How to find a ‘real McCoy’ rum
Watch for misleading packaging, check sugar content and don’t buy liquor that’s ‘opaque black’
As if the rum shelf at the LCBO wasn’t already crowded enough with big personalities — Captain Morgan, Sailor Jerry, Kraken — now there’s a new kid in town they’re calling the Real McCoy.
McCoy is a five-year-old rum from Barbados and the name is a reference to Captain William.
McCoy is the legendary “honest smug- gler” who made a fortune supplying thirsty Americans with high-quality hooch during Prohibition.
Lore even has the term “the real McCoy” deriving from his rum-running activities, since, unlike other dealers in illicit booze who peddled watered-down or adulterated alcohol, McCoy’s hooch was always legit and full-strength.
Unfortunately, that’s a false etymology, because the phrase “the real McCoy” was in use before Prohibition.
Everything else about it, though, is on the up-and-up, starting out as fermented molasses, which is then distilled into spirit and aged for five years in ex-bourbon oak casks.
That might not sound so extraordinary, since we see numbers on a lot of rum bottles — five, 12, 21 or even the impressive-sounding 25.
Bizarrely though, in many cases, the actual liquid is nowhere near as old as the number implied by the label.
In many countries where rum is produced, guidelines as to aging are pretty loose.
“Our rums have a legal age statement on the bottle,” says Bailey Pryor, founder of Real McCoy Spirits.
“If something says ‘12 Year,’ that isn’t necessarily an age statement. If it says ‘Solera 21’ it isn’t necessarily 21 years old. If it says ‘slow-aged’ 25, that’s a marketing term. I mean is there a ‘fast-aged’ process?”
That’s probably surprising to, say, whisky drinkers, who are used to a certain amount of law and order surrounding what can and can’t be on a label.
When it comes to rum, there are a lot of different regions, each with its own traditions and regulations about how to make (and sell) rum. Sometimes the number on a bottle represents the average age of rums blended together, other times it might refer to the oldest rum used in a blend.
In the absence of regulations though, some companies are stepping up to the plate and being transparent about their aging process.
The Real McCoy is one example, so is Yongehurst Distillery’s Harbour Rum, made right here in Toronto, both of which have been received well by rum enthusiasts who are tired of the tomfoolery.
It’s not only the little craft distillers who are trying to distinguish themselves from the misleading rum packagers by clarifying their aging processes — Bacardi is releasing two new properlyaged, premium rums, Cuatro and Diez (a 4- and a10-year old, respectively) in Ontario this summer.
Both have a clear age statement and the label on the 10-year-old guarantees the youngest rum in the bottle was distilled and laid to rest in a barrel in 2007.
While not all Bacardi products contain added sugar (Superior, for example, is dry), the new releases do have some.
I know, because I poured a little out on a plate and let it evaporate; when it did, there was a little residual sugar. The question is: How much? Several categories of spirit allow for a little added sugar (in cognac, it’s called “dosage”) to attain consistency — usually less than10 grams per litre.
Bacardi says its new releases are less than 10 grams per litre, but other rum companies have interpreted the dosage tradition extremely liberally, an industry problem that’s been discovered through Scandinavian liquor boards, such as Alko and both of which test for sugar levels in spirits and publish them. One Danish navy rum (not available in Ontario) was discovered to have 96 g/L. Per ounce, that’s getting close to soda pop levels.
That’s an extreme example and Pryor says these problems arise mostly when rum packagers buy cheap, unpalatable alcohol from massive fuel alcohol distilleries in places such as the Philippines, Colombia and Panama, then need to disguise the taste with sugar.
As a result, legit distilleries are trying to distance themselves from these practices through transparency and the development of strict production regulations for regional producers (like a DOC in wine).
In other words, quality control.
One of the most ambitious attempts to tame rum’s Wild West problem comes from the Caribbean, which has developed the Authentic Caribbean Rum Marque, a guarantee that all rums certified by the board are … well, the “real McCoy.”
It includes rums from Barbados, St. Lucia and Martinique, three countries that are wellknown for strict production guidelines and high-quality, transparent rums such as Chairman’s Reserve and Rhum Clement.
In fact, Ben Jones, the great-nephew of the founder of Martinique’s Rhum Clement, is here Saturday for a Spirit of Toronto event, teaching a master class on this very topic. If you can’t make the class to learn how to choose the lowest-sugar, legitimately long-aged rum, there are a few tricks that can be used, even when the LCBO is out of Harbour Rum, Chairman’s Reserve and Rhum Clement — a common occurrence, given the small quantities produced. Consumers can look up the Scandinavian liquor boards
and search for a specific brand to see its sugar content — Finland’s Alko (alko.fi) or Sweden’s Systembolaget (systembolaget.se).
And Johnny Dreger, a rum tester in Denmark, runs a site called Drecon (drecon.dk), with a large list of brands and their sugar levels.
Or, you might follow Pryor’s advice for decoding rum labels.
“Dismiss any brand that’s focusing on silliness, you know, like pirates and cannonballs or sea monsters,” he says. “Don’t buy any rum that’s opaque black. You could never put spirit in a barrel and see it turn opaque. “Look at what the label is saying in the front of the bottle. Is there a master distiller who is held accountable? Look for a real age statement, not just a number.”
And, as he points out, given the angel’s share (the rate of evaporation) in the tropics, which is about twice the rate in Kentucky, think about the price/age ratio.
A 20-something-year-old rum would have lost about 80-90 per cent of the liquid, meaning to break even, he’d have to charge $300. If you see one for $50, it’s probably too good to be true. So give that label a closer look.
And that’s how you can find the “real McCoy.” Even when the LCBO’s out of Real McCoy.