors to rum date back to antiquity. Development of fermented drinks produced from sugarcane juice is believed to have first occurred in ancient China, and to have spread from there. An example of such an early drink is brum. Produced by the Malay people, brum dates back thousands of years.
How did the beverage get its name? There are many opinions:
The Malay people drank “brum,”
The last syllable of the Latin word for sugar is “saccharum,”
Others think the derivation is from the Romani word rum which means strong or potent.
The most probable origin is as a truncated version of rumbullion or rumbustion. Both words surfaced in English about the same time as rum did. In 1651 the first written record of "rumbullion" was noted, and in 1654 "rum", and were slang terms for "tumult" or "uproar". This is a far more convincing explanation, as it brings the image of disagreeing gentlemen fighting in entanglements at local island tippling houses, or now more commonly known as rum shacks.
In 1770 the first recording of the Spanish word “ron” was documented for rums from Spanish-speaking locales. A ron añejo ("old rum") indicates a rum that has been significantly aged and is often used for premium products.
Rhum is the term that typically distinguishes rum made from fresh sugar cane juice from rum made from molasses in French-speaking locales like Martinique. A rhum vieux ("old rum") is an aged French rum that meets several other requirements.
The first distillation of rum took place on the sugarcane plantations of the Caribbean in the 17th century. Plantation slaves first discovered that molasses, a byproduct of the sugar refining process, could be fermented into alcohol. Later, distillation of these alcoholic byproducts concentrated the alcohol and removed impurities, producing the first true rums.
Tradition suggests rum first originated on the island of Barbados. A 1651 document from Barbados stated, "The chief fuddling they make in the island is Rumbullion, alias Kill-Divil, and this is made of distilled sugar cane molasses, a hot, hellish, and terrible liquor."
So believe it or not, the guy who started one of the oldest rum distilleries in Barbados - Mount Gay - was named John Sober. It all began in 1703 when Sober hired a guy called Gay to take over his Kill-Divil process and make a product that was actually drinkable. Mr. Gay did such a great job that they named the distillery after him, where he made it happen on a hill in northern Barbados. I guess Mount Sober just didn’t have the right ring to it...
However, in the decade of the 1620s, a form of rum production was also documented in Brazil. A liquid identified as rum is rumoured to have been found in a tin bottle found on the Swedish warship Vasa, which sank in 1628.
Europeans developed a taste for rum in the 17th and 18th centuries. The sugar plantations in the Caribbean needed labor on the sugar cane plantations and sourced workers in Africa creating the circular (and profitable) shipping exchange of slaves, molasses and rum.
Rum's connection with piracy began with British privateers trading rum barrels for goods on the valuable commodity. As some of the privateers became pirates and buccaneers, their fondness for rum remained. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. That partnership was strengthened by literary works such as Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.
The association of rum with the Royal Navy began in 1655, when the British fleet captured the island of Jamaica. With the availability of domestically produced rum, the British changed the daily ration of liquor given to seamen from French brandy to rum. Navy Rum was originally a blended rum mixed from rums locally produced in the West Indies. It varies in strength from 95.5 Proof to 114 Proof. While the ration was originally given neat, or mixed with lime juice, the practice of watering down the rum began around 1740. To help minimize the effect of the alcohol on his sailors, Admiral Edward Vernon had the rum ration watered down producing a mixture that became known as grog.
The good news is that an ounce of rum (80 proof) brings along only 64 calories, making it a delicious addition to just about every meal and appropriate for every part of the day.
It has been recognized around the world that the spiritual home of rum is the Caribbean. The best rums in the region carry the ACR (Authentic Caribbean Rum) Marque. The designation was started in 2008 and assures the buyer of provenance and quality. While the taste of rum will vary from country to country based on tradition, heritage, and distillation, ageing and blending. Rums with the ACR Marque validates the quality of the product. The campaign for the designation was focused around the theme ‘True Rum’.
Rums are produced in various grades. Light rums are commonly used in cocktails, whereas "golden" and "dark" rums are typically consumed straight or neat, on the rocks, or with mixers.
Premium grade rums are made to be consumed either straight or iced.
Grades of Rum (with thanks from Wikipedia)
The grades and variations used to describe rum depend on the location where a rum was produced. Despite these variations, the following terms are frequently used to describe various types of rum:
Dark rums, also known by their particular color, such as brown, black, or red rums, are classes a grade darker than gold rums. They are usually made from caramelized sugar or molasses. They are generally aged longer, in heavily charred barrels, giving them much stronger flavors than either light or gold rums, and hints of spices can be detected, along with a strong molasses or caramel overtone. They commonly provide substance in rum drinks, as well as color. In addition, dark rum is the type most commonly used in cooking. Most dark rums come from areas such as Jamaica, Haiti, and Martinique.
Flavored rums are infused with flavors of fruits, such as banana, mango, orange, pineapple, coconut, starfruit or lime. These are generally less than 40% ABV (80 proof). They mostly serve to flavor similarly-themed tropical drinks but are also often drunk neat or with ice. This infusion of flavors occurs after fermentation and distillation. Various chemicals are added to the alcohol to simulate the tastes of food.
Gold rums, also called "amber" rums, are medium-bodied rums that are generally aged. These gain their dark color from aging in wooden barrels (usually the charred, white oak barrels that are the byproduct of Bourbon whiskey). They have more flavor and are stronger-tasting than light rum, and can be considered midway between light rum and the darker varieties.
Light rums, also referred to as "silver" or "white" rums, in general, have very little flavor aside from a general sweetness. Light rums are sometimes filtered after aging to remove any color. The Brazilian cachaça is generally this type, but some varieties are more akin to "gold rums". The majority of light rums come from Puerto Rico. Their milder flavors make them popular for use in mixed drinks, as opposed to drinking them straight.
Overproof rums are much higher than the standard 40% ABV (80 proof), with many as high as 75% (150 proof) to 80% (160 proof) available. Two examples are Bacardi 151 or Pitorro moonshine. They are usually used in mixed drinks.
Premium rums, as with other sipping spirits such as Cognac and Scotch, are in a special market category. These are generally from boutique brands that sell carefully produced and aged rums. They have more character and flavor than their "mixing" counterparts and are generally consumed straight.
Spiced rums obtain their flavors through the addition of spices and, sometimes, caramel. Most are darker in color, and based on gold rums. Some are significantly darker, while many cheaper brands are made from inexpensive white rums and darkened with caramel color. Among the spices added are cinnamon, rosemary, absinthe/aniseed, pepper, cloves, and cardamom.
Cheers!!!