Buying guide

Our contributing editor’s guide to finding the right rum for you

How to find the right rum for you

Understanding rum is not straightforward for the uninitiated. There are plenty of reviewers offering their feedback on tasting profiles, or their ratings. What does a 3/5 score mean to you if you do not understand the rum? The thing with technical reviews is that a high score generally means that the bottling is very well realised in what it is trying to be – but is that a guarantee you are going to like it? That very much depends on your preferences and where you are on your rum journey. Broad-brush colonial model categorisations are often quoted, but are a little loose; the Gargano Classification (pictured, bottom right) gives more detail.

SPANISH / LATIN STYLE

Rums loosely grouped as Spanish or Latin in style tend to be easy-going – the rum spirit tends to be lighter, and the flavours are almost entirely cask driven. Age statements are more likely tricky to pin down, and it is generally about easy-drinking blends (often marketed as ‘solera’). Unaged bottlings won’t feature at all, although young, colour-filtered options will do. Sweetening is far more prevalent, with overtly sherried bottlings available.

Countries of production: Panama – Cuba – Puerto Rico – Guatemala – Nicaragua – Dominican Republic – Belize

BRITISH STYLE

The British-style rums will be more medium to full bodied, and whilst a former colonial influence is hardly a guide to flavour profile, heavier pot still flavours are likely to balance positively against the cask-driven flavours. British style can be extremely diverse, and so further refining using the traits of regionality is essential. In the case of Jamaica and

Guyana, the use of pot still can be significant, and 100-per-cent pot still rums, while celebrated by enthusiasts, can be challenging for the uninitiated.

It is more likely for presentation strength to be higher, and unaged rum is commonplace, relying on distilled flavour to be the driver of choice. Sweetening is far less prevalent. Heavily coloured Navy rums tend to fall into this group.

Countries of production: Trinidad – Grenada – Antigua – Barbados – St Lucia – Guyana – Jamaica

FRENCH STYLE

French-style rum – or rhum (the French spelling of rum) – is a catch-all term for rum produced from freshly squeezed sugarcane juice and stretches way beyond French overseas departments or colonies. This subcategory is often erroneously referred to as ‘agricole’ – a protected term in the EU.

Aged expressions of sugarcane juice rums can share a great deal of common ground with the previously described groupings, and the first exploratory steps are best made this way. The vibrant grassy, fruity nature of distilled sugarcane juice rums lends an additional dimension. Invariably the distillation of sugarcane juice rums is made utilising singlecolumn continuous distillation – aka creole columns – or pot stills, and this results in a very flavoursome spirit as distilled that reflects the flavour of the crop. It is markedly different from the light, almost neutral distillation methods employed in the

Spanish style. The nuances in production and regionality with French-style rums are something that enthusiasts will relish.

Countries of production: Mauritius – Reunion – Martinique – Guadeloupe – Maria Galante – French Guyana – Madeira

The Gargano Classification focuses entirely on the method of distillation, which, coupled with what the rums are made from, offers a more focused understanding of the flavour profile. It uses a grouping progression of modern rum distillation using multi-column equipment, to traditional column stills, then to blends of pot and column still, and finally on to 100-per-cent pot still.

Gargano allows exploration within a field or a progression as needed. If you add in the traits of regionality – for example, a modern rum from Puerto Rico versus a pure single

(pot still) rum from Jamaica – you would know what to expect long before you get the spirit in your glass.