Dark and Amber Rum tasting

Every time I absorb a shot of dark or amber rum I can’t help the satisfyingly smug feeling I’ve done something bad. Rum’s illicit passage into eastern seaboard American states aboard fast-moving yachts during the Prohibition years creates a cache of contraband I find all too appealing.

Today the very liquid gold, which once would lure pirate captains out from one Seven Sea and into another, is the mainstay of several West Indian and American economies. But while dark and amber rum may be battling against the global fashion for white spirits, there’s a genuine resurgence towards top bracket rum, where wonderful, mature and complex spirits are paid the respect and homage one might normally associate with a single malt whisky or XO cognac. Riding on the coat tails of the resurgence of the cigar, dark and amber rums are becoming for many the beverage of choice while swinging gently on the afternoon verandah, puffing thoughtfully through a Cuban cheroot. They’re often taken with equal amounts of spring water to reduce the overt spirit influences and to open up more aromas.

Somehow or other, humankind has made rum wherever sugar cane has grown. Rum followed hot on Columbus’ heels after his voyage to the New World, where by the mid-1600s, its production had become a major economic activity in North America.

The best dark rums are principally made from molasses, the thick residue of the sugar-making process, although the actual technique varies dramatically from one maker to another. Lesser rums are made from cane juice and a syrup derived from processed cane juice. Fermentation can be slow and natural or inoculated and rapid. Distillation is usually a single still process, although the best are double distilled in copper pots, aka Scotch malt whisky. Traditional pot stills produce a heavier, more volatile and flavoursome mix of alcohols. Some makers use continuous stills, relying on maturation and blending for complexity and flavour.

It’s little surprise that it takes two to three times less to mature spirits in the Caribbean climate compared to the Speyside or the Road to the Isles. Eight year-old Caribbean rum frequently has the maturity and character of many a 15-20 year-old single malt. But some distillers, like Guatemala’s La Nacional, selling a 23 year-old rum into the Japanese market.

Heavily charred casks help contribute colour and flavour and while maturation largely takes place in used Bourbon barrels of white American oak, some makers prefer sherry casks of the same oak. Furthermore, since many distillers use a caramel colouring made by burning sugar, there’s little relationship between rum’s colour and its age or intensity.

Although most Caribbean and South American countries have evolved their own distinctive style of rum, it’s still possible to divide rums into two categories, described as the ‘Spanish’ style and the ‘English’ or ‘French’ style. Exemplified by Puerto Rican rums like Bacardi Reserve or by Barbadian rums like Mount Gay, the Spanish style is lighter and smoother. Rums from Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela are also made in this lighter style.

Richer and heavier, the English or French style is best expressed by the smoky oak and rich caramel flavors of rums from Bermuda, Guatemala and Jamaica as illustrated by Myers’s Original Dark, Captain Morgans and Coruba.

By and large, Australians will find it difficult to find the best, most traditional and exotic of the dark and amber rums, but there’s still a reasonably wide and representative range available, from both the Caribbean and Australia.

From the Bahamas comes Bacardi Gold, a benchmark amber rum in the Spanish style, whose fragrant nutty and vanilla nose prefaces a palate with hints of burned citrus and a restrained, clean and lightly smoky spirit taste. The Puerto Rican Bacardi Reserve is smoother and more refined, a spotless amber rum with smoky and vanilla oak and nuances of hazelnuts, mandarin and peach. Don’t mix it.

While Mount Gay’s Eclipse amber rum is perhaps a little simple and sweet and finishes slightly hot, the Mount Gay Extra Old both from Barbados reminds me of an old amontillado sherry, with unashamed vanilla cask character and a luscious, silky, but smoky palate.

The well-known Australian brands of Bundaberg and Beenleigh specialise in the darker English style of rum. I am slightly disappointed with the underproof rums from each company, both of which appeared to show distinct tailings notes. The Bundaberg UP has more length, strong smoky and caramel influences, while the Beenleigh UP, from Australia’s oldest registered distillery, was more perfumed and relatively simple.

Very complex and more interesting than the UP, I enjoyed the richness and balance of Bundaberg’s OP overproof. Here’s a complex, rummy spirit with clear influences of molasses and vanilla, a juicy alcoholic palate and hints of citrus. Treat it with caution.

First released in 1995 and created by master distiller Dr Lou Muller, Bundaberg’s Black Label is a genuine attempt at a drink-alone premium Australian spirit. The current release of only 10,000 cases is dated 1997. A very pure and refined spirit without a hard edge in sight, its long, viscous and savoury palate has an appealing hint of anis.

Captain Morgans and Coruba are Jamaican rums with big colour, spirit and flavour. The Captain Morgans UP is the better of the two, with pungent rummy qualities of spicy cinnamon and cloves, smoky smooth vanilla oak and rich, mouthfilling molasses and caramel flavours. Coruba has a more heady, exotically spiced perfume, but is to me a less pure and mellow spirit than the Captain Morgans UP. An outsized version, with chocolate liqueur and tarry qualities, the Captain Morgans OP is a sumptuous, statuesque black rum with a slightly bitter oaky finish.

I tasted three Australian rum-based liqueurs, one of which genuinely impresses. I can imagine it appealing to many, but for me the pronounced orange flavour of Beenleigh’s Classic Liqueur is a little simple and confection-like. The unusual array of tropical flavours in Hobe Tea Rum Liqueur, which suggested banana, pineapple, citrus and jasmine simply overpowers its rum base. However Bundaberg’s Royal Liqueur is a gloriously blended drink of chocolate, coffee and spices including cinnamon and nutmeg, overlaying the molasses influence of a pure dark rum base.

Give rum a go, even if your friends might still find its image too cheap to swallow. For many, rum is still a frontier too wild to cross. Perhaps indeed, but what’s life without a little adventure? Please login to post comment