Rum shifts from ho-hum to yo-ho-ho
By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published July 21, 2004
A revolution is brewing in the islands again, not far from our shores.
Thank goodness. How sweet it is when it's the rum rebellion, which has produced hundreds of new blends from trend-happy designers and, more deliciously, rich treasures from old cellars and pot stills.
Given Florida's ties to the Caribbean, our liquor stores have always had a fair variety of rums.
Still, there's more on the horizon. Several hundred local drinkers enjoyed an extra shot of new rums at the second St. Bart's Island House Rhumfest in Tampa last month. Host and longtime wine lover Gordon Davis now has a rum list of almost 60 labels at his French Caribbean restaurant and rounded up more than 30 to show rum's new range.
One of the first drinks of the Americas and a major byproduct of colonialism (which gave the "sugar islands" more value than the continental colonies), rum fell out of favor in the last century. Like many liquors, it reached a low point of neglect and disinterest until rummakers and rum drinkers rediscovered its potential a decade ago.
The current revolution went two ways because of rum's split personality, and both produced new brands and potent packaging, from swashbuckling cartoons like Panama Jack and Sailor Jerry to snobby top-dollar decanters.
Sometimes it was what the liquor trade called "white goods," like vodka and gin, but sweeter, the stuff of daiquiris, pina coladas and all manner of hip cocktails. Sometimes it was rustic old "brown goods" such as Scotch or bourbon that hard drinkers and connoisseurs took on the rocks or neat like a fine brandy.
In the new age, many rums, too many in my opinion, follow neutral spirits down a bubble gum road beyond spice and coconut to a rainbow of tutti-frutti flavors. Bacardi sexed up its line with a big O (Orange) and Razz, and a variety of premixed drinks, and so did other big rum producers.
Rum doesn't need to wear a Carmen Miranda hat to be sweet: It isn't made from dull old potatoes or grain but from raw sugar. Fine old, dark rums have a candyland of tastes already, from caramel and raisins to molasses. Many importers are rediscovering that and mimicking the success of upscale single malt and small batch whiskeys.
Plus, rum, rhum or ron is a language spoken throughout the Caribbean and Central America. There are hundreds of brands in different national and personal styles, carefully distilled, blended and even aged in oak barrels.
These are the rums connoisseurs compare to Cognac, calling for snifters and cigars; for them, brown is beautiful.
Navigating through all these rums is as complex and enjoyable as tasting the various wines of Burgundy.
"In general, it's almost like beer. The English islands' rums are often very dark; they do like their navy rums. The French are more subtle and elegant," Davis says.
But any broad categorizing quickly falls apart because of the diversity of good rums, he admits. "The great rums we're getting from Central and South America are really refined. I haven't been able to make an overgeneralization."
The widest new rum spectrum comes from Cruzan, once a little-known cult favorite from St. Croix, prized for smoothness at a bargain price. Cruzan now has a dozen flavors, from fruity (the banana flavor is rather fun) to a smoky, 5-year-old rum and a remarkably smooth navy-style blackstrap.
Tampa's Rhumfest lineup included the classics of dark aged rums, such as four-star Barbancourt from Haiti, Flor de Cana from Nicaragua, Brugal from the Dominican Republic and Barbados' Mount Gay, but the best tastes were new samples of old-style rum.
The showstoppers were Plantation aged rums from Gabriel & Andreu, a French house that produces elegant Cognac, Armagnac and Calavados, and has sought out rare artisanal rums from across the Caribbean.
Plantation has collected five vintage-dated rums from small pot-still estates from Barbados to Guyana and retails them from $20 to $50. The lightest was a 9-year-old from Trinidad with a bright nose of citrus and spice and a lemony edge; an 8-year-old from Jamaica tasted of sugar and fruit, bananas Foster with alcohol heat instead of flames. The hands-down best was a 1991 Barbados rum, perfectly balanced yet rich with vanilla, brown sugar and allspice.
From Anguilla came another beautifully aged dark rum, Planter's Gold, Pyrat X.0. Reserve, as buttery as a Heath Bar in a glass, with a touch of citrus for good health.
Guatemala produced two good entries, a smooth 12-year-old Montecristo with a long, delicate finish, and Zaya, just as old but more flashy, with rich thick syrup full of sugar and cinnamon.
Join this revolution on the side of dark aged rums and salute the glories of a grand old tradition.
If you must have fruit, add a slice of orange, a fresh one.