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Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage obtained from sugar cane by-products such as molasses or directly from sugar cane juice through a fermentation and distillation process.
Usually real rum is aged in oak barrels.
65 rum cocktail recipes
Everything you need to know about rum
Most of the world’s rum production takes place in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Also, this alcoholic drink is produced in Australia, Portugal, Austria, Canada, Fiji, India, Japan, Mauritius, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines, Reunion Island, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, UK and USA.
At the same time, almost every country has its own characteristics and traditions associated with the production and classification of rum.
Rum has notable associations with the Royal Navy (where it was mixed with water or beer to make grog) and piracy (where it was consumed as bumbo).
Alcohol also served as a popular medium of economic exchange that was used to finance such ventures as slavery, organized crime, and military insurgencies (such as the American Revolution and the Roma Rebellion in Australia).
Roma fortress
It can range from 35 (rum elixirs) to 75+ degrees (the so-called strong rum, for example, Bacardi 151).
Diverse flavor range of the drink
There are almost no flavor options, molasses and caramel flavored varieties enriched with various spices, and varieties flavored with essences of tropical and citrus fruits or coconut milk.
Fermentation
To start fermentation, yeast and water are added to the main ingredient. While some rum producers rely on natural yeasts, many use specific types of yeast to achieve a specific flavor and predictable fermentation time.
The use of slower yeast results in the collection of more esters during the fermentation process, resulting in a richer rum taste.
Distillation
There is no single standard distillation method for rum.
While some producers produce rum in batches using conventional stills, most producers use vertical distillation.
The pot stills yield contains more additives and impurities than vertical distillation, thus giving a richer taste.
Rum aging in tropical climates
Unlike whiskey, rum is not aged for long, which is due to the climate: in 10 years of aging, a barrel can lose from 40 to 45 percent of alcohol. That is why aged tropical rum spends a maximum of 3-5 years in the barrel, while North American rum – up to 10 years or more.
It should be understood that a hot climate contributes to a more rapid aging of the drink. In warehouses where the air temperature is below +30 degrees, two years of exposure equals six to eight years in a warehouse in Scotland.
Rum is aged in oak barrels, which provide the drink with a beautiful color, as well as a rich taste and aroma.
Spanish rum
For Romani from Spanish-speaking languages, the word “ron” is used.
Ron añejo (“old rum”) refers to a rum that has aged significantly and is often used for premium products.
French speaking islands
They are best known for their agricultural rum (“rhum agricole”). This rum, made exclusively from cane juice, retains the original cane flavor better than others.
Typical representatives of this style are rum from Martinique and Guadeloupe.
Other names for rum
Nelson’s Blood, Devil Killer, Demon Water, Pirate Drink, Sea Cleaners and Barbados Water.
The Newfoundland version of rum is referred to as “screech”, while some lower quality West Indian rums are referred to as tafia.
Rum history
The first mention of rum appears in the ancient text Vagbhata, where an Indian Ayurvedic physician (7th century AD) advised a person to drink unsurpassed rum with juice.
In the 14th century, the famous Italian merchant and traveler Marco Polo recorded “very good sugar wine” that was offered to him in what became modern Iran.
The first distillation of rum in the Caribbean took place on sugar cane plantations in the 17th century. Plantation slaves discovered that molasses, a by-product of the sugar refining process, could be fermented into alcohol.
Later, the distillation process was improved: this is how the first progenitor of modern rum appeared.
It is believed that the canonical taste of rum first appeared on the island of Barbados.
In 1620, rum production was also recorded in Brazil.
After the development of rum in the Caribbean, the drink’s popularity spread to colonial North America. To meet demand for the drink, the first rum distillery was built on Staten Island in 1664.
Rum production became the largest and most prosperous industry of early colonial New England.
New England became a distilling center due to technical skill as well as an abundance of lumber; the rum produced there was lighter, more like whiskey.
Estimates of rum consumption in the American colonies before the Revolution estimated that every man, woman, or child drank an average of 3 imperial gallons (11 L) of rum per year.
To meet the demand for molasses to make rum, along with the growing demand for sugar in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, a source of labor was needed to process sugar plantations in the Caribbean. Thus began the triangular trade in rum, molasses and slaves between Africa, the Caribbean and the colonies.
It is believed that a slave from Africa could be bought for four gallons (15 l) of rum and a piece of calico.
The popularity of rum continued to grow even after the American Revolution.
Rum’s popularity in North America was reduced by restrictions on sugar imports from the British Caribbean, coupled with the development of American whiskey.
Associating rum with piracy began after British privateers began to attack merchant ships, and since some privateers drank only rum, the drink was notorious. The association with piracy was only strengthened by literary works such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island.
In 1655, the British fleet captured the island of Jamaica. Due to the presence of large stocks of rum inland, the British changed the daily ration of alcohol that was given to sailors from French brandy to rum, thereby tightly hooking the entire fleet on a new cheap drink. The fortress of the then rum ranged from 47 to 57%.
To minimize the effect of alcohol on his sailors, Admiral Edward Vernon mixed rum with other ingredients, which became known as grog.
The legend of Sea Rum and Horatio Nelson says that after winning and dying at the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson’s body was preserved in a barrel of rum so that it could be returned to England.
However, upon arrival, the barrel was opened and found that there was no rum in it. Nelson’s body was removed and on examination it was found that the sailors had drilled a hole in the bottom of the barrel and drunk all the alcohol, hence the term “Nelson’s blood” is used for the rum. It also serves as the basis for the term “admiral tapping”, used to describe secretly sucking liquor from a barrel through a straw.
The details of the story are disputed, as many historians claim that the cask contained French brandy.
The official record states that the body was placed in “purified spirits”.
Roma was directly involved in the Australian government’s only military takeover, known as the “Roma Rebellion”. When William Bligh became governor of the colony, he tried to fix the problem of drunkenness by banning the use of rum as a medium of exchange.
In response to Bligh’s attempt to regulate the use of rum, in 1808 the New South Wales Corps marched with bayonets to Government House and placed Bligh under arrest. The rebels continued to control the colony until the arrival of Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1810.
In the 1950s and 1960s, in the USSR, Glavspirt factories produced the so-called Soviet Rum from domestic raw materials – a bitter tincture made using alcohol with a strength of at least 48% and prunes.
Also in the USSR, rum alcohol was obtained from sugar cane juice grown in the republics of Central Asia. In particular, in the Altynsay district of the current Termez region, there was a production of rum from cane growing there.
Rum classification
The varieties and variants used to describe rum depend on the location where the rum was produced. Despite these differences, the following terms are often used to describe different types of rum:
dark rums
Colour: brown, black or dark red.
Usually made from caramelized sugar or molasses. They tend to age longer in heavily charred casks, giving them a much stronger flavor than pale or golden rums; hints of spice can be detected along with a strong molasses or caramel overtone.
Dark rum is most often used in cooking. Most dark rums come from areas such as Jamaica, Haiti and Martinique.
Flavored rum
Infused with fruit flavors such as banana, mango, orange, pineapple, coconut, carom or lime.
As a rule, the fortress of such rums is less than 40%. They are mainly used to flavor similar themed tropical cocktails, but are also often drunk neat or with ice.
The addition of flavors occurs after fermentation and distillation.
Golden rums
Also referred to as amber rums, these are aged medium-bodied rums.
They acquire a dark color due to aging in wooden barrels (usually charred bourbon barrels).
Golden rum has a richer taste than light rum, and can be safely considered somewhere between a light and dark appearance.
Light rum
Also referred to as silver or white rum.
In general, pale rum has very little flavor beyond the inherent sweetness of rum, and is therefore used as a base for cocktails. Light rums are sometimes filtered after aging to remove any coloration.
Most light rums come from Puerto Rico.
strong rum
Rum, which is much stronger than the standard 40%. Many types of such alcohol have a strength of more than 75% up to 80%! Outstanding representatives: Bacardi 151 and Pitorro.
This rum is commonly used in cocktails.
Premium aged rums
Rum, often aged in sherry casks for more than 5 years, which is usually consumed in the same way as whiskey.
Alcohol has a richer aroma and taste.
Spicy rums
They get their flavors by adding spices and sometimes caramel.
Most of them are darker in color and are based on golden rum.
Some are significantly darker, while many cheaper brands are made with inexpensive white rum and darkened with caramel dye.
Added spices include cinnamon, rosemary, anise, pepper, cloves and cardamom.
How to drink rum
Light rums are usually used in cocktails, but they can also be drunk neat as an aperitif.
Golden and dark rums are usually consumed neat or with ice. Also, dark rum is used to prepare various dishes (digestif).
Premium rums are intended exclusively for consumption in pure form or with ice (digestif).
You can drink rum chilled or at room temperature.
Also, one cannot fail to mention hot drinks with the addition of gold or black rum: grog, punch, coffee and chocolate, which contribute both to vivacity and pleasant pastime, and to the prevention of colds.
How to choose rum
What to look for first
It is believed that the birthplace of rum is the Caribbean. That is why Vzboltai recommends trying rum from Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and other island countries.
What is made of
Most rums are made from molasses (which is a by-product of the sugar cane production process), but the most valuable rum is made from fresh cane juice.
Usually the manufacturer indicates on the label what his rum is made of, in all other cases the drink is most likely made from molasses.
Decide on the desired taste and type of feast
Vzboltay wrote about this above.
Price and location
You will not find quality rum in a fiver or a magnet. Look for true rum in boutique liquor stores in your city or reputable online stores.
Relevance: 22.04.2019
Tags: Rum